2022 University of Idaho Murders: A Crime Scene Description and Initial Investigation

Discovery of the Crime Scene, Victims, and Circumstances

The article starts by describing the arrival of the police at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, to witness the macabre scene. Four University of Idaho students pursuing their undergraduate degrees had been stabbed with a seemingly fixed knife. Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Gancalves, and Xana Kemodle, of ages ranging from 20 to 21 years, had been murdered in their bedrooms on the third and second floors of the buildings.

The police believe that the killings happened at night when the victims were sleeping. However, there is evidence that one of them struggled with the attacker. The crime shocked many people in the University and the town, given that a long time had lapsed before witnessing any murder.

Initial Police Response and Evidence Collection

There is an image of the scene surrounded by a yellow strip to mark the perimeter of the house. Six cars are parked within the perimeter at the scene, and one police officer can be seen looking through the vehicle window. Some trash and bins are within the scene, just a few meters from the white house.

One source said that officers broke into the scene, adding that it was messy. The person added that the police did not act professionally, leading to cross-contamination between the murder bedrooms (Helling, 2023). Nonetheless, as the authorities started the arduous and meticulous work of collecting the evidence, they began to zero in on one suspect.

Identification of Bryan Kohberger as the Prime Suspect

The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, is a 28-year-old Criminal Justice and Criminology PhD student at Washington State University. The distance from the campus to the crime scene is about eight miles. It remains unclear what kind of relationship the suspect had with the victims.

Moreover, his motive for committing such a heinous act has not been disclosed to the public. Kohberger has already been arraigned in court on felony burglary and four counts of murder. His lawyer refused to comment publicly but said in court that the suspect was shocked by the charges against him.

Reference

Helling, S. (2023). Inside the Idaho murders police investigation: ‘We had officers breaking down at the scene’. Web.