Texts from surviving roommates detail night of Idaho college student murders
Court documents, including text messages and a 911 transcript, were unsealed Thursday in the case of four University of Idaho students who were found murdered in an off-campus house in November 2022.
The documents show two of the surviving roommates discussing the alleged appearance of a masked man leaving the house.
The murders of the four University of Idaho students took place in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Roommates Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle, as well as Ethan Chapin, their classmate and Kernodle's boyfriend, were found stabbed to death at their home in Moscow, Idaho.
The surviving roommates, who are identified in court documents as B.F. and D.M., exchanged text messages between 4:22 a.m. and 4:24 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 13, the new documents show. According to the documents, D.M. placed unanswered phone calls to all four victims between 4:19 a.m. and 4:27 a.m.
"No one is answering," D.M. sent to B.F., according to the filing. "I'm rlly confused rn."
D.M. also appeared to reference the intruder, saying, "I'm freaking out rn" and "No it's like a ski mask almost." B.F. then urged D.M. to "run" downstairs to her room, where the two stayed until later that morning when a 911 call was made.
The documents, filed by the prosecution on Feb. 24, could be used as evidence in the trial of Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old former Ph.D. student who is charged with four counts of murder in the case.
One of two roommates previously told investigators in 2023 that they saw a masked man leaving their home after the victims were fatally stabbed. According to the new court documents, both roommates are expected to testify at Kohberger's trial.
The court documents state that at 10:23 a.m. on Nov. 13, D.M. sent more messages to her roommates, asking if either of them were awake. "Pls answer," she texted one of them.
A transcript of one of the surviving roommates' 911 phone call at around noon was also filed in separate court documents. The frantic call, which appears to show several people talking to authorities, was made after Kernodle was found unresponsive. One of the callers stated that one of the roommates "was drunk last night and she's not waking up."
The unsealed documents Thursday come after an Idaho judge warned attorneys this week to stop filing so many sealed documents, saying it "runs counter to the public's First Amendment rights."
DNA on a knife sheath led police to charge Kohberger with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary almost seven weeks after the crime occurred. When asked to enter a plea last year, Kohberger stood silent, leading a judge to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11.
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