For weeks, a university sharehouse murder has baffled the world. Now a suspect has been arrested.

Flanked by rolling wheat fields and a mountain range, Moscow is a city of 26,000 people huddled around the University of Idaho campus. It's the kind of place where people are comfortable venturing out to after dark, where bikes can be left unlocked.

But since four young University of Idaho students were found dead in their sharehouse more than a month ago, shops began to close early, some professors cancelled classes, and the city sat on edge.

The murder is Moscow's first in seven years and captured international headlines as authorities raced against time and the rumour mill to find the truth about what happened.

Now, a suspect has been arrested more than a month after the brutal stabbings. 

The University of Idaho killings.

Around lunchtime on November 13, Moscow City Police were dispatched to a home on King Road in the city's southwest following a 911 call. There, they found the bodies of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her partner of roughly a year, Ethan Chapin, 20.

Each had been stabbed in their beds on the second and third floors of the home. None of the victims were sexually assaulted, none of their belongings were stolen, and there was no sign of forced entry to the home.

Two of the victims' housemates, both of whom slept in bedrooms on the first floor, were unharmed and, according to police, had been unaware of the brutal crime that took place above them.

Police have gathered large amounts of evidence from the King Road home. Image: Moscow City Police.

Two weeks on, authorities had collected more 113 pieces of physical evidence, taken more than 4,000 crime scene photographs, received more than 1,000 tips and conducted at least 150 interviews. 

They concluded that the killings were an "isolated, targeted" attack.

"To be honest, you're going to have to trust us on that at this point, because we are not going to release why we think that," Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier told a news conference.

Xana's father Jeffrey Kernodle told his local news station, 3TV/CBS 5, that his daughter was in constant communication with her family, and nothing about the evening of November 12 had seemed out of the ordinary.

"It doesn't make sense," he said.

"They were just hanging out at home. Xana was just hanging out at home with her boyfriend."

Kaylee's sister, Alivia Goncalves, has also been left reeling.

"They were smart, they were vigilant, they were careful and this all still happened," she wrote in a statement published by the Idaho Statesman. "No one is in custody and that means no one is safe. Yes, we are all heartbroken. Yes, we are all grasping. But more strong than any of these feelings is anger. We are angry. You should be angry."

The timeline of events.

In a statement released on Sunday, Moscow City Police shared an updated timeline of the housemates' movements on the evening of November 12 in the hope that it would encourage further witness reports.

According to the statement, in the hours before their deaths, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were at a local bar in downtown Moscow. They arrived around 10pm and left at 1:30am, before heading to a local street food vendor.

Security footage at 'Grub Truck' shows the pair laughing while they wait to collect their food order. They were then given a lift home by a "private party" and arrived at 1:56am. The driver has been ruled out as a suspect, as has a man in a white hood captured in the food truck footage.

Footage from Saturday night purportedly shows two victims of the Moscow Idaho Student murders

Kaylee Goncalves & Madison Mogen appear to order at a food truck just hours before the King Rd homicide pic.twitter.com/tD9DytoHjO

— Idaho Tribune (@IdahoTribune) November 16, 2022

Meanwhile, Xana Kernodle and her partner, Ethan Chapin, were seen at the Sigma Chi fraternity house on the University of Idaho Campus. The couple were believed to have returned to the King Road home at 1:45am. Ethan was not a permanent resident of the house, but stayed with Xana that evening.

The two surviving housemates were also both out in Moscow that evening, and police say they returned separately by 1am.

According to The New York Times, call logs from Kaylee's phone show seven phone calls were made her ex-boyfriend, who was also a student at the University of Idaho, between 2:26 and 2:52am. Several calls to the same number were also made from Madison's phone. Each time the calls went unanswered. Police confirmed they had investigated the calls and that the ex-boyfriend had been ruled out as a suspect.

At some point in the hours that followed, Kaylee, Madison, Ethan and Xana were killed.

A coroner's report stated that all four were likely asleep when they were attacked, and that some of them had sustained defensive wounds, suggesting they struggled with the perpetrator.

"It's such a horrific crime," Latah County coroner Cathy Mabbutt said, according to The New York Times. "It's hard to think that somebody, whether they live here or they were here, commits something like that and is at large."

Police said that the surviving residents on the first floor didn't wake up until later that morning. They then summoned friends to the home out of concern that they couldn't rouse one of their housemates on the second floor, who they thought had "passed out".

A 911 call seeking help for "an unconscious individual" was placed at 11:58am. from the phone of one of the surviving housemates. Police said "several people" spoke to the dispatcher but have declined to say who placed the call or release a transcript.

Neither of the surviving housemates were considered to be suspects.

A stalker, dead dogs and cold cases: rumours abound.

Throughout the investigation, police have been forced to publicly combat rumours about the case that have circulated online and on social media.

Among them: that the victims were tied and gagged; that the case is tied to mysterious animal deaths in the area, including a report of a skinned dog; and that there is a connection between the killings and previous stabbings in neighbouring states of Washington and Oregon.

One line of investigation that remains open, however, is related to multiple reports that Kaylee had previously expressed concern that she was being stalked.

A suspect is arrested.

A 28-year-old suspect is in custody in connection with the murder of Kaylee, Madison, Xana and Ethan Chapin.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested by police and the FBI around 3am on Friday morning in Scranton, Pennsylvania - over 4,000 kilometres from Moscow, Idaho.

Bryan appeared in court on Friday morning and is reportedly a college student but did not attend the University of Idaho, according to reports.

He appears to have been pursuing a doctorate in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, less than 10 miles from Moscow.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger. Image: Monroe Co. Correctional Facility.

Byran's DNA has been matched to samples recovered at the scene of the crimes, according to CNN.

As the investigation rolls on, Madison's father, Ben Mogen, told the Spokesman-Review newspaper he is hopeful justice has been served.

"From the very beginning, I’ve known people don’t get away with these things these days. There’s too many things that you can get caught up on, like DNA and videos everywhere," he said.

Authorities narrowed their focus to Bryan after they traced his ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra seen in the area of the killings.

A criminal complaint says he has been charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, as well as felony burglary.

The small, close-knit town of Moscow continued to mourn the death of the four university students. Just hours before the murder of Kaylee, Madison, Xana and Ethan Chapin, a photo of the four housemates together (and Ethan), smiling, was posted to Instagram. 

Kaylee wrote: "One lucky girl to be surrounded by these people every day."

This article was published on November 30, 2022 and has since been updated with new information.