Idaho Student Murders Shocked the Nation – Now a New Book Explores What Happened (Exclusive)

Read an exclusive excerpt from journalist Howard Blum’s new book, “When the Night Comes Falling,” out June 25.

A gruesome quadruple murder shocked the University of Idaho in the fall of 2022 and now the journalist whose reporting earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination has written a book about the case.

When Night Comes: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders by Howard Blum comes out June 25 and offers a detailed account of the police manhunt that ultimately led to the arrest of the suspected killer.

On November 13, 2022, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were all stabbed to death in bedrooms on the second and third floors of a home in Moscow , Idaho. All four victims attended the University of Idaho, which was shaken by the news. More than a month after the murders, suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with the murders – the same day a memorial was planned for Mogen and Goncalves.

A three-part Paramount+ docuseries about the murders, #Cybersleuths: the Idaho murders, premiered on February 6. Below, read an exclusive excerpt from Blum’s book that details what may have happened that night.

It’s 3:30 a.m. on the cold starry morning of Sunday, November 13, and the calm of King Road is all-enveloping. A whisper, it seems, would sound like a cry.

A white car appears, and she is in no hurry. He advances as if on tiptoe past 1122. Continuing past the adjacent Queen Apartments, he climbs the slope and suddenly finds himself stuck in a dead end. But there is no feeling of frustration. The driver carefully executes a three-point turn and the car exits toward Greek Row.

Is that right?

The driver can’t seem to find the will to park. He must stop hesitating and keep the idea, the possibility, firmly in his mind. Only the driver of the white car is not reconciled. He’s not here yet. But he wants it so much because, as if summoned, he returns. The white car retraces its previous route. But apparently he still can’t jump to the place he wants, he feels he has to reach it. He can still see other possibilities. Once again, the white car leaves the neighborhood.

A few minutes later, the car returns as if pulled by an invisible force. He must find the audacity to act. Except he can’t. Once again, the car approaches, only to move away. And this time, he’s determined to stay away. It’s like he doesn’t want to be that other person. He continues down Taylor Avenue until King Road is a faint, distant blur in his rearview mirror. He escapes.

But he can’t help it. It’s 4 a.m., the driver turns around and comes back a third time.

Related: Bryan Kohberger indicted in Idaho student murders, will enter plea Monday

The white car stopped, engine idling, in the asphalt parking lot above the house on King Road. Cutting contact will require the strength of Hercules. It seems an impossible task. It’s not yet too late to run away.

But he must know that his hesitation is a hoax. He must understand that only this act will silence the voices screaming like a chorus of banshees in his head. With this realization, restraint breaks down. And in an incredible moment, he regains his will. The idea became as natural as breathing. He is engaged. He cuts the contact. The door of the white car opens. Nobody notices it. Everything remains still. A dark figure walks down the dirt slope, the ground hard with a thin layer of frost. He walks towards the back of the house. In his gloved hand he holds a leather sheath containing a Ka-Bar knife with a sharp seven-inch steel blade. It’s a killer weapon.

The sliding glass door in the kitchen is rarely locked, and tonight was no exception. The door opens easily, making only a dull sound, as light as a sudden intake of breath, and he enters. Is he listening for a telltale noise? Does he need a moment to get used to this new form of darkness? Or is the faint glow of neon’s good vibes enough to light the way?

Once in the kitchen, he climbs the narrow staircase to the third floor. And that’s probably revealing. If he were aimless, driven only by furious emotions, he would burst into one of the bedrooms on the second floor. But he has a plan. He knows where he’s going. He is a hunter who stalks his prey.

Another speculation: since Kaylee no longer lives full time in the house, her target has always been, since madness crept into her thoughts, little Maddie. The stairs to the third floor creak under the sound of his feet. He walks towards the bedroom door. Is his heart rate slowing down? Does he feel invulnerable? Does he hold back, knowing that attacking moves are better for this moment of delay?

