20/20 - The Crime Scene: New Details in Idaho Murders Case

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Introducing a new podcast for the true crime-obsessed, "The Crime Scene Weekly," hosted by Brad Mielke. Each week, "The Crime Scene" focuses on what everybody's talking about in true crime: what all your favorite podcasts are covering, and what's taking over your TikTok feed. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. In this week's episode, ABC News has obtained the dramatic 911 call in the Idaho student murders case. What we've learned could change the way we see the whole case. Plus, late breaking news on suspect Bryan Kohberger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Deborah Roberts. We've got a new show for you that I think you're really going to want to check out. It's called The Crime Scene Weekly from ABC News. Each week, host Brad Milky, who you know from start here, sits down with the journalists covering the latest true crime stories. From the discovery of grisly new crimes to breakthroughs in cases that are far from closed, you can stay up to speed on the latest true crime headlines. It's true crime in real time. And for the next few weeks, we're going to bring the crime scene weekly to you here in the 2020 feed. If you like it, make sure to follow the show and keep listening. Again, it's the crime scene weekly. Now, here's Brad. With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan.

You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. Hey, Crime Scene listeners. As we were about to hit publish on this episode, our second episode, something happened. Hundreds of pages of documents were filed by the prosecution last night with some fascinating details, including a final assignment belonging to the suspect Brian Koberger, who had been studying criminology,

and they say this could have a direct bearing on this case. So stick with us at the end of our conversation with ABC News anchor, Cana Whitworth, and we will have the latest on that breaking news. In addition to everything coming up right now. For the first time, ABC News has obtained the audio from a 911 call in the Idaho College murders case that shocked the nation. What we've learned could change the way we see the whole case. Welcome to the crime scene. Every week we talk about the biggest true crime story of the moment with the ABC News reporters

who know it best. I'm Brad Milkey. I host ABC's daily news podcast start here. And here we're going to bring you the latest on what's big and what's new in the true crime scene. This week, we're talking to ABC News correspondent Kena Whitworth, who is the first network reporter on the ground in Idaho, and has been closely following this shocking quadruple murder case for over two years. Kena is with us now. Hey, Kena. Hey, Brad. This case horrified Idaho, but also captivated the nation back in the winter of 2022.

You've hosted a whole podcast about this called the King Road Killings, but there's been new developments. Before we get into those, can you just, I guess, walk us through the background of the case? Yeah, sure. If anyone knows anything about fall in Northern Idaho,

it's heavenly. And that's when all of this started to unfold. It was it was late in the football season. I think it was the Vandals last home game. They'd had a great season. And these four students went with all their friends to the football game. Like you do in college, they went out that night, the ones that were 21, went to some bars, got some late night food. The younger ones went to some, you know, parties at a frat house. Greek life is huge on campus at the University of Idaho. It's a big deal. These four students were generally beloved by everyone that we spoke with,

and they were all heavily involved in Greek life as well. And then you know by Sunday morning everyone was shook to their core and at the time when we started to learn that these four students had died there were questions but then Brad when we learned how they died, is when this story got really scary because we learned that all four of them had been stabbed to death. Kaylee Gonzalves and her lifelong best friend Madison Mogan were found stabbed to death in the upstairs bedroom of this house that was located just off campus on King Road. And on the second floor of this three-level home, Zanna Kernodel and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin were also found

stabbed to death in her bedroom. No murder weapon has ever been found and at the time there was no suspect, there was no lead, but what there was, was these two surviving roommates in the home. And when we learned that one of the surviving roommates that night actually told authorities she saw a man clad in black with bushy eyebrows walk past her that night. And then really, from there, the other big surrounding question that we're starting to get some answers to finally is this 911 call that was placed nearly eight hours after authorities think these four

students were murdered. And before we even get into the police involvement in the police investigation, can we talk about then what these victims were doing on the night of the murder, Kana? Yeah, you know, when people are listening to this, I hope that everyone is reminding themselves of what they were like when they were 1920 21. Especially if you were in college at the time, Kaylee and Maddie went to one of their favorite bars. It's called the corner club and Moscow is such a neat place.

