20/20 -  Idaho Justice

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

New details uncovered about the crime, evidence and shocking guilty plea in the Idaho College murders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This show is supported by Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast. Meet Candice, mother of two, nurse, CEO, and founder of multi-million dollar companies. Candice went from being a stay-at-home mom to making millions traveling the world and saving lives. There was just one problem. Was it all a lie? Or was it all true? It turns out the truth might be even harder to believe. From the creator of Scamanda, this is Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills. Apple TV Plus subscribers get special early access to the entire season. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.

This is the police body camera video captured on November 13, 2022, as Moscow, Idaho police responded to a 911 call. call. Yep. Where's she at? Where's she at? Yes. Moscow, police department.

You're in here in this house. But nothing would prepare police or this tight-knit community for the shocking murders that they discover in this house on King Road. A murder mystery in Idaho, four University of Idaho students were found dead in their off-campus apartment. It's now being investigated as a homicide. We all underestimated how... how interested the rest of the nation and the world would be in this case. Nobody was prepared. The roommate on scene state something about a male being in the room with them trying to get further.

You may think you've heard this story, but tonight we'll take you inside the investigation. We'll show you body camera video from the officer who first responded to the scene and then the frantic moments that one of the surviving roommates recounts a man in a mask inside the house. I couldn't really see much of him, but I'm almost positive. He's wearing a full black outfit. And he had this mask that was just over his forehead and over his mouth. You'll hear from the friends who were on the scene

that morning even before police arrived. As soon as you get there, you know something's wrong. And then what happened next? I went into the house. I think I walked just right in the door when Hunter already was like, Everybody get out. And then he was like, somebody called 911.

And you'll hear from investigators who launched a nationwide manhunt to unmask and arrest the killer, who was found thousands of miles away from the crime scene. You interviewed Brian Coburger. Yes. He would try to go and ask, well, why are you guys really here? And we said, well, I feel like you probably know why we're here. But this all began in 2020. It was the start of a new school year, a time of anticipation, hope, promise.

Coming back to school at the University of Idaho really starts in the middle of August. You're packing up your car, it's filled to the brim. You can fit your entire life into a couple of boxes in the back of a sedan. What a time. Moscow at the beginning of the semester was definitely a very happy place and like you step on campus and it's like, okay, this feels right, this feels good to be here. Everyone's really excited, the new people, the new classes, things we can do, people to meet. You know, you raise your kids and you're, you know, you just wonder.

you know what point are they gonna kind of feel like they're independent enough to kind of fly the out of the nest I guess if you will it's a cliche but starting to adult yeah starting to you know among the students arriving here are 21-year-old seniors Kaylee gonzolvis and Madison Mogan along with Dana Kronodal a 20-year-old junior and 19-year-old sophomore Ethan Chapin four students Just starting out, not knowing that soon their lives would violently collide with a PhD student in criminology at another university just across the state line. So on November 12th is when that iconic photo is taken, the last known photo of the four victims all together with their roommates, Bethany and Dylan, all six of them before their big night on game day. They've had so many Saturday nights just like this.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about this Saturday night in Moscow, or so they thought. Hours later, friends make a horrific discovery. Do you know on location of your emergency? Something is happening. Something happens in our house. We don't know what. What is the address of the emergency? One one.

What is the real? What unfolds next is the stuff of nightmares. We saw it on our phones before they told us directly. It was like what? Quadruple homicide. We're calling Kaylee, it's going to voicemail. We're calling Maddie. She's not picking up. And in our minds, it wouldn't have been Kaylee and Maddie both.

So I think that my mind just immediately went to like, nope, nope, nope. The most important thing to me was who did this? Why did they do it? This is Moscow. It doesn't take very long before state police, then the FBI all joined the search for this killer. We realized that there was a security camera right next door to our residents.

Once we had that, we quickly realized that we had that we quickly realized that we had had this white vehicle. And so that was the introduction of the white Alontera for us. We don't know when this person is going to strike again, if they're going to strike again. And the pressure on us to solve alone, our own internal pressure was huge. And in the same time, you've got the public pressure

to find the perpetrator. There's a crush. of media. It overwhelms the tiny town of Moscow, along with the lives of everyone touched by these shocking murders. There were, you know, fucking YouTubers and TikTokers outside the house, you know, that want to live stream at our front door and then someone comes up, oh, hey, yeah, what do you have to say? What do you have to say? Like, dude, like get out of our face. It just went absolutely insane, but that's how the world is now, so.

Just trying to get through the days is really all I was doing. You don't feel safe in any situation like that for months like you there's no feeling secure or safe i mean after the first couple of weeks we're like this guy's going to get away with this but then nearly seven weeks after the murders finally an arrest and we want to get right to our breaking news a specialized team of state troopers and federal agents taking brian coburger into custody early friday morning my mom just came into my room and she's like hey hey they they got him they caught him I mean, my first thought was who is that? I have no clue who you are.

It was really shocking to learn he was a WSU student who had moved out to Washington and Pullman that summer to study at Washington State University. He was pursuing a PhD in criminology and justice. For the first time, you'll see some of the hundreds of photos released by authorities just this week. They offer a glimpse into the secret life of Brian Coburger, and you'll hear what investigators learned

from analyzing his digital life. He was a loner, no friends, no one really except for his parents. He called them mother and father, even through text message. He didn't take a selfie to send it to someone else. It was very vain. It was very much just him recording himself

for that purpose only. But first tonight, we want you to get to know Kaylee, Maddie, Zana, and Ethan, who they were, how they lived their lives. And you'll hear how investigators say, Coburger planned meticulously to end it all. Dylan had opened her door, and as she looked out, saw an individual in all dark clothing. Then she thought she heard a male voice say, I'm here to help you.

And the crucial mistake he made that led authorities right to his doorstep. Boom, and now we have something in this house from the joke. That was definitely the first aha moment. This show is supported by Acorns Early. Have you ever made a money mistake that you wouldn't have made if you had just known better? That's why financial literacy is so important. And it matters most when you're young. But with Acorns Early, your kids don't have to learn their money lessons the hard way.

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There was just one problem. Was it all a lie or was it all true? It turns out the truth might be even harder to believe. From the creator of Scamanda, this is Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills. Apple TV Plus subscribers get special early access to the entire season.

Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts. Greek life at U of I is pretty tight-knit. We all do things together. The sorority and fraternities were their own little community. When I joined Pfei, I met Zana and I just felt welcomed in. You know how you meet some people and they're like, don't want to talk to you. She would talk your ear off. We had an entire friend group that we were always together.

