It’s been about a month since Bryan Kohberger was sentenced for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students. Now, fall classes are just beginning at U of I.
“ We’re already like, going everywhere and hanging out,” said Ava Webster, a freshman student who just pledged to join the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.”It’s just, like, fun to make new friends. ”
She stands next to a pack of first-year students settling into their new life on Greek Row. That’s the nickname for the campus street lined with huge houses owned by fraternities and sororities.
Part of orientation is learning how to be safe, said her friend Ava Hunt.
“ We just had a cop talk yesterday,” Hunt explained. “The police came and they just wanted us to know, like, if you are gonna be involved in the party scene, here’s how to be safe.”
The students who were killed in 2022 – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 – participated in Greek life.
Around the corner, four fraternity members are walking past the Vandal bookstore. They said they’re on their way to buy groceries, and might hit some off-campus parties later.
Tyler Selvig, a freshman studying business, said the murders haven’t put a damper on the Greek scene.
“It made us stronger more than anything,” he said.
His friend, Blake Lloyd, chimed in and said security has been bumped up around campus — like installing cameras and more locks at the sorority and fraternity houses.
“Everybody comes together as a bigger community, you know? ‘Cause we’re not going to forget about those four who passed away, and I feel like everybody comes together.” Lloyd said.
It’s common for campus division officers to give safety talks to all the different student living groups, says Anthony Dahlinger, the city of Moscow’s police chief.
“It’s a great way for us to kind of break the ice and introduce ourselves and then obviously give some safety information about the campus,” he said.
Dahlinger was a beat cop when the murders happened.
“ I hope to God I never see anything like that again for the rest of my career and life,” he said.
News of the murders has been in the headlines internationally for years. But many students said they feel safe here.
Case timeline
Kohberger, a former Washington State University grad student studying criminology, was arrested in December 2022. For years, he maintained his innocence. After initially being delayed, his trial was set to begin this month.
On June 18, the court held a hearing for a defense motion to delay the trial once again.
“It was pretty clear after that hearing that the judge wasn’t going to allow that,” said Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson. “It was the following week that the defense reached out to us and inquired as to whether we were interested in a plea.”
Thompson said he reached out to the families, who were ultimately divided.
On July 2, Kohberger pleaded guilty to murdering all four students. On July 23, he was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Kohberger is in custody at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, about 15 miles south of Boise.
“ We’ll never forget it. It’ll always be a part of us,” Dahlinger said of the quadruple homicide that shook the small town. “But as a community member, and I’ve heard this from other community members, they’re just kind of over it and they’re just kind of done with the sensationalization of this tragedy.”
Downtown at City Hall, Art Bettge, Moscow’s mayor, said that the community is looking to move forward.
“It’s kind of like having a bad virus or something,” he said. “You think you’re done. Oh no, you’re not. And it keeps coming back.”
Continued interest
Dahlinger and other investigators have done dozens of media interviews since the gag order preventing police from talking to the press was lifted after Kohberger’s sentencing.
For weeks, many documents related to the case have been made available to the public from the Moscow Police Department, the Pullman Police Department and the Idaho State Police.
Even though the case is closed, media coverage hasn’t waned. News outlets have requested additional information outside of the documents that have been released.
Bettge said the city is trying to keep up with the requests.
“ There’s something like 1,200 FOIA requests that has kept the legal department going crazy,” he said.
The city is doing what it can to minimize the number of people on staff who are exposed to the raw photographs and body cam videos, he said.
“Those who are tasked with redaction will be getting some overtime and paid time off to recover from both the number of hours devoted to the tasks as well as the psychological impact of what they are viewing,” Bettge said.
A few people within the city’s administrative staff have been reassigned to help with the FOIA requests, but Bettge says he’s opposed to hiring on more people to deal with requests.
Despite working on numerous high-profile cases, Thompson said he’s never seen a case get this level of international attention in his 33-year career.
“I really hope that the media and folks out there in social media land can eventually give our community some peace and give the victims’ families some peace,” he said.
Karen Laramie, the mother of victim Madison Mogen, sued the city of Moscow to prevent photos, videos or audio of Mogen’s bedroom from being released. Stacy and Jim Chapin, the parents of victim Ethan Chapin, also wrote declarations in support of the motion.
Leander James, a pro-bono attorney for both families, brought up how portions of the images still show pools of blood and blood splattered in the images.
“Blurring is not redacting,” James said, arguing that the city of Moscow should work to use black boxes and fully block out photographs because of how emotionally difficult it is for the parents to see.
Andrew Pluskal, an attorney representing the city of Moscow, argued that under Idaho law, the images have to be released now that the investigation is over, whether it wants to or not.
“If there were an option set forth in the statute that allows these records to be fired into orbit, into the sun,” said Pluskal, “… we would just as soon not release these records.”
Public officials have to conduct a delicate balancing test and weigh the public’s interest in disclosure and the interests of family members or the deceased, Pluskal said.
The temporary order preventing media related to the victims’ rooms from being released will remain in place, said Latah County Judge Megan Marshall, who added she will issue a ruling at a later date.
While the city awaits the judge’s decision, Bettge said the community is adjusting to returning students and a surge of new residents.
“ All of a sudden, people are undergoing the shock of increased traffic in town once again,” he said with a grin.
Back on campus, freshman student Selvig said the best parts of college here — the classes, parties and brightly colored fall leaves — are yet to come.
“ Fall and spring are probably the best times to be up here in Moscow,” he said. “Trees are probably the most beautiful you’ll ever see ’em.”
This story was written by Lauren Paterson of Northwest Public Broadcasting.