By: Erin Howlin
On November 13, at around 4 am, four college students were murdered in their rental home in Moscow, Idaho. Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin. While the small town of Idaho was devastated over the loss of their classmates, family members, sister, brother, and friend, many were concerned since a suspect was still on the loose. Or, at least, the public was under that impression. The thought-out tactics imposed by police officers were kept hidden, while social media was flooded with articles about the deaths of the four friends, consistently giving no new updates.
In the early morning hours of November 13th after a night out in town, the four students returned to their rental home, just a few minutes away from their college, the University of Idaho. It started out as a normal night out for these college students, going to bars, parties, and ending the night grabbing some food together. Mogen and Goncalves returned from a local bar at around 1:45am, and Kernodle and Chapin arrived back at the home around the same time after attending a house party. The two other surviving roommates, who share a rental home with Kernodle, Goncalves, Mogen and Chapin, were out earlier Saturday night and were at the home during the attacks. On Sunday at around noon, the police received a phone call from one of the surviving roommates, informing them of unconscious bodies in the home.
This was really all the public knew about the incident for weeks. Almost every news article that came out really had no leads or indications on who could have done this to four members of the community. This crime became the center of the public eye as the small town of Moscow riddled with fear. TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook became flooded with any news or updates from police and news stations. Others created videos of the students as a memorial to them, tried to solve the crime themselves using any information they had, and tried to make connections by looking at the victim’s social media accounts. But even with the constant posting about the killings all over social media and news stations, none of them gave any major clues about the details of what happened and who did it. No murder weapon, no statements from the surviving roommates, and no DNA or hints at a suspect. Even the victims’ families felt in the dark about the details of the crime and were getting frustrated that information from the police was lacking. Kaylee Goncalves’s father shared that the police were “not sharing much with me” and it was difficult to play a part in the investigation when there was a lack of information to work from.
It was six weeks later when a suspect was finally taken into custody in relation to the murders. In an eighteen-page affidavit sent to the court in early January, the police laid out exactly how they got their suspect and connected the dots. The affidavit from police laid out how they recovered DNA from the scene and connected it to trash outside of the suspect’s father’s house; how they found the suspect’s car and drew it back to the crime scene; and cell phone data indicating that the suspect visited the crime scene multiple times before and after the killings. Police were putting the pieces together for weeks, while keeping the public in the dark about all of the links and clues, leading to Bryan Kohberger as the suspect.
So why was the media and the families left out of the loop when investigating? Police were using this “say nothing” tactic in order to ensure that any suspect announced in the case prematurely would not end up going on the run, hiding or dispose evidence. A professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and retired NYPD sergeant mentioned that this is a tactic used by police to ensure the privacy of the investigation and ensures that social media will not explode with news of a suspect too early. Police were aware that this case was in the center of the public eye, and if information about DNA linking or the knife sheath recovered from the crime scene got out, this would make Kohberger more inclined to dispose of evidence that could be traced. The FBI even tracked Kohberger on his drive from Washington to Pennsylvania and pulled him over twice to identify any scars on his hands as a result of the attack. At this time, Kohberger was a suspect, but since the police did not announce they were looking for Kohberger, his double traffic stop seemed like nothing more than a stop. In reality, this would tell the police even more information and further connect the dots. Kohberger himself even believed the police were at a plateau in their investigation of the crime. According to reports, Kohberger’s neighbor had a conversation with Kohberger himself about the killing when he asked her if she “heard about these murders.”
The media plays a huge role in the investigation of crime. In some instances, it could spread awareness about a missing person. In other scenarios, it could indicate to suspects on the loose that the police are homing in on them, and they need to hide. In a crime that the public is very concerned with, like one that affects and shakes an entire community of people, there can be extreme pressure and demand on police officers. Knowing that the killing of these four students was all over the media, police became hesitant to release a ton of information about some leads.
Crimes attract a substantial amount of public interest. The media can greatly sway public impressions about the case. The investigations of the police with respect to a crime heavily in the public eye get broadcasted all over the media. Depending on how far into the investigation, this may hurt or hinder the police and their leads. Wanting to gain public attention through the use of social media without exposing too much information about the suspect is difficult to balance. Although many were frustrated with the way in which police kept the media in the dark about the murders, the public seems to be relieved that someone is being held accountable for the death of these four students. Moscow Police Chief, James Fry, told ABC News, “no arrest will ever bring back these young students. However, we do believe justice will be found through the criminal process.”
Student Bio: Erin Howlin is a second-year student at Suffolk University Law School. She is a staff writer on the Journal of High Technology Law. She is also the Treasurer and Vice Justice of Phi Alpha Delta and Secretary of the Real Estate and Trusts and Estates Association. Erin graduated magna cum laude from Roger Williams University (Bristol, RI), receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Legal Studies and Political Science.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