It's a beautiful college town and it kind of has this one main street and the corner club is sort of at the very end of the main street. And so they were there and they were hanging out with their friends. And then you actually see them later on a street camera and they're walking down the street. And when I talked to their friends oh my heart was beating fast all of a sudden thinking about this when I talked to their friends after this they all kind of giggled and laughed about how much they miss the girls and these mannerisms that they could see in

this video that they love so much Maddie's wearing somebody else's huge sweatshirt and she's kind of like swinging her arms you know and really playful and they go down and they go to this grub truck and it's that late night food you know really popular with all these college students and you see them on camera they're sort of giggling and laughing and they go home. And so far that video from that food truck is the last time that we see Kaylee and Maddie alive. We know that Zana and her boyfriend Ethan had also gone to a frat party earlier that night and then they eventually made their way home as well

to the house on King Road and the other two roommates, the ones that survived that lived on the first and second floor were already home at the time. Okay. So what happens next is it goes past midnight into the early morning. They get home pretty late. Maybe it's normal time for college kids. And what authorities are telling us is that Kaylee and Maddie stayed up till really late, till about 3 a.m. and they were calling Kaylee's ex-boyfriend. It's hard to call him an ex-boyfriend though if I'm being honest with you Brad because he was so involved

in her life still. They shared a dog together and they had been friends for most of their lives right so he's a huge factor in her life. And they were calling him until like three o'clock in the morning. And then Zana, which I've been told by her friends is a total Zana move, ordered late night delivery food from DoorDash. And that arrives around 4am. And it's 12 minutes later that authorities think someone came into that house. And after that is where things get pretty hazy there. Hazy how? For a long time we really had to rely on court documents to try to figure out what happened there.

So one of the roommates told authorities, and this was all in the probable cause affidavit, told authorities that she thought she heard Kaylee playing with her dog upstairs. Then she heard a voice say, there's someone here. And according to this surviving roommate, she opened her door to check, but kind of didn't see anything and then she hears crying. She opened her door again and at that point, Brad, according to these documents, she heard a male voice say something to the effect of it's okay I'm going to help you. Well around that same time, Brad, a

surveillance camera that's next door to this home hears the audio of what authorities think are voices, maybe a whimper, and it's followed by a loud thud and then a dog barking. So the next time this roommate opens her door, this is the third time now. She tells authorities this person walked essentially right past her towards their sliding glass door. And really Brad, you know, up until recently, that was all we knew was nothingness after that. What do you mean nothing? What happens next? Well, for a long time, we didn't know. And there was

all these questions because the thing is, Brad, that authorities think the murders happened between 4 and 425 in the morning and nobody called 911 until almost noon the next day. I mean, I talked to a neighbor who told me he got up that morning and went to work and drove past the house and came back home. Wow. All in that time frame. Wow. And the new development here is you got your hands on the audio of that 911 call, right?

Yeah. Look, we have been asking for this 911 call for so long because it doesn't make sense to us why there would be this nearly eight hour gap in between someone seeing someone in the house hearing all of that stuff and finally alerting 911. We first got a readout of this call and that was one thing Brad to read it but to hear it is so different because you hear this panic and this confusion and there's so many people on the call because these surviving roommates called their friends over that morning for help before they

called 911 and they're passing the phone around and the dispatcher's frustrated and one of the things that has really stuck with me Brad is that you know I've spent a lot of time speaking with Kaylee Gonzales parents and her mother Christy has told me for a really long time that she didn't want this 911 call to be released she didn't want to have to hear it she knew that it would just break her heart and it is heartbreaking it is it is hard to listen to. But what Kaylee's dad, Steve, also points out is that the confusion for him also paints a picture of innocence around these roommates. Okay. And we are going to take a quick break right here.

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When is enough enough? When there's no one left to fight. Where is June Osborn? Rise up and fight for your freedom. The Hulu Original Series, The Handmaid's Tale. Final season premieres April 8th, streaming on Hulu. Okay, we're back with Kana Whitworth. ABC News has obtained the 911 call of that fateful night in Moscow, Idaho, which we're going to play right now. And just a warning to listeners. We're gonna play almost the whole call here. The only thing authorities redacted is the phone number given by the caller. You'll hear silence there. This call is disturbing. So if you don't want to hear it, I would skip ahead about five minutes. Okay, here's the call.

