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On May 9, 2025, Dateline aired a shocking murder case. The case involved four students from Idaho University. The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, committed this heinous crime on November 13, 2022.
He is currently in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. Bryan Kohberger is 29 years old. He was a doctoral candidate at Washington State University. Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen were his victims. Through this Dateline episode, we see the timeline unfold.
A complete timeline of the Bryan Kohberger case as revisited by Dateline
November 12, 2022
Before the murder, the four of them were having a regular day. Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were at Ethan Chapin’s fraternity party. At the same time, roommates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were at a nearby sports bar. At around 2 a.m., the four of them were back in their rooms.
November 13, 2022
On March 6, 2022, the text messages that were shared between Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke with the victims were shared. In the text messages sent out at around 4:22 a.m., it can be seen that both Mortensen and Funke tried to contact Goncalves, but they did not receive any response. The message between Mortesen and Funk read,
“No one is answering”
“I'm rlly confused rn.”
Mortensen saw a masked man in their house, which led her to contact them. They also tried contacting Xana Kernodle, but did not get a response. At 11:58 a.m., they finally made a 911 call.
According to prosecutors, Kohberger entered the house through the glass sliding door just after 4 a.m. He went directly into Mogen's room on the third floor. Goncalves was with Mogen. He murdered both of them. Then Kohberger went back to the second floor at around 4:17 a.m., where he attacked Kernodle and Chapin. Dateline unveiled this through a source close to the investigation.
The police arrived shortly after and found the bodies of the four victims around the house. The murder weapon was a large knife, which was revealed by the prosecutors, according to Dateline. Investigation also revealed that a large Ka-Bar knife sheath was found near Mogen’s body. After the murder, Bryan Kohberger made a call to his father.
November 16 to December 2022
A police conference was held, which revealed the lack of suspects. This garnered immense public uproar. Dateline also obtained security footage. The footage showed Kohberger's white Hyundai Elantra near the crime scene.
Finally, on December 30, 2022, Bryan Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ house. He was charged with one burglary and four counts of first-degree murder. The DNA samples that were collected from the knife sheath matched those of Bryan Kohberger. His DNA was obtained from the trash of his family’s house.
January 3rd to 12th, 2023
On January 3, Kohberger’s case was waived of extradition to Moscow. A gag order is also released about the case, which prevents the officials from speaking about the case.
On January 5, the witness reveals how the killer used to enter the house. It is also revealed that Kohberger had switched his phone off, which also indicates that he had the motive to evade any form of tracking.
May 17 to June 26, 2023
The jury finally indicted Kohberger for the murder of the four students and burglary. Even though Kohberger’s defence argued saying he:
“displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piecemeal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions. Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy. This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability.”
However, on June 26, 2023, the prosecutors pursued the death penalty.
August 2023
A turn of events takes place when Kohberger’s defense begins to question the validity of the DNA sample that was retrieved from the crime scene. Defense attorney Anne Taylor said:
“They have provided full DNA discovery for the sheath, the knife sheath, but not the other three unidentified male DNA samples.”
The delay for the trial is denied, and the case proceeds.
June 27, 2024
The official date for the trial was set for June 2025. The trial schedule was accepted by both parties. Latah County District Judge John mentioned that the trial would continue for about three months.
June 30 to July 23, 2025
Kohberger accepted the plea deal, which will also waive any rights to appeal. This will also spare him the death penalty. He will have to serve four consecutive life sentences for the murders.
Trending
When asked by the judge whether he “willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought” killed the victims, he said “yes”. On July 23, 2025, he finally gets four life sentences. He also will not be getting parole, as he pleaded guilty to the murders.
For more such interesting pieces, stay tuned to Soap Central.
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