Hannah, Maddie, Emily. We were attached to the hip, probably the first day that we met. We just clicked immediately. And I was like, oh yeah, these are my people. These are gonna be my people. Hi, my name is Zana Kronodl. I'm a marketing major here at the University of Idaho. 20-year-old Zana Kronodal loved the Pittsburgh Steelers.

She loved her friends. And she highlights both in this video that's posted on her sister's social media. social media. And I really like just hanging out with my friends all the time and being super involved in school events. Zana also really loved electronic dance music. We called her DJ Zan because she was always like, oh, I'm going to play music while we get ready.

Like I have a video where she's jumping on the couch and the MacBook's jumping with her. Oh, okay, your laptop. Never met someone like Santa before, ever. There was one night, it had snowed, and we see a sled. And we just went flying. Her smile was contagious. I don't know that I ever saw Zana not happy.

Cracking jokes, nonstop. If you ever had a bad day, maybe, you know, had a rough day, she'll make you happy. Like somehow, she'll make you laugh. There'd be mornings I'd wake up. And I would pull out of the oven a burnt pizza because she tried to make pizza the night before and fell asleep.

Zana, did you try to make pizza last night? And she'd be like, I guess so. In August of 2022, Zana moves into 1122 King Road with several friends. That includes Maddie Mogan. And together, the two girls work as servers at the Moscow restaurant, Matt Greek. Also spending a lot of time at their house

was Zana's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin. He's a triplet starting his second year at the University of Idaho with his sister, Maisie, and brother Hunter. The Chapin family invited me to their Idaho home. They opened up their photo albums, sharing memories of the son and brother they lost. Was it always just assumed

that the three of you would go to the same college? Yeah, pretty much. It would have been tough to split us up, I feel like. We've kind of done everything together. Why not do college together? And me and he enjoyed the same fraternity. Sigma Chi. I just kind of followed whatever he did.

I knew wherever we went, we were going to have a good time no matter what. I mean, he was kind of the dominant triplet, I would say. He just always had these two in tow. The boys were always together. together and we met them and they were immediately funny like great guys and we were like oh you guys are being our friends all righty my name is Ethan Shapen I grew up playing basketball in a lot of sports we're pretty athletic

family so lots sports just kind of staying active and and yeah no questions just ready to get going we played every sport together every time we went in the car was together, partied together, just everything we did. There was never a dull moment. He had always made things interesting and exciting. Whenever there would be a party, we'd be singing country songs. Fall in Love by Bailey Zimmerman. That was one of the first songs that Ethan and I had memorized together.

Broken on up a walking testimony, my confession is a lesson that I'm pouring out in this song. I appreciate Ethan just for being just a goofball. a goofball you know I mean he was he was just funny as all hell we knew Ethan and Zana liked each other me and Emily were like they're gonna be together I know they like each other and Zana was like no no no and then Zana ended up being like oh he's cute tell me a little bit about watching Ethan and Zana they were both such similar people like they were both very

outgoing and just fun to be around. Any time they walked in a room, it would just kind of like, everyone would be like, oh, Ethan and Santa. So it's kind of cool just to see them hang around. They always just kind of brought that same energy anywhere they went. It was an energy. They also brought into singing a Luke Combe song. Beautiful, crazy. Or camping with their friends and spending time with Ethan's family. the beginning. I remember one time you told Ethan that you could see him with her or something. Do you remember that? Yeah. I think that clicked for him. It's like my mom liked her. After visiting the triplets in early November, Stacey posts on

Instagram, it's November 6th. She writes, Best Day. And they leave, feeling like the kids are starting to find their footing as young adults. It was just an amazing weekend. We had lunch with Santa on Friday. We ate it Mad Greek. Going to the football games and just hanging out with all the kids. It's fun. And we drove away that weekend. We just were like, we've done it.

We have three independent, self-sufficient kids. It was an amazing weekend. It was just an amazing weekend. weekend on November 7th, that according to a post on her sister's Instagram, Zana turns in this English essay, and it talks about having just seen a show with a bunch of her closest friends. And she wrote, it was amazing getting to experience one of my favorite songs with some of my best friends.

That is one of the most important things you can do in life. Enjoy the ride, not the destination. She really liked living in the moment. She always wanted to be doing something. And as Zana and her friends are savoring that college life, a student just across the state line is having a very different experience. Koeberger started to get a really bad reputation

on campus. He was starting to really lose control of his life. What do we know now about the criminology student whose work went beyond the classroom? His eyes really opened up when he's talking about Jeffrey Dahmer, or BTK, or Ted Bundy. 2,500 miles away from Moscow, Idaho, are the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. This is a rural community in Pennsylvania. It's really a lot of skiing and resort-type communities.

There's approximately 160,000 people living here. So it's a really backcountry sort of place in Pennsylvania. It's also where a young Brian Coburger grew up. He lived in this Monroe County home with his father, Michael, a maintenance worker. His mother, Mary Ann, who worked in education, and his two older sisters. What kind of household was Brian Coburger raised in? I would call his household an everyday common household. His parents were extremely involved in his life.

I think even over the course of the last three years, he spoke daily with them. Tell me about education for Brian. Brian went to Pleasant Valley School District. It's on the west end of the Poconos. He attended middle school there. He then moved on to the senior high school. What kind of student was he?

he? I'd say based upon what I've learned about the case, Brian was an average student in middle school and I think he advanced while he got into high school. On the surface, Brian appeared to have a pretty ordinary childhood, but when you talk to people and knew him, this quiet young man seemed to be struggling socially. Brian was an overweight kid growing up. come to late that some people that were on the same bus as him said that people would throw stuff at him because of his weight.

They would make fun of him. We had issues being picked on when he was overweight and as it progressed in the high school he got isolated from his friends that he had at that time. Every information we had was socially awkward, very few relationships, you know, as far as never really had what I would consider to be a girlfriend. I will say though that he was kind of skittish in a way. Like he didn't really want to talk to people, not very social. A lot of things changed in his life.

He had gone through a transformation. And are you talking about a physical transformation? Both physically, mentally, and I think just generally in life. He was overweight and he had lost a considerable amount of weight heading into maybe his ninth grade or tenth grade year. When he started losing the weight and trimming down, he'd like to do boxing or he worked out at the local gym. We had a trainer that he grew very fond of. And was that important in his life?

