One Night in Idaho: The College Murders Season 1 Review – A shocking true-crime documentary

The Review Geek

11-07-2025

Season 1
Episode Guide
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
On November 13th 2022, the sleepy town of Moscow in Idaho was rocked to its core. At around 4am, four students at the University of Idaho —Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin — were fatally stabbed in their off-campus home at 1122 King Road.
Consumed by confusion and chaos, the surviving roommates lend give revealing eyewitness accounts, almost family and friends, diving into the case from start to finish in this shocking docu-series on Amazon Prime Video.
The first episode largely works to serve as a backdrop to what happened, introducing us to the four teens, the town of Moscow and the murders themselves. Hearing family members giving tearful recollections of what happened is one of the toughest points in this series.
From here, the second and third episodes move into the hunt for the killer and the growing fear and conspiratorial drama gripping the university campus. more than 130 officers assemble from local, state, and federal agencies to try and quell the concerns, but to no avail.
The show does touch on social media and its affect on cases like this, and given the age of the victims it's hardly surprising to see it featured in this way. Seeing the families desperate to reclaim their voices in a sea of media frenzy and noise is indicative of how much these stories can spiral out of control. Not just from mainstream media outlets either, we see social media running riot with this story, ultimately losing sight of what really mattered here.
The fourth and final chapter reveals who the murderer is – and why they killed these four teens, moving beyond conspiracies to the 'hows' and 'whys' of the murders.
There's certainly an element of tension here as the show moves through its chapters, but it's never done in a way that sensationalizes what actually happened. Instead of dwelling on the grisly details, we largely stick to the testimonies and the human element instead.
The initial sombre tone does pave way for a more cautionary feel to this documentary overall, being careful not to delve too far into undermining its message, especially with the condemnation of social media.
Focusing on the families and their grief helps to reclaim some of that power which was unfortunately stolen from them on that fateful night, and it's a definite highlight in Amazon's series.
With a good tone and pacing, One Night In Idaho is a compelling and well written docu-series, respecting and honouring those who died while also recounting this story in the most cohesive and gripping way possible.