Idaho Murder Suspect’s Friends to Appear In New Episode of 48 Hours

It’s been less than 60 days since the murder of four University of Idaho students at their off-campus home. For Idahoans, especially those living in the Moscow area, it seems like it’s been a lot longer. 

Days and weeks passed with few details being released to a small community that was understandably feeling on edge. Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were dead and as far as the public knew, there was no suspect. 

The lack of information frustrated a lot of people, especially social media influencers that turned themselves into amateur investigators. (If you’ve watched The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel on Netflix, you know the type of person we’re talking about. Folks that are problematic, not entertaining like the very fictional characters solving very fictional crimes on Only Murders in the Building.) 

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The truth is that the Moscow Police and other law enforcement agencies that they were working with on the case had a significant amount of information that they pieced together to find and arrest Washington State University doctoral student, Bryan Kohberger. The public got their first look at that information when the probable cause affidavit was unsealed on January 5. These were some of the major takeaways from that 19-page document. 

CBS to Air Special About Idaho Murders with New Interviews

Kohberger’s next hearing is set for January 12. Leading up to that court appearance, the public will get the opportunity to hear from several people who grew up with the suspect. CBS’s 48 Hours will air an episode called “The Idaho Student Murders” this Saturday. 

The episode includes interviews with Benjamin Roberts, a classmate of Kohberger’s at WSU, Jason LaBar, the public defender in Monroe County that represented the suspect at his extradition hearing, Bree, a childhood friend who asked that CBS not use her last name and Casey Arntz, another friend who grew up with Kohberger in Pennsylvania. 

Arntz previously posted a TikTok video about her friendship with Kohberger after her mom called her and told her that he had been arrested in connection to the murders. In the video, Arntz alleges that Kohberger was a heavy heroin user back in high school and once tricked her into driving him around the Poconos for the drug. She’s since made her account private, but other users have reuploaded the video. 

In a preview of the episode, Peter Van Sant mentioned that he interviewed one of the victim’s fathers. It’s unclear which parent that was or if the interview will appear in the episode. 48 Hours airs in Boise on KBOI-TV/CBS 2 Idaho News on Saturday, January 7 at 9 p.m. Below is a preview of this week’s episode. 

This certainly isn’t the first time an Idaho crime grabbed the interest of a news magazine or true crime series. These are some other Idaho crimes that have appeared on TV.