Based upon everything that I've learned, it was very important. It kept him losing the weight, steaming forward, better improving his life. But that newer, thinner, more athletic version, Brian 2.0, if you will, if you will, also masked a deeper, much more troubling turn in his life. We know from our investigation into him, and we had looked at his past, and we know that he had some struggles with drug use earlier in his life. We find a history of an arrest in 2014. So of that history of arrest, we can get police reports,

and part of the thing that came out of the police report said that there was a heroin addiction at the time. According to police reports that were reviewed by ABC News, in February of 2014, Brian Koberger had recently exited a rehab center and rejoined his family. And while he's home from rehab, Brian took his sister's iPhone. He called me to come pick him up and he wanted to sell a phone. In July of 2023, I spoke with a former classmate of Kobergers and he says he was unwittingly roped in to help Koeberger. At his request, we're only using his first name. So you're saying that you were leaving a party, and he called you?

Yeah, he called me, you called, pick him up, and to go, like, sell a phone somewhere, and I was just like, okay. There's documents that ABC, myself included, have seen that show he stole his sister's phone. Oh, I didn't even know all that. So you thought he was trying to sell his own phone? Yeah. And at this time, did you know he had just gotten out of rehab? That I did not know either. Why do you think he was trying to sell that phone?

Oh, we were trying to get something with it. That was the goal, for sure. His father turned him in because at that point they were kind of at their wit's end for dealing with the substance abuse addiction. Those same police reports, again reviewed by ABC News, confirm that Coburger was charged with misdemeanor theft, but local officials told us that he didn't serve any. jail time. And what about the family dynamics at that time? I think the family supported him

throughout the entire process. His family would say that they believed him to be sober ever since high school. Obviously that evolution led to him getting higher education, doing better in schooling, focused more on something that he really wanted to do, which was criminology. When he graduated high school, I think he actually got a security job right out of high school working for Pleasant Valley School District. He then transitioned after a year or two, and he did attend Northampton County Community College, where his interest in criminology grew. So he goes to Northampton Community College, and then from there goes to DeSales. He goes to DeSales University to finish his degree, which this is an individual that appeared to be highly. intelligent and turned his life around.

According to a pretrial motion that was submitted by defense attorneys, the doctors had recently diagnosed Coburger as being on the autism spectrum along with OCD. And in the filing, they also state, Mr. Coburger has met the criteria for this diagnosis since childhood. Brian's defense team said that he suffered from autism spectrum disorder. Is that something of the family thought he also suffered from? I don't know if the family thought that he suffered from a disorder. So what provokes a person who appears to have overcome a difficult adolescence to then murder four people? And how did his life take a turn when Coburger left Pennsylvania to pursue his Ph.D. at Washington State University.

Professor said if we give him a Ph.D., we're going to end up seeing on the news that he's committing some kind of crime. We all probably wish we had a friend like Maddie and Kaylee were to each other. In August of 2022, five young women, including Kaylee Gonzalez and Madison Mogan, all move into a house together. It's just off campus right here on King Road. Kaylee and Maddie met in sixth grade and they were always at each other's house or at Kaylee's sister's house. They were more than best friends. They were even more than sisters. They were absolutely each other's everything through thick and thin. So that's Maddie at Christmas when she was just little.

She looked so excited. Maddie, Maddie Mae we call her. She was our first and only child that we ever had and she was such a happy baby, just super easy and fun and smart and it was just the joy of all of our lives. Maddie's dad Ben and her mom Karen divorced when Maddie was really little. Karen then married Scott Laramie who raised and loved Maddie as his own and together they appear in the prime video docu series one night in Idaho, the college murderers. Maddie was Karen's mini-me. They looked alike and they acted like and everything. For a long time she just called me Scotty, you know, and then when

she got older, it just made me feel so proud. Be called dead. I was very young mother. I was 22. So I was always so protective of Madison. This beautiful, peaceful little girl. I never let Maddie cry. Like, never. Kaylee is the daughter of Steve and Christy Gonzalves. She's the middle child of five kids, including her older sister Olivia, and they grew up together near Cortalaine. I remember the day Kaylee was born. I was about four and a half years older than Kaylee and your big sister but you also ended up being best friends what was it like to watch her evolve and become a young woman it was the best from the moment Kaylee was born she was Henri stubborn a spitfire so confident so sure of

herself there was no timid bone in her body Kaylee was the middle child, and she's your classic middle child syndrome. She tried to be really sweet at first. And when she knew you liked her, then she could be a little bit more herself, which was a little honory and do a prank on you. Kaylee was funny. Kaylee is this bubbly, smiley girl. And Maddie's always been described as just a little bit quieter.

Yeah. How did they click? I think that something in Kaylee's soul recognized something in Maddie's and vice versa, and it was never, it was never a question because as quiet as Maddie maybe was when they first met, man, man, she blossomed. And as sharp and bullheaded as Kaylee was, man, she softened. And they complimented each other. You wouldn't see Kaylee without Madison. You wouldn't see Madison without Kaylee. My name is Donna Stobb.

I'm an English teacher at Lake City High School, and I had Kaylee and Madison in an English class when they were juniors in 2017. So it was probably my second class of the day, if I remember correctly. And these two girls walked in just talking and laughing, life of the party. Her mom made it a point, too, that she was like, I just want her to have one friend that she can depend on. I don't care about her being super popular.

She's just, I just, if this could be the friend, and it just worked out that way. So then when college comes, they were like, we're going to go to college together. During high school, they mentioned it early on. They were going to go off to college together. That was her plan. Living near Cordillane, Idaho, they were just about

85 miles or so from the University of Idaho campus. It's not until 2022 that Kaylee and Maddie lived together. They move into that house on King Road with their friends. Kaylee and Maddie were always at each other's houses, but this was the first time they'd really gotten to live together and be roommates for real. That was definitely just a house where we all got to hang out and feel welcome. And, you know, we would have parties. Everyone who lived there just liked to have a good time,

and so they'd always invite people over. That usually turned into some sort of social gathering, maybe a party. But, I mean, it was always people that everyone knew, so everyone could just go there and feel safe. We were college kids. You're still innocent. You're like, nah, nothing's going to happen. By their senior year, Maddie and Kaylee were looking forward to graduation,

starting their next chapter. In mid-November in Moscow, it starts to see it really cold. It's getting dark earlier. There's a chill in the air. And soon, the lives of everyone in that house would be forever linked by tragedy. A tragedy no one could have ever imagined. Once the cop showed up and the ambulance arrived, we all were... Where's Kaylee Maddie?

