Netflix will release a three-part documentary this month that reexamines the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, a case that remains one of the most traumatic events to strike the Moscow campus and the broader Inland Northwest.
What the series will show
Titled "The Idaho Murders: College Nightmares," the series is directed by Skye Borgman, who directed Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, and lists Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger as an executive producer. The streaming service released a trailer this week and set the premiere for July 29. The program is three episodes long.
Netflix says the series will include body-worn video from first responders, firsthand accounts from families and other material gathered during reporting and production. The documentary revisits both the events of that night and the investigation that followed.
Reminder of the case
On a November night in 2022, four University of Idaho students — Madison "Maddie" Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin — were found stabbed to death inside an off-campus home. Their deaths reverberated across campus communities, prompting conversations about student safety and law enforcement responses.
Investigators ultimately arrested Bryan Kohberger, then a Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, at his parents' home in Pennsylvania in December 2022. Authorities linked him to the case using a combination of DNA evidence, surveillance footage and cellphone data.
Kohberger later accepted a plea deal to avoid the death penalty and is serving life in prison. At the sentencing hearing, victims' family members delivered emotional statements but were left without a clear explanation for motive; Kohberger declined to speak when given the opportunity. He is currently housed at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna.
Local aftermath and memorials
The University of Idaho community has sought ways to remember the four students and to process the trauma. In August 2024 the campus opened the Vandal Healing Garden, a memorial featuring a metal centerpiece engraved with the victims' names. The garden is intended as a place of reflection for students, faculty and families.
- Series premiere: July 29 on Netflix
- Format: Three-part documentary
- Creative leads: Director Skye Borgman; executive producer Joe Berlinger
The new series will likely renew public attention to details — including investigative methods and the unanswered question of motive — that families, classmates and the community have continued to grapple with since 2022.
| Victims | Incident | Perpetrator |
|---|---|---|
| Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin | Stabbed to death in November 2022 at off-campus home | Bryan Kohberger — arrested Dec. 2022; serving life after plea deal |
For many in Moscow and across Idaho, the case remains a touchstone for discussions about campus safety, criminal investigations and how communities heal after mass violence. The Netflix series will bring the story to a national audience once again and may prompt renewed scrutiny of the evidence and the unanswered questions that families and classmates still seek to resolve.
