Helen Archer | On 29, Jul 2025

The small college town of Moscow, Idahom was considered a ‘safe’ place, where doors could be left unlocked and friends and neighbours would regularly gather at each others houses – none more so than 1122 King Street, the home of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, five popular students making the most of their college experience. But on 13th November 2022, that sense of safety and fun was forever extinguished, after a then-unknown knifeman snuck into the house on King Street and killed Kaylee, Madison, Xana and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, before slipping off into the night. Even the haunting last picture of the four together, carefree on the porch of their house – Madison sporting a cut-off university sweater – is like a still from an American horror film. Of course, it was tantalising fodder for the ‘true crime community’.

This four-part documentary series, directed by Liz Garbus and Matthew Galkin, was made – and released – before Bryan Kohberger pled guilty to avoid the death penalty, which doubtless explains the glaring omission of any interview with either police or lawyers. And, while it paints a loving picture of who these four young victims were, and the giant hole their loss left, it also falls into the same true crime trap it purports to critique.

Two of the four families are interviewed – Madison’s mum and stepfather, and Ethan’s parents and his brother and sister – along with multiple friends of the housemates, some of whom were the first to the scene the morning of the murders. They take us through the nightmare that unfolded practically minute by minute – the lack of information from law enforcement, the gradual understanding that this was a murder investigation, and that Xana and Ethan were dead, followed by the dawning, sickening realisation that Madison and Kaylee were also missing, likely still in the house. They watched as police tape was put up, as ambulances waited outside, but no wounded emerged.

As the news spread nationally, their grief – and that of the community as a whole – was compounded by internet sleuths and press alike, who would stalk the campus looking for people to talk to, lurking around the homes of the bereaved, and looking for suspects via social media. Innocent students were doxxed, death threats left on the social media of Dylan and Bethany, as well as the boyfriends of the victims. The live feed of a food truck where Madison and Kaylee stopped on their way home the night they were murdered went viral, as people around the world examined the stream for potential suspects. Facebook groups were set up, users posting wild conspiracy theories to make up for the lack of information coming from authorities.

And yet this series falls into the same trap, as, in the third episode, they interview some of the administrators of a Facebook page dedicated to the case, who assert that one of their users turned out to be the murderer. This has since been debunked by police, although it is presented here as fact. It is, perhaps, yet another example of filling up the void of official information with supposition and misinformation, just as those internet sleuths did in those early days – and it demonstrates the need to hold off until facts have been established.

The one question many want an answer to is why. Though many will agree that it’s for the best that Kohberger plead guilty, sparing everyone the added trauma of a lengthy trial, it also means we must accept that that question will probably never be answered. But it does seem unlikely that this premature documentary will be the last word on the subject, despite the devastating victim impact statements heard in court last week, before Kohberger was given a life sentence. Hopefully any future projects will, at least, stick to the facts.

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