Where's Kaylee and Maddie? We were calling them. We were texting him. or, you know, no answers. In May of 2022, 27-year-old Brian Coburger graduates from DeSales University. He's seen in this commencement video getting a master's degree in criminal justice. My name is Josh Ferraro. I knew Brian Coburger from our time at DeSales University. We were paired up for this long project. We were all picking partners and he was someone who was still there.

So I said, hey, do you want to be my partner? And yeah, that's how we met. He was like, yeah, you know, my mission is to, like, be a cop, something I want to do. But he didn't delve too much into his personal life. This guy's a lonely guy, keeping him himself. I invited him to one of my parties one time, and he's like, no, I'm good, man. I'm like, all right, the offer is there, but no problem. Like, it's just trying to be nice. One of the classes the two men share as undergrads is psychological sleuthing,

and it's taught by the renowned professor of forensic psychology, Dr. Catherine Ramsland. My area of expertise is extreme offenders, serial killers, mass murderers, but primarily serial killers. 2020 spoke with Dr. Ramsland back in 2019 about her work studying the serial killer known as BTK. I think BTK is a very useful example of somebody who can grow up in a fairly normal childhood

and become a serial killer. In that class, you study mass murders, you study serial killers, and she really delves into the psyche of their mind. mind. Brian Coburger was really, really invested in the class. He took really quick notes and he'd ask a lot of questions. His eyes really opened up when he's asking a question or or getting to the answer and talking about Jeffrey Dahmer or BTK or Ted Bundy. He was very proud of his intellect. While at DeSales, Coburger conducts a Reddit survey for an academic

research project looking to understand the mind of a criminal. He put an online request to speak to convicted criminals to discuss the motions they were feeling and decision-making that they went through when they were committing crimes. How did they choose their victims, all this stuff? In June of 2022, Coburger moves across the country to Pullman, Washington, pursuing a PhD in criminology at Washington State University. The University of Idaho and Washington, State University are located just seven miles from each other. The student body are constantly traversing to come over to the different areas, whether it be for classes or social. There is definitely a crossover with the two universities. We're all one big community.

At 27 years old, Coburger has never lived on his own before, and he moves across the country and lives here in this off-campus apartment complex. He spends this summer, exploring the region, taking some of those selfies just released by authorities. And making several trips across the state line into Moscow. His cell phone records would later show that his phone pinged off a tower in that area 23 times in the months before the murders. He even gets pulled over one night in August. Hey there.

I stopped you going a little fast. He's accused of speeding on the Palm and Moscow Highway. Are you wearing your seatbelt when I stopped you? Do you know? No. That's no good. Right. Just being honest with you.

Yeah, I appreciate that. You guys are, there's absolutely no point. Not being honest. After the officer tells Coburger, he's getting a $10 seatbelt citation. Coburger has some questions for the officer. I'm obviously not honest person. I told you I wasn't wearing my safe belt. Uh-huh.

When people lie to you about that, say I lied to you about that, right? Mm-hmm. My own knowledge. Mm-hmm. You can honestly go back. ...Coburger. All right, have a good night. All right, have a good night.

Tell me what the internship was that Brian Coburger applied for. So it was actually part of WSU's Criminal Justice Ph.D. program where the student would be embedded in the police department to conduct research How would you describe how he communicated with you? Just awkward, just a little bit socially inept, perhaps. I didn't feel he could develop rapport and trust with my staff. Didn't really speak in a fluid conversational manner. And so for those reasons, I didn't think he'd be a good fit for us.

But Koberger does get a position as a teaching assistant at the university, which helps pay for his tuition. He was the TA for my criminal justice 420 class, which was criminal procedures. He was a little bit more strict with his grading. He gave several comments of feedback, you know, like saying, oh, well, this is a little bit too broad. This is not descriptive enough, stuff like that.

Brian Coburger was pretty quiet. He didn't really talk too much. He kind of didn't really look at us directly. And he just seemed really kind of awkward. And outside of class, Coburger doesn't appear to be very social. He was a loner. Jared and Heather Barnhart analyzed Koberger's digital life, including his cell phone and computer records for investigators.

He had 18 total contacts in his phone. One person was labeled as maintenance and another was AT&T. There were no texts to friends. It was just his parents. He called them mother and father even through text message. He would say, mother, where is father? Why isn't father answering me? And she would respond, your dad is in the garage, Brian, he's working.

It was all mother and father, hours of talking, text messaging. And we found all those selfies. Like very much staged selfies trying to catch himself in a certain manner. It's not weird that he was taking selfies. The weird part is that he never did something with it. He didn't take a selfie to send it to someone else. As the semester progresses, instructors at WSU start to start to to raise concerns about Coburger's conduct in the program.

Koberger started to get a really bad reputation on campus. Sometime in November, I remember the professor saying, hi, so I'm switching some of my TAs. He didn't get any more in depth. He didn't seem to respect female professors with showing up late to class, having some weird social problems where he would block doorways when students were trying to talk to him.

They felt uncomfortable. around him, they felt that he would try to, at times, trap them. And there were lots of allegations that he was bothering girls, and this is especially problematic when there's a power dynamic. There was a common complaint of he's very controlling, that he's manipulative, that he treated women a certain way compared to men.

Disrespect, just had an odd, strange behavior. The university was on to him. Professors said, we need to cut funding from this guy. If we give him a PhD, he's going become a professor and we're going to end up seeing on the news that he's stalking women or he's committing some kind of crime. He received an email describing that he was on a performance improvement plan with the university in this role. It was somewhat satisfactory but there were some problems. WSU did not

intend to have him back as a teaching assistant. He was starting to really lose control of his life, kind of spinning out, away from home, isolated. Koberger is about to turn his Ph.D. work into reality. He goes from a student to a killer. Is it somebody that trains and practices over and over and over and over again? And then at some point, do they feel like they have to execute? Like a sick way of carrying out his thesis. Right.

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Where at? We're at 34. Oh, yeah. Hunter Johnson came out to me, and I was like, where's Ethan and Zana? And he's like, they're not here anymore. He's like, what do you mean they're not here anymore? He's like, I think they were murdered last night. He was like, yeah, all four.

We were like, what? It doesn't mean no sense. Now to the murders of those four college students from the University of Idaho. And now what happened a minute. It happened minute by minute. You go into Zana's room. What did you see?