I don't know location of the emergency. What is the address of the emergency? One more. What is the rest of the address? Oh, King Street Road. Okay. And is that a house or an apartment? It's a house.

Can you repeat the address to make sure that I have it right? I'll talk to you guys. We're, um, we live at the white, so we're next to them. I need someone to repeat the address for verification. The address? 1122 King Road. And what's the phone number that you're calling from? What's your phone number? And tell me exactly what's going on. Um, one of our, one of the roommates has passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up.

Okay. Oh, and they saw some man in their house last night. Yeah. Sorry, just in case you you with the patient? Okay, I need someone to keep the phone, stop passing it around. Can I just tell you what happened pretty much? What is going on currently? Has someone passed out right now?

I don't really know, but pretty much at 4 a.m. Okay, I need to know what's going on right now if someone has passed out. Can you find that out? Yeah, I'll come. Come on, let gotta go check. But we have to. Wait, can I just pause this, Cana? Because it sounds clear to me like they haven't, they know something's wrong, but they have not even gone in the room where these bodies are.

Yeah, that's the thing, Brad, is there's so much confusion surrounding all of this, right? And the calm person that you heard on the call, by the way, was a friend from across the street. She says, I live in the whites. They're these apartment buildings that everyone in Moscow knows right across the street. So she came over and she's calm on that call because the surviving roommate is so upset. I mean, she can't even finish the street. So she came over and she's calm on that call because the surviving roommate is so upset.

I mean she can't even finish the address and then she's sort of pleading with the dispatcher. Let me tell you what happened. We almost get a clear account from the surviving roommate of what happened and the dispatcher sort of interrupts her because from the dispatcher's perspective she needs to know right now what's happening is someone passed out and it is clear that they don't understand the condition of anybody. Okay and so let's play the rest of this this is sort of as they're finding the condition of the bodies here that we now know are our past saving. Okay, and how old is she? She's 20. 20 you said? Yes, 20.

Hello? Hello? Okay, I need someone to stop passing the phone around because I've talked to four different people. Sorry, they just gave me the phone. Is she breathing? Hello? Is she breathing? No. Okay. You talk to them. Say I can't talk to them. Okay. Hello? Okay. My R.D. sent the ambulance and law enforcement to stay on the line. If there is a defibrillator available, send someone to get it now and tell me when you have it.

Say that again? There's a police here right now. Okay. If there is a defibrillator available, send someone to get it now and tell me when you have it. We don't have it. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. Do you have a defibrillator? Cana, I mean, just listening back to all that, what is your impression of that call? Yeah, it's so hard, Brad.

You know, you hear this male voice. He was also one of the friends that that came over and you hear him sort of yelling, Ethan, Zanna, kind of calling out to them. And then you kind of make out almost it almost sounds like a get out get out you know real frantic and then people are running and there's heavy breathing and panting and and panic at that point starts to set in and then that male voice takes the phone and is asked is she breathing and he says no. The composure in that young man is remarkable, especially given what we know happened. And so I do still think that there's questions about the layout of this house.

And I did ask, I asked Kaylee Gonzales' parents, was Zana's door open? And at this point, they tend to think that it's open. But what they're telling me, Brad, is that by just kind of poking your head in there, perhaps you still couldn't make out the horror of what really happened. And then just not to dwell on this too much, but I think a lot of people might go, hello, these people, there was a man in your house at four something in the morning. Why did it take this long? I mean, is there a sense as to why nothing happened for so long? Well, one thing also is that the surviving roommate at one point told authorities,

you know, she thought maybe this person was a firefighter or something. At one point, this person she saw was carrying a vacuum type object. There's just a lot of confusion here. And according to the defense, the surviving roommate had been drinking. She also is the kind of person who had lucid dreams. And just to back things up a bit, like the details that you're mentioning, those were in past court filings, the detail about the surviving roommate drinking and being prone to those lucid dreams was mentioned in a filing by the defense.

