Former roommates of two University of Idaho students killed in an ambush in November 2022 have broken their silence in an interview with local news, advocating for campus safety for other undergraduate students across the country.
The suspected killer, Brian Koberger, was studying for a doctoral degree. in criminology from neighboring Washington State University, is being held without bail at the jail down the street while awaiting trial on murder and robbery charges.
Kaylee Gonsalves, 21, Madison Morgen, 21, Zana Karnodol, 20, Ethan Chapin, 20, was killed.
Ashlyn Couch said: Spokane-based KXLY-TV She said she was close friends with Gonsalves and Morgen when they moved to an off-campus party house in 2020.
Attorney Brian Koberger retracts bombshell about key prosecution evidence: ‘They’re withholding the audio’
Madison Morgen, top left, posed with Ethan Chapin, Zana Kernodle and two other housemates in Gonsalves’ last Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death, and her best friend. Smiling on Kaylee Gonsalves’ shoulder. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
However, the semester before the murder, she moved out, leaving the room where Kernodle and Chapin would have slept had they not been ambushed.
She knew something was wrong when the University of Idaho issued an alert to the campus community on the morning of the murder.
“I thought something like that might have happened while I was there. You don’t know how long someone is watching your home,” she told the station.
Brian Koberger’s ‘alibi’ torn apart by Idaho prosecutor’s ‘tantrum’
A rental house on King Road photographed on a night in November 2022. It has now been demolished. (Derek Schock, FOX News Digital)
“For months afterward, I couldn’t even walk to my car in the dark,” she said.
Separately, Latah County District Judge John ordered Koberger’s next hearing to be held in private on May 14th.
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After the murders, the landlord donated the six-bedroom rental home to the University of Idaho, which demolished it in December.
On November 13, 2022, two University of Idaho students, Madison Morgen and Kaylee Gonsalves, were found dead in their off-campus home. Their former roommate, Ashlyn Couch, was close with the two and spent their free time together before they moved out after graduation. A room in the rental house on King Road that was later occupied by Zana Kernodle. (Instagram)
The prosecution and defense are expected to discuss evidence, some of which likely won’t be admitted at trial.
“During the hearing, the parties are expected to discuss certain discovery matters that may or may not be admitted at trial,” the judge wrote. “Disclosure of such evidence to the public at this stage of the litigation is inappropriate and may prejudice the jury.”
Brian Koberger (right) and his father during a traffic stop in Indiana on December 15, 2022, about two weeks before he was identified as a suspect in the murders of four University of Idaho students. (Hancock County Police Department)
Idaho murder case: Defense attorney Brian Koberger “firmly believes” suspect’s innocence
The defense is seeking additional evidence through discovery, including full surveillance video that allegedly shows Koberger’s white Hyundai Elantra near the crime scene.
Mr. Koberger’s lead defense attorney, Ann Taylor, accused prosecutors of withholding audio from surveillance video that was turned over to Mr. Koberger’s team through discovery.
Brian Koberger, accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, appears for a hearing Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Lutter County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. Appear in court. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
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In his alibi submitted to the court, Koberger claimed that at the time of the murder, he was driving along a mountain road in the dark, looking at the moon and stars.
However, police claimed in a probable cause affidavit that they found his DNA on a knife sheath found under Morgen’s body. They also tracked his movements from phone ringtones and car surveillance video.
A judge entered not guilty pleas on Koberger’s behalf to four counts of first-degree murder and felony robbery at his May 2023 arraignment.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