Stabbing is close, personal, long term. You've got to be committed. The number of times that Kaylee was stabbed. There's no sugar coating it. The first person to find them. As soon as you get there, you know something's wrong. And a survivor who saw the killer in the house. The third time she opens her door, she's

opens her door, she sees a male figure. I just shut the door and locked it, said he knows to do. Now just released inside his home and his mind. He was on a website called serial killer timelines, and he just went down this list and clicked one after another, after another. And the police body camera from the crime scene.

I think we have a homicide. Secure the outside first. He made an absolutely critical mistake. What was the target? Just over the hill is the University of Idaho campus. This is Greek Row, the Sigma Chi House right there. And as you cross the street, you enter that off-campus housing. And this area in particular is really popular.

Students sort of passed down the houses from generation to generation. And in August of 2022, this is where five young girls moved in together. They're full of optimism, excited about life. And they're posting videos showing all of it online. And I'll wake up at night. You see your name on my phone. It's the moment's in out. We just called it the older girls' house.

Maddie stayed there and then Kaylee moved. then Kaylee moved there, and then Zana moved there, and then Bethany Dylan moved there. And the sixth housemate was Kaylee's golden doodle. His name was Murphy. She was really excited to have the house dog, is what she called it. Everything I like to do with my dog.

The King Road house was a three-story white house, right in the middle of Party Central. The house is three levels. It has six bedrooms, two on a three. each floor. Bethany's bedroom is on the first floor. Zana and Dylan's bedrooms are on the second floor along with the kitchen and the sliding glass door leading out to the porch. Kaylee and Madison's bedrooms are on the third floor. And Ethan was over at the King Road house a lot. It was always friends of Ethan that would go over, friends of Zana, friends of Kaylee and Maddie. There was never

anybody who shouldn't have been there. People didn't really have any interest in going into houses where they didn't know anybody. It was a party neighborhood. Just in the sense that, like, you walked over to that area on Friday and Saturday nights, listening for where people might be at, and then you see someone you know, you wander over. It's Saturday, November 12th. It's the last home game for the University of Idaho. For the University of Idaho Vandals, celebration is in the air.

Students start tailgating early. We had a lot of pregames before the football games. If the game was early, we would try and wake up early. Santa would usually be Face-timing me trying to wake me up, be like, hurry up, like, let's go. I had gotten text from Ethan being like, why aren't you here yet? So I was like, okay, I won't keep you waiting any longer. The House on King, it was the cutest place to take pictures. you could go on the third floor patio.

That patio was the scene of so many happy moments. Maddie's mom, Karen Laramie, shared those moments in the Prime Video Docu Series, One Night in Idaho, The College Murders. Kaylee texted me with the picture of Maddie on her shoulders. Just loving this amazing happy moment. I called Maddie, and she put me on FaceTime. And then I was having a conversation with all of that. Keeley Gonzalez posted this last photo to Instagram, writing one lucky girl to be surrounded by these people every day.

We were with our whole friend group, which was a normal weekend for us, just hanging out with our friends. And then from there, we all kind of split off. And we were like, bye, I love you. Gave each other a hug. The triplets, they went to Macy's formal. I think Zana just waited for Ethan probably. Ethan spent the beginning part of that night at the Betty's ball with his sister. From there he left with me back to Sigma Chi.

The party continued after the formal. And Ethan really wanted you to come party. So he started off by texting me. I think he said, dog, come hang out. We all want you here. And it was like, spam texting me. And I said, I'm going to bed, I think. It was like nine.

Or I'm not going to go. And then he said, love you. love you and I didn't even respond to that I think I was asleep by then and that I love you kind of stood out though well yeah yeah definitely because you didn't just normally text that to each other yeah after the game Kaylee and Maddie head down to the corner club it's a big hangout for college students are having some drinks hanging out with friends and then they decide they need a snack so they head downtown and they order mac and cheese from the grub truck we live in this world right now where there are cameras everywhere

so we know that Kaylee and Maddie were at the food truck around 1.30 in the morning Maddie was running around in that huge jacket hugging people Kaylee was just on her phone just laughing at Maddie and she was just smiling and she was just smiling And she was, they were happy. They were so happy. Maddie and Kaylee get a ride back to the King Road house using a ride share. And by 2 a.m., everyone's home. They're settling in for the night.

It's like a sleepover. Kaylee sleeps in Maddie's bed, just like they've done since they were kids. But Zana stays up. Zana orders DoorDash. And it gets delivered to the King Road House a little after 4 a.m. She takes it up to the kitchen. put some of her food onto a plate and she's eating that in her bedroom. She's on social media, the latest of 412 and just shortly after that.

Everything seemed so normal in that home on King Road, but by the next morning, nothing would ever be the same. Emily got a call from Dylan around 11-ish. That's when I felt like I needed to go over. And then what happened next? Uh, I went into the house. Something on location of your emergency. We don't know what.

We were complete panic. It's, this is, this is real. By 2 a.m., all the roommates are back home and settling in for the night. Police say around 3 a.m. shortly after leaving his apartment and heading towards Moscow, Brian Coburger turns his cell phone off. We can see Coburger's car on footage captured by a surveillance camera that was at the neighbor's house. He keeps circling the area.

He's making multiple passes at the house. We believe that Brian Coburger entered the house sometime shortly after his last scene on the video. Somewhere probably around 4.10 a.m. Police say Coburger entered through a sliding glass door in the back of the house. Investigators believe Zana was in her room with her boyfriend, Ethan, asleep in her bed,

Dillon's across the hall, Bethany, downstairs, and on the third floor, Kaylee and Maddie had fallen asleep together in Maddie's room. Zana was up. We see activity from her watch of just steps that were taken. We know that she's eating. She's on social media at 412 and just shortly after that. After entering the house, investigators believe Koeberger walked through the kitchen and went upstairs to the third floor, where he found Kaylee and Maddie. together, asleep. Kaylee and Maddie were both killed very quickly,

but they were stabbed repeatedly many times. Stabbing is close, personal, long-term, violent action. You've got to be committed to do a homicide. What investigators think happen is that Zan, Anna heard the commotion. At some point, Zana comes, we believe, up the stairs. Brian Koeberger either hears something or he hears the stairs.

Something alerts him and takes him away from what he's doing in that bedroom. Investigators say Zana turned and ran, and that Koberger followed, chasing her downstairs to her bedroom. Zana, after that initial contact in the doorway, she's fighting him. We know that because she has defensive wounds all over herself. She fought like hell.

