In a chilling timeline, it took nearly eight hours before police were alerted to the tragic murders of four University of Idaho students.
Surviving roommate, Dylan Mortensen, had a harrowing encounter during that timeframe. She witnessed a masked intruder in the hallway of the Moscow residence she shared with the now-deceased students. It wasn’t until later that she and the other surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, contacted the authorities.
However, for one grieving family, the timing of the 911 call might have been inconsequential. A victim’s family reflects on the possibilities had the authorities been notified earlier.
In the revealing Netflix documentary The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, Kaylee Goncalves’ parents, Kristi and Steve Goncalves, discussed their conversation with the coroner. This heart-wrenching phone call happened in the aftermath of losing their daughter along with Maddie Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle.
Steve Goncalves, in a painful moment, questioned, “At a particular moment that night, could Ethan have lived? Could Xana have lived?”
Added Kristi, “Could somebody have been saved? And the answer was no.”
What Happened to Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin?
According to authorities, Bryan Kohberger—who had no known connection to the victims—snuck into the Moscow home just after 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022, carrying a 7-inch KaBar knife and attacked the four college students.
Kaylee and Maddie were found dead in a third floor bedroom, laying in the same bed.
Maddie had a gash from her eye to her nose, while Kaylee was “unrecognizable as her facial structure was completely damaged” in the knife attack, according to police records previously obtained by Oxygen.
Xana—who authorities believe likely encountered the killer before she was chased into her bedroom—was stabbed more than 50 times, according to the records. Ethan had a laceration to his neck and was killed as he slept in Xana’s bed.
What Did Dylan Mortensen See the Night of the Murders?
Dylan—who lived on the same floor as Xana—told police later that day in body cam footage obtained by the docuseries that she was going to sleep when she heard a scream and followed by “someone’s here.”
Then she heard someone sobbing in the bathroom. Though she believed it was Kaylee, investigators think she likely heard Xana crying.
“I just remember hearing this guy’s voice that I didn’t recognize saying, ‘You’re gonna be ok. I’m gonna help you’,” she told police in the body cam footage. “But i don’t know how to explain it. Like it wasn’t in a nice way. It was like a weird way, like a weird tone.”
After she was unable to reach her roommates by phone, she opened her door and saw a masked man “clad in black clothing” with “bushy eyebrows” pass by, per an affidavit in the case obtained by Oxygen.
“He looked at me, but he didn’t come towards me or say anything. Which was really confusing to me. I don’t understand that,” she told police in the body cam footage. “I’m pretty sure he went out the side door. I didn’t know what to do.”
Terrified, she reached out to Bethany, who told her to run to her downstairs bedroom. They remained there for hours until they called a friend and her boyfriend to come investigate. The group called 911 just before noon that day.
“We asked the question, why did the roommates wait eight hours to call the police?” Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger remarked in the Netflix doc. “There are so many reasons why you may not. People are in shock. It’s traumatic. I mean, I can’t imagine being of that age and being able to comprehend that this horrific thing just occurred.”
Xana’s college friend Kacy Johnston added that she had no ill will toward the roommates for not calling for help right away.
“I don’t blame them for making the phone call a little bit late,” she said in the doc. “I can only imagine what was going through their minds. If it were me in either one of their shoes, I would have never believed what occurred in that house that night.”
Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty to Murders
Investigators were able to trace the murders to Kohberger—a criminology doctoral student at the nearby Washington State University—through DNA on a knife sheath left at the crime scene. Authorities also used surveillance camera footage and cell phone records to build their case against him.
Kohberger pled guilty to the murders in July 2025 and was sentenced to life in prison. However, he recently spoke out to proclaim his innocence and hopes to withdraw the guilty plea.
He claimed in an affidavit filed in court and obtained by Oxygen that he was “convinced to falsely confess to capital murder, and felony burglary, by coercion, disinformation [and] false promises.”