Related: New ’20/20′ Episode Examines Shocking Murders of 4 University of Idaho Students

When he opens the door, he finds two girls sleeping in the bed. He cuts quickly, savagely. The wounds are long and very deep. It’s fast and vicious work. In the single bed, the two lie dying, their bodies apart but touching. Their blood seeps into the mattress in the form of a spreading red stain. However, despite her injuries, Kaylee manages to get up and, as if trying to escape, wedges herself into the farthest corner of the small room. The determined killer gets closer and she fights back. But it all ends quickly and his bloodied body collapses to the ground.

The commotion and the smell of blood wakes the dog Murphy. From the room opposite, the dog is panicked, with an acute sense of danger. He screams with great cathartic screams. Downstairs, Dylan wakes up. Is Kaylee playing with Murphy at this time of night? She shouts disapprovingly into the darkness from her bed.

No one answers, but Murphy has calmed down to some extent. The sounds made by the dog are regular and weak.

The killer comes down the stairs. Xana is awake. “There is someone here!” she shouts, the alarm loud enough that, from his room across the hall, Dylan hears every word. She opens her bedroom door and looks outside. There is only darkness and, closing the door behind her, she returns to her bed. Now is not the time, she decides, to make sense of things.

Related: Idaho house where 4 students were murdered is being demolished today: ‘a healing step’

But Ethan came out of Xana’s room to investigate. And suddenly he finds himself face to face with an intruder dressed entirely in black, a black mask pulled up high on the bridge of his nose. Ethan is six feet tall, powerful, and an athlete. Yet the killer does not hesitate. He lashes out without compunction, and an arcing blow crosses Ethan’s neck, catching the jugular. His body begins to rock, then falls into the doorway with a thud. Does the killer crouch over his victim and continue his attack? If so, the assault is pointless. Ethan is already dead.

Xana sobs.

The plaintive sound wakes Dylan again. She opens her bedroom door slightly and looks again. The darkness reveals nothing. The killer is now close enough to Xana to see that she is trembling. Despite everything raging inside him, he chose his words with deliberate care. “It’s okay, I’ll help you,” he said.

It’s a lie. He only came to help himself.

He raises his knife and attacks.

Behind his half-open door, Dylan hears the killer speaking. Nothing makes sense. She closes the door and returns to her bed. Xana, 5’3″ and 113 pounds, is fighting for her life. But she is no match for the killer. He plunges his knife deep, again and again. She collapses to the ground. Then he steps over the Ethan’s body and walks out of the room.

Related: University of Idaho Murders, 1 Year Later: Key Events That Happened Since

His approach is unhurried. There were four of them and he never hesitated. He did what he had to do and he should feel exhilarated. He continues towards the sliding kitchen door. His egocentrism is total.

He never notices Dylan standing in the doorway, the bedroom door wide open. And she looks directly at him as if in a trance. She sees a man dressed all in black, a black mask rising high on his face. As she processes the moment, she decides it’s about five ten, maybe bigger. Not muscular, but well built like an athlete.

For some reason, his eyes focus on his bushy eyebrows. She looks at him. A visitor? An intruder ? She doesn’t understand what happened. And she is extremely tired. She closes her bedroom door and goes to bed, the blanket pulled up high. Did the killer see Dylan? Does he spare her in a sudden act of kindness? Or, in this crazy moment, is he unable to see anything?

It remains a mystery.

He retraces his steps and goes back up the hill. He is transformed. He became what he was meant to become. In just over 8 minutes, 10 at most, he killed four people. He gets back into the white car and drives off as the faint light of the new day begins to filter through the lead-gray sky and blood spreads in thin red rivulets through the house on King Road.

Excerpt from the upcoming book WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING by Howard Blum. Copyright © 2024 by Howard Blum. To be released June 25^th, 2024 by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Excerpted with permission.

When the night falls comes out June 25 and is available for pre-order now, wherever books are sold.

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