But then also, there's these new court filings, Brad, that paint a picture sort of minute by minute of what happened based on the communication between these two surviving roommates. And we know that, you know, the one surviving roommate there on the second floor, the one who saw the band clad in black, initially started calling, you know, all the girls in the house, Kaylee, Maddie, Zana, and then she finally connects with the surviving roommate there on the first floor and they start texting back and forth and their text messages are you know that of young girls that are very confused within the house they're texting to each other just from different rooms exactly huh one is on the first floor one is on the second floor this is also the floor where Xana and Ethan were killed and then there's a third floor where Kaylee and Maddie were

killed and this roommate on the second floor is the one that starts all these communications where Xana and Ethan were killed. And then there's a third floor where Kaylee and Maddie were killed. And this roommate on the second floor is the one that starts all these communications, right? Calling all the girls, texting everyone. And she finally hears back from that roommate on the first floor and they have this whole text exchange. What do they say?

Like, what are they texting at that point? Yeah, I mean, so again, a reminder here, these are young college girls and they're saying, like like what's going on? And then there's some confusion because you know, they're saying wait XANA was an all-black earlier and then the roommate says no, but it was like a ski mask almost and then Described something over his forehead and mouth and then they start to get scared. And then she says, my phone's gonna die.

And the roommate on the first floor says, come to my room, run, come down here now. And the first filing that we got, Brad, said there wasn't a lot of communication after that. There was a few texts where she was pleading with the victims to answer their phones and they weren't. And then at 10.23 a.m. she again is pleading with them to answer their phones and they don't.

And then she contacts her dad and then, you know, then the 911 call is made. It just paints a really horrifying picture. And it's interesting because the way these filings come out in this story, the defense has entered a new filing in saying, no, these roommates were communicating a lot more than you think. And they were up at 7 a.m. and they were on social media. And if they were so afraid, why didn't they leave?

Why didn't they call 911? That's what's so confusing, Kena. It's kind of like you know that there is communication happening, and yet it's not like, hey, let's find out what happened. And there's hours where nothing happens. So you're wondering, like, did they go to sleep? Are they just kind of in denial? Is it all of the above?

Do we have answers to that, I guess? You know, I try to get the perspective here from Kaylee's dad. He's spoken with all of these kids. And generally what he thinks here is that what this goes to show is the innocence of these young kids who were partying and never in a million years could have imagined that that is what happened to their friends. You know, the one name we haven't said so far, Kana, is Brian Coburger, right? He is emerged as the suspect in this case.

His lawyers say he's innocent, but that all brings us to kind of another interesting fold here, which is how he was arrested and how the FBI says it found DNA linking him to this. What can you tell us about that? So this was a six week manhunt. They had no suspect for a really long time. This community was on edge. What happened according to authorities is that this knife sheath was left behind.

They swabbed it, they found DNA on it. And they tried to make a profile of this DNA. So what they first do is they run it through the law enforcement system. But if you're not in the law enforcement system, nothing's going to ping. And what happened according to authorities is that they used investigative genetic genealogy. Now, some consider this to be very controversial, to link Brian Coburger to these crimes. And they build out a family tree in a profile. And this got linked to Brian Coburger's dad. Right. And investigative genetic genealogy. This is where you get DNA like from a knife sheath. You load that data onto public genealogy sites and you build out a family tree from there. Right. So what was happening with Coburger at that time?

In the meantime, in this six weeks, Brian Coburger, a former PhD student at Washington State University, has left Pullman, Washington, driven across the country with his father in a white Hyundai Elantra. I remember this. He was going home for the holidays, right? Gets pulled over twice, makes it home just around Christmas time. Well, once authorities make this link to Brian Coburger's dad, they start surveilling the house. Around that same time, a Washington state police officer in Pullman is looking for White Hyundai Elantres and he finds one and he pulls up the driver's license and he says, huh, this person has bushy eyebrows.

And as the authorities are surveilling Brian Coburger, what we know from a recent filing here from the judge in Boise is that they had to move in quick for this very dramatic late night arrest because they thought perhaps he was destroying evidence in the car that they believe to be linked to this case. So they move in quick and he is arrested and he is very quickly extradited to Idaho because according to his lawyers at that time, he was eager to be exonerated. And, you know, so authorities want to say that it was very clean cut how they use this genetic genealogy and made their way to Brian Coburger. But Coburger's lawyers have really fought this. What were his lawyers objecting to?