And we think at that point, he realizes that there's a fourth person, and that's Ethan, that's in the bed. So he reaches over and stabs Ethan. It killed Ethan instantly. He continues to fight with Santa and ends up on the floor where ultimately he does finally kill her. At 4.17 a.m. less than 10 minutes after investigators believe Brian Koberger entered the house, the neighbor's surveillance camera captures what police describe as a loud thud, the sound of a whimper, and a dog barking. That camera is just about 50 feet from Zana's bedroom. In Zana's room, some things were pushed around, were moved around, and I think that's something that you're probably

hearing on the video. Because she was fighting. Right. After Coburger walks out of Zana's room, he then comes face to face with another one of her roommates. It's Dylan. Dylan was awakened by just some type of noises. Initially, she thought it was the dog, Murphy.

Then she thought she heard a male voice say, I'm here to help you. We believe that is Brian, Coburger, saying that to Zana. He's doing something to try to calm her to make her relax of who he is and why he's in this residence. Dylan, as she had overheard multiple things throughout this time period, she had opened her door a couple different times. The third time she opens her door, she sees a male figure. The description was a thin, tall individual wearing a mask, almost described as a basketball player physique and bushy eyebrows. She momentarily saw him, and then he turned and he left the residence.

He knows people were awake, probably believing at some point somebody called the police. I've got to get out of here. The fight was Anna could have just wiped him. We'll never know what made him pass that door up and head out. After that, Dylan is terrified. She starts texting Bethany, her roommate. Did you hear that? I'm trying to call the other roommates.

They're not answering. You've got somebody who had been drinking, was in and out of slumber, and somebody walks through in the middle of the night and still wonders in her own mind. Did she see it or did she dream it? She makes a mad dash for Bethany's room and decides to run downstairs

and spend the rest of the night with Bethany. As night turns in today, everything in Moscow is still quiet. But investigators say that Brian Coburger is awake, he's active. That includes spending more than an hour and a half on the phone with his mom and posing for a selfie, giving a thumbs up. Police say just after 9 a.m.,

Coburger is on the move, and he's headed back to 1122 King Road. He's not seeing anything on the news. I think he certainly would expect. This is going to be everywhere immediately. So I think that his curiosity has absolutely gotten to him. And so he goes back to the area. But for all this training, for all of his things that he studied, crime scene and serial killers, PhD program for criminology,

He made an absolutely critical mistake in that house that night. Welcome to Only Murders in the building. The official podcast. Join me, Michael Cyril Creighton, as we go behind the scenes with some of the amazing actors, writers, and crew from season five. The audience should never stop suspecting anything. How can you not be funny crawling around on a coffin? No, that's true.

Catch Only Murders in the Building official podcast. premiering September 9th wherever you get your podcasts and watch only murders in the building streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms Apply. Mother's dead. He shot two men.

I had no idea how deep this would go. Catch the all-new Hulu original documentary, Blood and Myth. I didn't want to shoot him. Based on the best-selling audiobook, Midnight Sun. I had to do what they wanted me to do. Any Indians? These mythical beings.

He saw God. was talking to him. What just made him snap? Blood and Myth. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms Supply. I woke up in the morning. It was kind of like chill Sunday.

Emily and Hunter came and were hanging out in my bed with me. And then Dylan called Emily and asked us all to come over. I could overhear what was going on. She sounded, freaked out. I just had a gut feeling and something in me told me that I need to just go. As soon as you get there, you know something's wrong. I walked just right in the door and... and Hunter already went up, and then he was like, okay, you, everybody get out.

Hunter finds Zana and Ethan murdered, but he decides to shield his friends from that reality. And he tells them only that someone inside is unconscious and to call 911. 9-1-9-1 location of your emergency. Something is happening. Something happens in our help. We don't know what. Disatching Moscow law ambulance for unconsciousness, 1122, King Road. Where's she up? Where's she up?

Yes. Where at? Up here? Up here. Okay, do that. 13, I think we have a homicide. I don't think any of us were prepared for that it's four young, completely innocent. kids.

We have two college-age people appearing both to be deceased. Lots of blood. We have two additional deceased on the third floor. We have two additional deceased on the third floor. Secure the outside first. There's a back entry. I was going to start taping it all. Okay.

Here. Can you guys go over to the dumpster for me, please? We were just placed on the store. placed on the street to sit down and wait we were all cold we were all scared her brains just started to continue to spiral I kept calling your name if she wouldn't answer and I saw the guy outside police speak to Dylan she's distraught she's the roommate who told police she saw a masked man in the house that night describe the guy that you saw it was a little bit taller than me

I'm almost positive. He's wearing a full black outfit. And he had this mask that was just over his forehead and over his mouth. And he didn't see anything to me, like at all. I just shut the door and locked it because I didn't know what to do. And I think he went out like the side door, the sliding door in the kitchen that goes out to the backyard. When we got there, that sliding glass door was left halfway open. You go into Zana's room. What did you see?

Zana was there. She was laying on the floor. And Ethan was on the bed. I got woken up by my friend. We'd partied pretty hard than that before. He's like, there's a ton of cops over at Zana's house. I walked over there. I didn't see Ethan.

So I figured he was inside helping whoever needed to be helped. His brother is his brother's walking up this way. Okay, you might hang out here, please? Hunter Johnson came out to me and I was like, where's Ethan and Zana? And he's like, they're not here anymore. He's like, what do you mean they're not here anymore? He's like, I think they were murdered last night. And you're at the grocery store?

I was at the grocery store. Mm-hmm. And I was talking to a friend. Fine. It's okay. And my phone kept ringing, and it was Hunter on the other end. And he just said he's not here, and he kept repeating it. And so I was like, well, go get him, go find him.

And he just kept saying it. And he goes, no, Mom, you don't understand. Ethan and Zana are not on this earth anymore. I just was like, there's just no way. Um, and I drove down the road and called Jim and, you know, it makes it real when you have to repeat it. Right. It drives me crazy because I've always wanted to protect my family. And there's really nothing there that I could have done instantly.

He was taken. We still didn't know where Kaley and Maddie were. We didn't know where Murphy was. And then U of I sent the homicide text. Throughout the day, the University of Idaho sent campus-wide text messages with updates on the investigation about a homicide and an unknown suspect. But at 5.17 p.m., students get a text message

that says, for the first time, four people had been killed. people had been killed. That was the moment that we knew where Kaylee and Maddie were. What time do you think he's asleep? The two surviving roommates, Dylan and Bethany, have received a lot of criticism for not calling 911 immediately

on the night of the murders. But they both told police they weren't certain that what Dylan thought she saw was real. I told her, can I need to come to your room because she was the only one that was answering me. So I just ran down there. And for a second, I stopped and I saw Zana pass out. And I thought maybe she was just like sleeping or something.

