Haunting secret trove of Idaho murder pictures: Leaked images reveal last moments of Bryan Kohberger's victims
- WARNING: Graphic images
Blood-spattered walls. Soaked-through mattresses. Floorboards dyed red.
Overturned furniture suggesting the young victims bravely fought back in their final moments.
Thousands of previously unseen crime scene photographs from the University of Idaho murders were released this week, giving the most detailed look yet inside the off-campus home in Moscow where Bryan Kohberger killed four college students in November 2022.
Nearly 3,000 images were quietly made public by Idaho State Police on Tuesday before being swiftly taken down online.
The Daily Mail downloaded the files in full before they disappeared, but has chosen not to publish the most graphic images.
Many showcase typical student life: red plastic cups, empty beer cans, books and school work, clothing strewn across bedrooms.
But hundreds of the images also document the obscene brutality that unfolded in the early hours of November 13, 2022.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Clockwise from left: Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison 'Maddie' Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were killed in their Moscow, Idaho, home by Bryan Kohberger in 2022
Pools of blood cover the floor in Kernodle's room - with an out-of-place bedside cabinet suggesting she put up a fight
A folded rug and strewn clothes back up investigators' theory that Kernodle, a junior from Post Falls, Idaho, bravely fought Kohberger
The blood-soaked mattress and pillows in Kernodle's room, where her boyfriend Chapin, a freshman from Mount Vernon, Washington, had been sleeping and was also killed
Blood splatter and stains are visible throughout the home (located at 1122 King Road), from the kitchen and bedrooms to the hallways, stairs and common areas.
Some images show blood-soaked bedding – sheets, comforters and pillows – in the rooms where the victims slept. Blood can also be seen smeared across walls, furniture, rugs and personal belongings such as cellphones and laptops.
The victims – Madison 'Maddie' Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 – were stabbed to death in their home by Kohberger, 31, a former criminology PhD student with no known connection to any of the students. A motive has never been given.
The now-demolished house was a three-story rental with six bedrooms spread across three levels.
Investigators believe Kohberger entered through an unlocked back door at around 4am, wearing all-black clothing and a mask. He went straight to the third floor and first stabbed best friends Mogen and Goncalves, who were sharing Mogen's bed after a night out.
Eerie photos show Mogen's bright pink cowboy boots sitting on the windowsill next to a decorative pink-and-white 'M' initial, a picture frame, a small plant and a candle.
The room is also decorated with flowers, a mirror and books, including a copy of the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel It Ends With Us, stacked on a shelf amid the chaos.
Blood covers Mogen's bedding, mattress, pillows and surrounding furniture.
Mogen's pink cowboy boots sit eerily still on the windowsill with a decorative 'M' initial
The floor of Kernodle's bedroom shows blood dripping down the side of the bed and walls
Blood splatters a white wall in Kernodle's room
A laptop lies on top of a blood-stained chair in Kernodle's room
Bloodstains are seen on the floor covers a cell phone in Kernodle's room
A shot from behind the doorframe hints at the chaos that unfolded
Investigators measure where blood was found on furniture in Kernodle's room
Streaks mark the door frame and handle, hinting at a struggle in the bedroom before the first two victims were killed.
Kohberger's leather knife sheath, later found in the room, would become pivotal in securing his conviction last July.
DNA recovered from the sheath placed him inside the home during the murders, a key forensic link that helped prosecutors close the case.
While Mogen and Goncalves were being attacked, Kernodle had just received a DoorDash food delivery and took it to the kitchen on the second floor.
Investigators theorize that she may have heard the commotion and headed upstairs toward Mogen's room, potentially startling Kohberger and causing him to exit Mogen's room in a rush, leaving the knife sheath behind.
What we do know for sure is that Kohberger then followed Kernodle to her bedroom, where she was stabbed more than 50 times.
Chapin, her boyfriend, who was in her bed, was also fatally stabbed.
Photographs of Kernodle's room reveal more blood-stained bedding, streaks on the walls, pools of blood on the floor and spatter across furniture and clothing.
Beer cans are seen strewn on the staircase. The blue spatters are a chemical mixture used by forensic investigators to detect trace amounts of blood
A kitchen knife beside red plastic cups in the kitchen. It is not the blade used in the killings
Blood marks on the bedroom door of Madison 'Maddie' Mogen's bedroom on the third floor - along with an inspirational mood board
Mogen's room on the night she was ambushed and murdered
Bryan Kohberger's knife sheath was left on Mogen's bed - it became pivotal in convicting Kohberger
A brown bag of Kernodle's DoorDash delivery from Jack in the Box on the kitchen counter
Best friends Goncalves and Mogen were sharing the bed at the time of the attack
Some images show deep rips in her mattress, suggesting Kernodle struggled against her attacker, while overturned furniture hints at a desperate attempt to defend herself.
The Idaho State Police told the Daily Mail the department recognizes the pain felt by victims' families but maintained that the release complied with Idaho public records laws and existing court rulings.
But the ISP said it had taken the images down after receiving several complaints that some photos showed victims' hair or other body parts.
Officials said they were reviewing the photos and planned to release them again soon.
Kohberger, who had been studying at Washington State University, pleaded guilty to all charges, including four counts of first-degree murder, on July 2 last year.
He was then sentenced to four life terms plus ten years. Despite that conviction, Kohberger has never revealed any motive for his killings; he showed little to no emotion in court when the families of his victims tore into him and has even refused to say where the murder weapon is (the Ka-Bar knife believed to have been used has never been recovered).
He will live out his days in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, where guards say he has already been branded a 'diva' inmate.
'The prison is already short-staffed,' said a source. 'They're working 12-hour shifts. And then they are also dealing with his constant complaints. He takes up extra time because whenever a complaint is in writing, they have to respond to it.
'He is just relentless in sending communications to the prison guards. And that's taking away from other duties that they have.'
Kohberger has been kept in isolation since his sentencing, in Unit Two of the prison's J Block. He spends 23 hours a day in his cell, with an hour for exercise.
It's unclear whether Kohberger has been visited by any of his relatives. His mother and father, Maryann and Michael, live in Pennsylvania's Poconos Mountains. He has two older sisters: Amanda lives in the same state as their parents while Melissa is believed to live in New Jersey.
Melissa, 34, told the New York Times this month that her family fully accepts the gravity and evil of Kohberger's crimes but they continue to talk to him.
She added that her brother had enjoyed a happy childhood and was close to his immediate relatives. She also admitted to having personally drawn a black heart sketch, which Kohberger had kept with him during the trial and was branded 'creepy' by online sleuths.
The release of the new photos this week prompted the family of victim Goncalves to speak publicly, urging empathy and respect.
'Please be kind and, as difficult as it is, place yourself outside of yourself and consume the content as if it were your loved one. Your daughter, your sister, your son or brother,' the family said.
'Kaylee Jade, I am so sorry that this has happened to you. I am so sorry that people who never even knew you, now post about you, suggesting things about your life that are so untrue. We will never quit fighting for you.'
