MOSCOW, Idaho (Court TV) — Newly-released video is offering a look at the moment police discovered the murders of four University of Idaho students.
A still from bodyworn camera shows people standing outside the King Road house where four University of Idaho students were murdered. (Moscow Police Department)
Court TV obtained bodyworn camera video from a responding officer who was called to 1122 King Road on the morning of Nov. 13, 2022. Inside the house, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves had been brutally murdered. The female victims all lived in the home with two surviving roommates who spoke to officers when they arrived.
Bryan Kohberger avoided a potential death sentence by pleading guilty to the murders; he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.
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The video begins with the officer’s arrival at the home, where the roommates had reported finding Kernodle unconscious. The officer, grabbing his medical bag, runs into the house and up the stairs.
Redactions to the video obscure the interiors of each of the bedrooms as well as blood that police reported was splattered on the walls. The officer, seeing the bodies of the victims, immediately sealed off the house with crime scene tape. At various points, officers can be heard muttering expletives after finding the bodies.
Outside the house, the two surviving roommates can be seen huddling with friends. Barefoot on the ground, surrounded by snow, the girls huddle together and cry as officers work to get more information.
The officer interviewed Dylan Mortensen, one of the surviving roommates, at the scene, where she said she thought she heard a female voice scream and say, “Someone’s here,” before running downstairs. Police say Kernodle was running on the stairs in an attempt to escape Kohberger when she was murdered.
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Mortensen told officers that she thought she had heard someone go into the bathroom and heard sobbing. “And I just remember hearing this guy’s voice that I don’t recognize saying, ‘You’re gonna be okay, I’m gonna help you.’ And it wasn’t like, I don’t know how to explain it. Like, it wasn’t in a nice way, it was like, a weird way, in a weird tone.” Mortensen said she was terrified, but opened her door and saw a man wearing all black and a mask that covered his forehead and mouth.
The agencies responsible for investigating the murders have been releasing evidence in the case in the wake of Kohberger’s guilty plea, but some victims’ families are pushing for it to remain sealed. A judge is weighing whether to grant their request.