I didn't think anything because I was so out of it. I just fell asleep. And then we woke up this morning and no one was answering. We understand the disbelief that she's going through. What 19-year-old kid is going to come up with and assume what actually happened was happening? Investigators now know they're a few hours behind the killer, but as they walk into Maddie's third floor bedroom, police get their first big break. The comforters over, the girls take the comforter off. Lo and behold, there's a knife sheath laying right there. They find a sheath for a K-bar-style knife. There's no murder weapon, but the sheath is there.

That was definitely the first aha moment. have something in this house from the joke. Four murdered students, a panicked campus. And now the world's eyes on Moscow, Idaho. Now to the murders of those four college students from the University of Idaho. As investigators, try to figure out what happened in that house on King Road. We've told the public very clearly from the beginning that we believe it was a targeted attack.

They said, oh, this was a targeted attack, nothing to worry about. And my first question was, but you don't have anybody. That means there's somebody still out there. How could we not worry? We don't want to put our investigation in jeopardy by releasing what we have. The investigation group.

massively. We were trying to get every piece of video footage from that day from every surveillance camera in town captured from that night. Right across the street from Zana's bedroom is a house. They have surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Alontra, circling the house in the early morning hours of November 13th. We quickly realized that we had this white vehicle during this time leaving at a very fast, high rate of speed. You can see it is burning out of that neighborhood. So we believed at that point this was the vehicle of our subject. So we narrowed it down to a 2011 to 2016 in Alontera.

Believe it or not, when we ran Idaho registrations and just looking local, we had over 25,000. The search to track down that car has no limits. We are just wanting to talk to the individuals who are in that vehicle. Investigators also have a crucial piece of evidence found at the crime scene, left behind by the killer. A sheath for a K-bar knife. This knife sheath was found under Maddie's body

in the bed. Immediately it stood out because it was in stark contrast to the entire house. About four days in, the lab came back and said they had a sole source male DNA found the button of the knife sheet but there was no matches in codis for that DNA once we know we had the DNA from the sheath then we flew that to athrum and then they started to develop and work their part of it author is a company in which we build technology to basically bring

certainty to investigations forensic genetic genealogy is a tool that we use to identify someone or find the nearest relative. So I got a call and I was asked, what is the fastest that we could produce a result? Kristen was adamant that we get these folks' answers. I can't imagine that being my child and knowing that there's someone out there that could help. We have to help.

How fast can we get this DNA? It was a sergeant from the Moscow Police Department who got on a plane in Boise. They flew directly to Texas and hand-delivered it to Othram. They brought us down a tube of DNA that was remaining from that knife sheath. That DNA extract contained a lot of DNA. It was not a trace amount of DNA. It was 500 times more DNA than we generally see in our low quantity DNA cases.

The technology at Othrum is then able to build a profile, that's uploaded to genealogy databases, which searched for people who are connected to that unknown DNA. In this particular case, there was a unique biogeographical ancestry that allowed us to kind of narrow the search even early on.

And what we found is that there was a multigenerational American family based in Pennsylvania, genetic relatives that were related to the person we were looking for. While there's a massive, multifaceted investigation working to find him, right? and Koberger leaves Washington and heads home to Pennsylvania for winter break.

He drives across the country with his father in that white Hyundai Allantra. Hello. How you doing? How y'all doing today? So it's a long trip from Moscow, Idaho, all the way to Pennsylvania. Koberger's pulled over twice during this time.

Right up on the back end of that van, pulled you over for tailgating. So y'all work at the university there? I actually do work there. And he's pulled over for following a vehicle too closely. both times. By the time the co-workers arrived back in Pennsylvania, the FBI had taken over that genetic genealogy search from Othrum.

And just over a month after the murders, investigators get a name. On December 19th, the investigative genealogy team leader calls in, and he says, hey, Darren, goes, I have a first name for you. He's Brian. And he goes, hey, we also have a last name for you. Coberger, and he drives a white Hyundai-A-Lontra. Once we had his name at that point, immediately we knew that he was in Pennsylvania. When did the surveillance on him start?

Immediately. He only left the house three times, and he was noticed to be wearing rubber gloves all the times he had left the house. They need a way to test that DNA. So they pull the trash. The agent on scene had made contact with the... with the trash company to be able to ride the truck to collect the trash. They sort anything that could contain DNA.

They found an item in the trash that had male DNA that comes back and says, we have DNA in this trash that is the father of the DNA left on the knife sheet. Once we had the DNA paternity match from the trash pole. From a Q-tip specifically. We knew at that point that we had the person whose DNA was on that sheath. At that point, you have what you need

to get an arrest warrant for Brian Coburger. And news of an arrest spreads fast. The big story on action news tonight is a major break in the murder of four Idaho college students. People in this sleepy Poconos community are stunned. We got lied feed. We saw the armored vehicles roll in, them make entry, and we get the call out in custody.

And we want to get right to our breaking news as we come on the air, the arrest of a 28-year-old man in Pennsylvania in connection with the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students. Nearly seven weeks after the brutal murders, an arrest is finally made. Pennsylvania State Police make that arrest. We've got live feed coming from the helicopter from Pennsylvania State Police. We're getting constantly updated on what's going on, telling us, yes, they've got Brian in the house. We saw the armored vehicles roll in, then make entry, and we get the call out in custody. Detective's arrested 28-year-old, Brian, Christopher, Kohlberger in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. Coburger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Authorities have not revealed a possible motive just yet.

People in this sleepy Poconos community are stunned at one of their own has been arrested in connection with this grizzly crime. Agents from the Scranton office of the FBI after the arrest interviewed Brian's parents. They were, you know, aghast. We do know there was conversation among the family about, hey, Brian does drive a car like that? Brian, do you think, you know, and it was immediately quashed. There's no way Brian can do this, no way to do this. Nobody can comprehend that their child is capable of something like this. What was his reaction to the national media attention?

He was very surprised, actually. He didn't realize that it would garner national media news, I would say. Really? Yeah, it actually was. It was surprising. because he inquired as to which outlets were actually circling. Police department, search warrant, come to the door. After the arrest, police in Washington searched co-worker's apartment.