First of all, the FBI worked with this trash collection company that went through the Coburger neighborhood, which is a gated neighborhood in the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and collect trash, and that they brought the trash to the FBI. Oh, so they're like, hey, it's not cool that, A, you're using genealogy to find out, oh, this links to your dad somehow. And B, that you're doing all these hopscotches with DNA, which, by the way, you got through a trash collection company.

And the thing is, Brad, the judge isn't buying it in Boise right now. OK, so he's going to let this go in. And after the judge made that decision, there was another really interesting filing that came down from the state. And that filing indicated that Brian Koberger's defense team plans to argue that this key piece of evidence, this knife sheath, could have been planted at the scene

by the real perpetrator. And perhaps that's why it contained Brian Coburger's DNA. Hmm. Hey, and when we're talking about Coburger, he's in custody right now. There's the chance that he could face the death penalty. And yet that is one of the other big developments recently, right? Can you walk us through that? Yeah.

So this is a capital case. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. And Brian Coburger's lawyers have tried to have it taken off the table multiple times. But their most recent argument is that it should be taken off the table because they say he has autism spectrum disorder. And they say that it could create a bias within the jury based on his general mannerisms. Oh, like, like his mannerisms might make him seem less sympathetic or seem less caring,

but maybe it's related to his disorder. Sure. Like he might not be reacting the way someone without ASD would to something in court and that that could potentially bias the jury. They talk about his rocking back and forth and they feel like all of these mannerisms are sinister in a way that they can be perceived that way. And so they're worried about how that comes off in the media, how the jury would see that and they also say Brad that him being described as socially awkward shouldn't be a surprise to anyone because that, according to his lawyers, is a hallmark of his disability.

And so they're pushing back on that and they're doing that at the same time that a law was just signed by the governor in Idaho that makes Idaho the only state in this country where execution by firing squad is the main means of execution. Well, and so at the end of the day, Kena, I mean, with this audio that you guys have obtained, I guess, how does this sort of affect your overall view of the case and where it goes next? Because there have been so many twists and turns. I think we just finally have a lot of information now. And I think we have a lot more information

than we thought we would have. And the thing that we don't want to overlook right now, Brad, is the most recent filing in which prosecutors allege Brian Coburger purchased a K-Bar style knife and a sheath on Amazon eight months before these murders. And actually, we got a reply filing this week on that purchase. The defense is arguing that the Amazon account was used by the whole Coburger family, meaning the knife could have been purchased, yes, but not necessarily, they say, by Brian Coburger.

It's also important to point out here that this murder weapon has never been found. So there's still so many outstanding questions, Brad. Wow. And trial starts in August. Kana Whitworth, I know you'll be there. Thank you so much. Yeah, of course. Thanks, Brad.

Now, as I mentioned at the very top of this episode, after Kana and I recorded this conversation, we got some late breaking news. ABC has gotten their hands on a filing that was released Wednesday afternoon, like this Wednesday. The filing includes some stunning details about Brian Coburger. So I've called up Kana to get the latest. Kana, thank you for coming back on short notice.

You've had a little bit of time with this filing. What can you tell us about it? Yeah, Brad, glad to be back with you. And that's the thing about this case right now is this is fascinating because there's been a lot of focus on Brian Coburger's education throughout all of this. And what we're hearing from the state now, buried in this filing

that was released, is this homework assignment that Brian Coburger did. It's called the crime scene scenario final. And this was done when he was at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. So this was prior to him being at Washington State, prior to him pursuing his PhD. But this sort of lays out what he was doing there at DeSales.

