On Nov. 13, 2022, University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death at an off-campus residence. The murders horrified the nation and shocked the small college town of Moscow, which had not recorded a homicide in seven years. Numerous documentaries attempting to unravel the strange and unsettling tragedy have followed, the latest of which, Netflix’s The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, was released on July 29.

Like Amazon Prime’s One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, which was released in July 2025, Netflix’s three-part documentary focuses primarily on the young victims and their families. Directed by Skye Borgman (Unknown Number: The High School Catfish) and executive-produced by acclaimed documentarian Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills), the documentary is “the definitive chronicle of one of the most chilling murder cases in recent memory — honoring four young lives while tracing every step from that devastating night to the arrest that followed,” according to Netflix.

The new documentary arrives just days after former Ph.D. student Bryan Kohberger filed a petition seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and overturn his convictions, and just over a year after he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms for the murders of Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle, and Chapin. Below, we take a closer look at Kohberger, what happened after his arrest, and where he is now.

What are the Idaho college murders?

Goncalves, 21; Mogen, 21; Kernodle, 20; and Chapin, 20, were found dead on Nov. 13, 2022, in an off-campus home where Goncalves, Mogen, and Kernodle lived with two other roommates. Chapin, who was dating Kernodle, was staying overnight. Goncalves was in Mogen’s room, while Chapin was in Kernodle’s room.

According to court records, the four students were killed between approximately 4 and 4:25 a.m. Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen told investigators that she opened her bedroom door three times after hearing noises elsewhere in the house. The first time, she heard someone she believed was Goncalves say something to the effect of, “There’s someone here.” She opened the door again after hearing what sounded like crying from Kernodle’s room and a male voice say something to the effect of, “It’s okay, I’m going to help you.”

When Mortensen opened her door a third time, she saw a masked figure dressed in black walk past her room toward the rear sliding-glass door. As noted in the docuseries and elsewhere, Mortensen and fellow surviving roommate Bethany Funke exchanged a series of worried messages around the time of the attack. Nevertheless, no one called 911 until shortly before noon, when a report was made about an unconscious person.

Two days after the killings, the Moscow Police Department said that the murders had been committed with an “edged weapon such as a knife.” Investigators later said they believed a fixed-blade knife had been used, but the murder weapon was never recovered.

On Dec. 30, more than six weeks after the murders, police announced the arrest of Bryan Kohberger at his family’s home in Chestnuthill Township, Pa., near Albrightsville and more than 2,000 miles from Moscow. He was subsequently extradited to Idaho.

Who is Bryan Kohberger?

At the time of his arrest, Kohberger was 28 years old and had recently wrapped his first semester as a PhD criminology student at Washington State University’s Pullman campus, a roughly 15-minute drive from Moscow.

Kohberger was formally charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary on Dec. 20, 2022. According to CBS News, Kohberger’s lawyer claimed that his client denied allegations of his involvement in the murders.

But at his arraignment in May 2023, Kohberger refused to enter a plea, choosing to “stand silent.” On his behalf, the court entered a plea of “not guilty.” In April 2024, Fox News reported that Kohberger’s lawyers “firmly” believed in his innocence.

Speaking with CBS News, one of Kohberger’s neighbors in Pullman, Wash., said Kohberger brought up the murders in conversation just days after they happened. “[He] asked if I had heard about the murders, which I did,” they recounted. “And then he said, ‘Yeah, seems like they have no leads. Seems like it was a crime of passion.’”

While completing his master’s degree in criminal justice at DeSales University, Kohberger studied under Dr. Katherine Ramsland, who has written numerous books about serial killers, including The Mind of a Murderer (2011) and Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer (2016). His studies included classes on forensic psychology, death investigation, and antisocial behavior, per NewsNation.

Though she described him to NewsNation as “a promising student who really could have made a mark in this career in a very positive way,” Ramsland said, “I have to look at the framework of what I taught and wonder, did I inspire him in some way?”

