Ahead of Bryan Kohberger's Trial, Family and Friends of Idaho Murder Victims Speak Out in New Docuseries
When four University of Idaho students were brutally killed at an off-campus residence in November 2022, it shook the small, quiet college town of Moscow and made national headlines.
Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Xana's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, were all stabbed to death in bedrooms on the second and third floor of the home.
Two more roommates at the 1122 King Road residence, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were home and unharmed. Early in the investigation, the surviving roommates were ruled out as suspects. While local law police restricted what they shared with the public about the investigation, rumors and speculation circulated online.
More than a month after the murders took place, suspect Bryan Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with the slayings. His long-awaited trial is set to begin in August, with many questions, including a possible motive, yet to be answered.
The horrific case is the focus of Prime Video's upcoming four-part docuseries, One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, which premieres on July 11. (Watch the trailer below.)
"Told in captivating, tense, and emotionally wrenching detail by only those involved in and affected by the crime, the series intimately explores this American tragedy and its continued impact and fallout," according to a Prime Video press release.
The series centers on the families and friends of the victims, featuring exclusive interviews with Stacey and Jim Chapin (parents of Ethan Chapin) and Karen and Scott Laramie (parents of Madison Mogen).
"There's this person out there who had just murdered our brother and he's still out there somewhere," recalled Hunter Chapin, Ethan Chapin's brother, of his and his sister Maizie Chapin's emotions following the killings, per the trailer.
Kohberger was first arrested in December 2022 after he was allegedly linked to the crime scene by DNA recovered from a knife sheath, per a probable cause affidavit previously obtained by PEOPLE.
Additionally, investigators traced the location of his cell phone and obtained surveillance footage that showed a car which appeared to be the same make and model as his driving to and from the scene of the crime.
In a motion laying out his alibi, Kohberger's lawyer, Anne Taylor, said the suspect was out driving by himself on the night of the murders but that he did not kill the four victims.
At the time of the murders, Kohberger was a Ph.D student in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., about eight miles from the residence where the students were slain.
He is charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary. In May 2023, the judge ultimately entered a plea of "not guilty" for him. Kohberger's murder trial is set to get underway on Aug. 11 in Ada County after the defense successfully petitioned for a change of venue in the case. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
Karen Laramie, Mogen's mother, has been open about her feelings regarding the trial being pushed back multiple times.
"I don't have a lot of comments on that," Laramie said on the Today show in December 2024. "I would say that the legal system is not about the victims, and I'll leave it at that.'
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The docuseries is directed by Liz Garbus and Matthew Galkin and is produced by Amazon MGM Studios, Skydance Television, Story Syndicate, James Patterson Entertainment, and Fairhaven.
All four episodes of premiere on July 11 on Prime Video.
Read the original article on People
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