And it's really, really detailed. What this homework assignment essentially is, is Brian Coburger describing how if you were an investigator, how you would analyze a crime scene. And Brad, it's eerie because this crime scene that Brian Coburger has laid out for his final Involves a white woman who's dead She's 35 years old as he writes it out and Brian Coburger talks about the steps you would take to make sure that you don't Contaminate the crime scene right how to make sure that you don't leave fingerprints how you take photos Mostly how you would notice the bruises on the victim's face, the marks on her neck, specifically a bloody shirt,

because this was a stabbing murder. But you're saying this is specifically about what police will be looking for at a crime scene, like deep knowledge of what authorities would want to get their hands on. Exactly. And he also talks about the things that you have to notice in the crime scene, especially on the victim and the surrounding areas, things like defense wounds, or what he writes in here is hesitation marks on her related to the knife, or trying to find out if there are multiple stab wounds.

And he talks about Brad doing things like making sure you're wearing gloves, right? Making sure that you're completely covered and that it can't be a fibrous material that you're covered in, that you have to bring forceps and small tweezers and a pair of scissors. The detail is just fascinating. I'm gonna read directly to you if I can. It says, I must ensure that myself and my fellow crime scene personnel are wearing gloves and other protective equipment

as to avoid contaminating the scene with latent fingerprints. And that's when he goes into the fiber free stuff, right, Brad, covering your mouth, covering your hair, because you don't want to get saliva, skin cells, any bodily fluids in the scene. It's several pages long. And one other thing that stood out to me, I should make sure to swab under her fingernails to see if the DNA of the offender is there. She likely dug into their skin. And he notes in his homework that if there's not forced entry, it may be suggested that

the woman knew her killer. And then he actually uses the words, crimes of passion are rooted in emotionality and impulsivity. And Brad, when these murders happened on King Road investigators right away talked about just how personal a crime like this is when you stab someone you have to get up close and personal to them and it really haunted investigators from the beginning and in fact the mayor took a lot of heat because he questioned openly had it been a crime of passion. It's a little bit eerie Brad but also this is part of what

they have to do this is part, but also this is part of what they have to do. This is part of their final. This is part of their responsibility as a student. I was gonna say, he was studying criminology, right? So I mean, how does this then play into the trial that's coming up or how will prosecutors try to use this? I think prosecutors are probably going to use this to showcase his knowledge and the things that he understood

about how a crime scene would be analyzed. I think it's also important to remind everybody that when he was arrested, his professor at DeSales told the Daily Mail about what a brilliant student he was, that she had never really recommended all but one other student for a PhD program. So there's just so many wild facts to be dug up about his time at DeSales. Yeah and we'll have to see if this even gets admitted into evidence let alone whether a jury thinks it's relevant but if people say you know like a murderer makes a hundred mistakes the implication from the prosecutors here seems to be that if this is the guy that he might have made

a few less than that. Kina Whitworth, thank you for covering this late breaking news. Brad, thank you and thanks for your dedication. Now, let's quickly hit up the other big stories in the world of true crime this week. First up, a woman has been charged with murder in the death of Telemundo sports reporter Adam Manzano. Manzano was found dead in his hotel room in Kenner, Louisiana, after traveling to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. According to the autopsy, Manzano died from the combined effects of Xanax and alcohol,

along with positional asphyxia, which is when someone's physical position obstructs their breathing. No plea has been entered. The next story capturing headlines this week. At an isolated research base in Antarctica, a man is accused of attacking and threatening his colleagues. The alleged perpetrator has been put under psychological evaluation and has cooperated with South Africa's Ministry of Environment, which oversees the base there.

The nine-member research team is expected to stay at the base for about 13 months, meaning they'll be living in close quarters through the hostile and dark Antarctic winter. Lastly, the missing University of Pittsburgh student Shediksa Kanonke, whose disappearance while on spring break in the Dominican Republic, launched an international effort to find her, is believed to have died by drowning. Kanonke's family has asked officials to declare her legally dead. A 22-year-old college student was with Kanonke the night she went missing. He told prosecutors the two went swimming and kissed in the ocean. He is not a suspect and is not charged with a crime. All right, that will do it for this week's episode of The Crime Scene.

Thank you so much for being with us. The Crime Scene weekly is a production of ABC audio produced by Nora Richie and Nick Fiero. Our supervising producer is Susie Liu mixing by Nick Fiero. Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Tara Gimble, Josh Margolin and Sasha Pesnik. Josh Cohen is our director of podcast programming Laura Mayer is our executive producer. I'm Brad Milky. I'll see you next week at the crime scene.