Xana Kernodle

Xana Kernodle, a 20-year-old University of Idaho junior majoring in marketing, was one of four students fatally stabbed in an off-campus rental home on King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Kernodle, who grew up in Avondale, Arizona, and later lived in Post Falls, Idaho, was killed alongside her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, and roommates Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. Investigators determined the attack occurred roughly between 4:00 and 4:25 a.m. Kernodle appears to have been awake, as she received a DoorDash delivery around 4:00 a.m. and used TikTok at 4:12 a.m. According to court records, she sustained more than fifty stab wounds, many of them defensive, indicating she resisted her attacker. A surviving roommate later told police she heard noises and saw a figure in dark clothing and a mask moving through the house.

The investigation, led by the Moscow Police Department with assistance from the Idaho State Police and the FBI, initially produced no named suspect and drew intense national attention. A key break came from forensic evidence: a tan leather Ka-Bar-style knife sheath was recovered near Mogen's bed, and investigators developed touch DNA from its button snap. Police said they used investigative genetic genealogy to generate a lead and then compared that profile with DNA recovered from trash at the Kohberger family residence in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, reporting a strong match. Cellphone location data, surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the house, and other records were also cited by investigators as tying the suspect to the scene.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, was arrested at his family's Pennsylvania home on December 30, 2022, on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. He waived extradition on January 3, 2023, and was returned to Idaho. A trial was scheduled amid extensive pretrial litigation, but on July 2, 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges under a plea agreement that removed the death penalty as a possible sentence and included a waiver of his right to appeal. On July 23, 2025, District Judge Steven Hippler sentenced him to four consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus ten years for burglary, along with fines. As of 2026 the case is closed with a conviction and sentence in place; related matters, including a criminal investigation into leaks that allegedly violated a court gag order, remained ongoing in public reporting.