Kohberger’s Last‑Minute Plot: Names He Tried to Pin for the Idaho Murders
My name is Kai Montgomery, and yes, I have to explain the obvious while sighing loudly. Look, I do not want to be the one to say it, but here we go: Bryan Kohberger attempted to point the finger at other people before finally pleading guilty to the four University of Idaho student murders.
Six days before he accepted a life sentence, Kohberger filed court documents that included four names he wanted considered as alternate suspects in the November 2022 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. Ada County District Court Judge Steven Hippler denied that gambit, writing in the filing that three of the four people listed were socially connected to the victims, had attended social events with them in the hours before the homicides, lived within walking distance of the now‑demolished King Road rental, and were familiar with the house layout from prior gatherings. The judge also noted the quartet cooperated with police by providing DNA and fingerprints, yet the defense attempt conflicted with investigative findings indicating the killer drove a vehicle to the scene, not someone walking up from a neighbor’s home.
Yes, the filing read like a last‑ditch theater piece, and no, the public still does not have the names included in Kohberger’s motion. However, police records obtained by E! News suggest one of the individuals might be identified in internal reports as J.D., possibly the ex‑boyfriend of victim Kaylee Goncalves. According to those documents, J.D. was scheduled to provide fingerprints on May 29, which was 13 days after Kohberger filed the list of alleged alternate perpetrators. In a November 2022 police interview, a friend of Goncalves described J.D. as an ex with whom she apparently had no issues, and separate records note Goncalves shared custody of her dog Murphy with that same ex — mundane details that prosecutors used to question the credibility and relevance of the defense’s substitution theory.
The court’s refusal to let Kohberger introduce these names cleared the path for the plea deal that followed. On July 23, Kohberger admitted guilt to all four murders and received life without parole. The prosecution’s case relied on a combination of physical evidence and investigative conclusions that painted a calculated attack, including conclusions about the perpetrator’s arrival by vehicle.
Let us be clear about who the victims were, because they were real people, not props in an argument: Kaylee Goncalves was a senior at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences planning to graduate and move to Austin for a marketing job. Madison Mogen, a marketing student and lifelong friend of Goncalves, had plans to relocate to Boise. Xana Kernodle, a marketing junior, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, who studied recreation, sport and tourism management, rounded out the group. On the night of November 12, Goncalves and Mogen had been at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin attended a fraternity event; by early morning on November 13, the group was back at the three‑story rental home where the murders occurred.
Two roommates who lived in the house at the time, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, survived and were at home during the attack. Previously unsealed text messages show Mortensen and Funke tried contacting their roommates the morning of November 13. Those details remained central to investigators as they reconstructed timelines and movements, weighing the defense’s last‑minute efforts to cast blame elsewhere.
So what are we left with? A defendant who briefly tried to shift suspicion onto others connected to the victims, a judge who rejected that narrative as inconsistent with investigative findings, and a guilty plea that closed the courtroom chapter while leaving some loose questions in police paperwork. It is a tidy legal end, messy human aftermath.
Want to know whether investigators will ever reveal the redacted names or whether civil suits or appeals will peel back more pages? Keep an eye on court dockets, police releases, and any motions seeking to unseal additional documents. I’ll be annoyed but paying attention.
And that, dear reader, is why we cannot have mysteries with clean edges.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! News, The New York Times, The Idaho Statesman, NBC News
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