Kohberger’s reputation was less positive at Washington State University. According to the New York Times, he was terminated from his teaching assistant role in December 2022, a month after the killings. The firing followed investigations of his conduct around female students and a “verbal altercation” with a professor.

The Times also reported that Kohberger discussed “not being able to feel emotions” and feeling as if he could do “whatever I want with little remorse” in online forum posts from the early 2010s. He was also at one time addicted to heroin, per the Times.

In 2025, Kohberger’s lawyers revealed that he has autism spectrum disorder, which, as CNN puts it, would “explain what might be perceived as odd behavior as he sits at the defense table.”

What evidence links Kohberger to the murders?

Although a motive for the crime remains elusive, and no publicly disclosed evidence has established that Kohberger had prior contact with the victims, prosecutors summarized the evidence they said tied him to the murders during his change-of-plea hearing on July 2, 2025, according to the New York Times.

One key piece of evidence was a knife sheath left at the crime scene that contained some of his DNA, which helped investigators “build a family tree that led them to Mr. Kohberger’s name more than a month after the killings.”

Prosecutors also cited video surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Elantra similar to the car driven by Kohberger repeatedly circling the neighborhood of the victims’ house before the murders. A similar vehicle was recorded speeding away from the area at approximately 4:20 a.m. Also of note was Kohberger’s cell activity. His phone stopped connecting to the cellular network shortly before the murders and did not reconnect until afterward. Records showed that the phone later connected to a tower providing service to the area that included the victims’ home.

As CBS News reported, prosecutors further alleged that Kohberger bought a knife and Ka-Bar knife sheath — he same type found at the crime scene — online several months before the murders. Kohberger’s defense team had planned to argue that the sheath “could have been planted by the real perpetrator.”

Where is Bryan Kohberger now?

On July 2, 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all five charges against him: four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. In a signed factual basis for the pleas, he admitted responsibility for the “willful, unlawful, deliberate” killings, committed with “premeditation and with malice aforethought.” He offered no reason why he committed the murders.

The plea agreement spared Kohberger the death penalty, which prosecutors had intended to seek had the case gone to trial. He was ultimately sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, along with an additional 10 years for burglary. Kohberger was also ordered to pay $270,000 in fines, fees, and civil penalties. The sentencing followed a day of impact statements from Mortensen and the victims’ families, as well as a statement from Funke that was read by a friend.

Kohberger remained silent and showed little visible reaction to either the statements or his sentence. “Even in pleading guilty, he’s given nothing hinting of remorse or redemption,” said Judge Steven Hippler during the sentencing. “Nothing suggesting even a recognition or understanding, let alone regret for the pain he has caused and therefore, I will not attempt to speak about him further, other than to simply sentence him, so that he is forever removed from civilized society.”

On July 27, 2026, Kohberger filed a handwritten petition for post-conviction relief in Idaho’s Fourth District Court, seeking to withdraw his guilty pleas and proceed to trial. Kohberger now alleges that he was given “ineffective” counsel from his defense team and was “convinced to falsely confess” to a crime he did not commit. According to Kohberger, his lawyers convinced him that his actual guilt was irrelevant to the plea agreement and “advised [him] to lie” to obtain what they characterized as a “legal victory.” He also claims that they failed to disclose or review potentially exculpatory evidence during plea negotiations.

The allegations have not been proven and contradict Kohberger’s sworn statements at his July 2025 plea hearing, when he told the judge that he was guilty, was entering his pleas freely and voluntarily, and had not been coerced or influenced.

In a statement to The New York Times, Kohberger said, “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.” He declined to discuss the existing evidence with the Times, adding, “The intention is for all of those questions to be investigated and answered appropriately in a trial setting.”

Where is Bryan Kohberger imprisoned?

Kohberger is currently being held at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, Ida. It’s said to house the state’s “most dangerous and volatile male residents.”

Where can I watch The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare?

The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare is now available to stream on Netflix.