And in these just-released photos, you can see the Spartan place he left behind. One of the few personal items they found is a birthday card from his parents. He was taken back to the Pennsylvania State Police Barrett immediately upon being arrested and had given what turned out to be about a two and a half, three hour statement. What was a significantly long time that he interviewed until he asked for an attorney. What did he tell you about that interview? He was very limited. I didn't want to know a lot about the case because he was going to have an attorney that

would represent him on the murder charges. I want to make sure he's aware of how the process is going to play. out. I want to make sure he understands that the death penalty may be considered in the case. You thought right away it would be a death penalty case. Oh, absolutely. I had zero doubt. Brian Coburger agreed to be extradited and he was flown across the country to the Moscow Pullman airport and then brought here to the Leytaq County Jail to face murder charges while the world watched on. When they brought him off the plane, people were like, we got him. Thank God he wasn't a local. He wasn't one of us.

Coburgers' attorneys enter a not guilty plea for him, insisting that he's innocent. But prosecutors decide to pursue the death penalty. And as they prepare for trial, they dig into every part of Coburger's life, particularly his digital life, sifting through his Amazon purchase history that showed he bought a K-bar knife and sharpener back in Pennsylvania. And they look at his cell phone and computer searches right right up until the days before his arrest. On Christmas night, the 11 o'clock hour heading into the very early morning of the 26th.

He was on a rudimentary website called Serial Killer Timelines. Just a list of hyperlinked names. And he just went down this list and clicked one after another, after another, for like two hours. December 27th, there's some sort of a show that he watched. It's a YouTube, and it's Ted Bundy, sort of standing facing it forward, with a hood pulled up and over the front, and on 1229, just two days later, he's taking a picture of himself looking like Ted Bundy. And although investigators weren't able to make a direct link between Brian Koeberger and any of the victims, those digital forensic experts did find something interesting on his phone. The FBI gave us keywords and said, OK, search for these things.

We needed victim names, we needed what did they call their Wi-Fi. So all these things we searched for it. And I remember saying to Jared, I have a hit for Mad Greek. Remember, Mad Greek is that Moscow restaurant where Madi and Zana both worked. This search for Mad Greek, however he arrived at it, was done through the Google Maps app. What we can say is that Mad Greek was presented to him on his phone. It doesn't necessarily draw a hard line to these victims. Now to the sudden and stunning turn in the Idaho College murder's case.

After insisting his innocence for nearly three years, defendant Brian Coburger today pleading guilty to fatally stabbing four students. Coburger had maintained his innocence the entire time, but he decided to change his plea from innocent to guilty. That was huge. And as part of that plea deal, prosecutors agree to take the death penalty off the table. We got what we wanted. And we got what the wall. When you say we got what we wanted, though, that we does not include all of the victims' families. There are victims' families that have been very public about wanting more, perhaps a taped confession, the location of the murder weapon.

You don't feel like you, you didn't feel like you could have asked for those things. There was no legal way we could have compelled those. And quite frankly, there is nothing that he could have said that I think would have been credible or believable. and the minimizing and the lies that would have even been more damaging and frustrating to everybody. You've seen it. Thank you. Without a trial, Koberger moves right to a sentencing hearing, and the loved ones for the victims finally get their own day in court. All right, so with that, let's start with then impact statements.

I just wanted to reclaim their power. The truth is, as dumb as they come, sloppy, weak, dirty. Brian Koberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murderer. But he still has to sit and face the families of his victims. All right, so with that, let's start with impact statements. The first statement comes. from one of the two surviving roommates, Bethany Funk. She's unable to be in the courtroom herself.

So her statement is read by her friend and also one of the first people to arrive at the house that day, Emily Alon. I was so frantic that morning and scared to death, not knowing what had happened. And when I made Ben I-N-I-1-1-call, I couldn't even get out the words. And from then on, I don't remember a thing. I wish more than anything I could hug that one last time.

And I wish I could tell them how much I love them. I will keep living for them as long as I am lucky enough to still be here. And then it's the second surviving roommate, Dylan Mortensen. Dylan, just take your time, all right? I was barely 19 when he did this. I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable. I couldn't be alone? Then there are the panic attacks.

The kind that slam into me like a tsunami out of nowhere. I can't breathe. I can't think. I can't stop shaking. A living is how I honor them. Speaking today is to help me find some sort of justice for them. He may have taken so much. for me but he will never get to take my voice one after another family members

described the loved ones they lost and notably among them is Kaylee's sister Olivia Gonzalez my sister Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take they were not yours to study to stalk or to silence The whole time I just wanted to reclaim their power, reclaim their voice, especially in a way that, you know, really was the end to this chapter. You got under his skin? Absolutely. Disappointments like you thrive on pain, on fear, and on the illusion of power. The truth is, the scariest part about you, is how painfully average you turned out to be.

The truth is, as dumb as they come, stupid, clumsy, slow, sloppy, weak, dirty. Did you say everything that you wanted to say? For the most part, yes. I didn't want to break eye contact. So that gaze was so intense, and it really did feel like a standoff. You want the truth? Here's the one you'll hate the most. If you hadn't attacked them in their sleep,

in the middle of the night, like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your fucking ass. The Chapin family was not at the sentencing. They chose instead to honor Ethan, privately. Hi! The Chapins recently got to visit that DNA lab that played such a crucial role in solving this case. It came after a chance meeting a few years back. This stranger, who I did not know, came up and she just wrapped her arms around me and hugged me.

And she just said, we are working on your case and you don't have to worry. Everything will be okay. Everything's going to be okay. That there will be justice in the outcome. I mean, that was what I was trying to relay. Right. And that's how it felt. Jim and I would rely on that information.

to, you know, in your toughest days, you were like, Kristen told us not to worry, and we use that. The Chapins now want to help advocate for the work being done at this lab. Maybe our family could become a face for the victim's side of what these people do. If we can make a positive impact for the future on some level, it's important.

I miss him every day. When you lose your son, at 20, it's a different loss. And I miss him every single day. All righty. It's nice that, you know, when we have so many different photographs and videos and we can still hear their voices, they were some really, really cool people. It helps to remember them and not what happened to them. Hopefully one day they're just seen as who they are and not what happened to them. And just as college is starting again, there's now a memorial garden at the University of Idaho with a plaque bearing the name of each of the four victims.

A touching tribute. As for Brian Coburger, David, he received four life sentences, one for each of his victims and an additional 10 years for burglary. As part of that plea deal, he waived his right to an appeal. That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts. And I'm David Muir from all of us here at 2020. in ABC News. Good night. Talk about stepping up. It's time to level up your game.

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