Netflix’s newest examination of the Idaho student murders has pushed the case back into the spotlight, but it is only one of several documentaries available for anyone looking for a broader picture.
The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare looks back at the deaths of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, who were killed at an off-campus house in Moscow in November 2022.
Bryan Kohberger later admitted guilt to four counts of first-degree murder and one burglary charge. In July 2025, he was handed four consecutive life sentences, along with an additional 10 years for burglary. However, in July 2026, Kohberger filed a petition seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and challenge his conviction, claiming he was misled by his legal counsel and pleaded guilty due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
The three-part Netflix series traces the sequence of events, examines Kohberger’s history, and considers the lasting effect on the victims’ loved ones. It also revisits the role of the surviving roommates and the police investigation.
Even so, it is not the only production covering the case, and there are several others worth seeking out if you felt some major questions were not fully addressed.
Many viewers of the Netflix series have argued that significant areas were only lightly covered, including possible motives, the decision to demolish the students’ house before the trial had concluded, and whether the documentary added much beyond material already explored elsewhere.
As highlighted by The Tab, six other documentaries stand out: One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, The Idaho Student Murders, Zara McDermott: The Idaho Murders – Trial by TikTok, The Idaho College Murders, The Idaho Murders: A College Town Nightmare, and #Cybersleuths: The Idaho Murders.
Among the most notable is Amazon Prime Video’s four-part One Night in Idaho, which premiered on July 11, 2025. The series was completed before Kohberger entered his guilty plea and was directed by award-winning filmmakers Liz Garbus and Matthew Galkin.
Because of that, the series gives greater attention to the investigation itself and to how the murders affected the town of Moscow. It also includes the first interviews from the parents of Ethan Chapin and Madison Mogen.
The documentary also includes Emily Alandt, a friend of surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen. Addressing the criticism over the time that passed before 911 was called, she said:
“I think it’s very important for everybody to know that ‘What if?’ doesn’t matter, because if they had known what was going on it would have been too late anyways.”
Peacock’s 90-minute The Idaho Student Murders also focuses on the period before trial, particularly the evidence prosecutors were assembling against Kohberger. It features interviews as well, including conversations with Kaylee Goncalves’ brother and friends of the victims.
BBC viewers may already know Zara McDermott: The Idaho Murders – Trial by TikTok, which follows McDermott in the US and places stronger emphasis on the hunt for the killer and the intense online fixation that surrounded the case.
Another option is The Idaho College Murders, a 43-minute 2023 documentary available on Apple TV. It brings in investigative reporters and criminal experts to discuss theories connected to the killings.
Apple TV also offers the more recent two-part The Idaho Murders: A College Town Nightmare, which revisits the crime, the investigation and the effect it had on the wider college community.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s three-part #Cybersleuths: The Idaho Murders takes a different approach altogether, centring on amateur TikTok investigators as they work through police updates, internet speculation and supposed digital evidence.
Below is a timeline of major developments in the case.
Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, attend a party at Chapin’s fraternity Sigma Chi. Meanwhile, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, go to sports bar the Corner Club.
1.45am – Kernodle and Chapin return to the King Road house.
1.56am – Goncalves and Mogen get back home.
2.44am – Kohberger’s Hyundai sedan is captured on CCTV at Washington State University. Soon after, the vehicle is seen traveling toward the road linking Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, where the victims lived.
4am – Investigators believe Bryan Kohberger entered the house.
4.17am – A security camera picks up the sound of a dog barking, voices and what appears to be a thud. Around this period, housemate Dylan Mortensen wakes up and hears a male voice say:
“It’s OK, Kaylee, I’m here for you.”
She later hears crying and sees a masked man inside the property.
4.19am – Mortensen tries calling Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen, but gets no response. She then begins messaging Bethany Funke, saying she’s ‘freaking out’ after seeing a man in a ‘ski mask’. Mortensen then goes into Funke’s room and the two lock themselves inside.
11.58am – After Mortensen calls her friend Emily Alandt, Alandt and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson go to the King Road house. Johnson finds the bodies of Chapin and Kernodle and calls 911.
Initial autopsy findings show that all four victims were attacked with a large knife.
Police announce they want to speak with anyone connected to a white Hyundai Elantra from 2011-13.
Kohberger is arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Police later say DNA recovered from a knife sheath linked him to the scene, while car and phone data also tracked his movements in the area.
At his arraignment, Kohberger stays silent when asked for a plea, so the judge enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Prosecutors confirm they intend to pursue the death penalty.
The King Road property is demolished, with the decision framed as a step to help the community heal.
Kohberger’s defence lawyers later argue in court filings that phone mast data places him miles away from Moscow, Idaho at the time of the murders.
His defence team also argues that he shows traits of autism spectrum disorder and that executing him would be unconstitutional.
Just weeks before the trial was due to start, Kohberger pleads guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder.
He is then sentenced to four consecutive life terms, plus 10 years for burglary.
For the first time, he comes face to face with the families of the victims as they deliver impact statements in court.
Goncalves’ sister Alivea gives a powerful statement in court, while Mortensen says she’s suffered from debilitating panic attacks since the night of the murders, telling Kohberger he has taken away her ‘ability to trust the world’.
Kohberger files a petition seeking to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was misled by his defence attorneys. In a handwritten filing, he asserts he is innocent and was coerced into confessing by false promises regarding prison conditions and threats about life on death row. He tells the New York Times:
“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”