A former roommate of the University of Idaho students who were murdered in their college house has shared the last text she sent to one of the victims.
The house
Ashlin Couch moved in to the off-campus house on King Road in Moscow, Idaho in 2020, joining Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves as they settled in to student life.
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Couch ultimately moved out in May 2022, with no idea that just a few months later her former roommates and two other students would be killed in the place she'd called home.
The murder
Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were identified alongside Mogen and Goncalves as the victims of the murder that took place in November 2022, when they were found dead in their upstairs bedrooms after a night out.
Kernodle and Chapin were found dead in the same room that Couch had lived in just six months earlier.
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Couch herself had graduated by that time, but she kept in touch with her former roommates and was made aware that there was something wrong when she got a text from the University of Idaho alerting her to a suspected homicide.
The final text
After receiving the message, Couch sent a message in a group chat with her former roommates, asking if anyone had 'heard from Maddie?'
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In an interview with Good Morning America, she recalled one final message she sent to Mogan.
"And I remember, like my last text message to her was like, are you OK?" she said. "And, I feel like right then and there, I kind of just knew that something was wrong."
Looking back, Couch expressed her wish that she'd had the chance to say a proper goodbye to her roommates.
"That's one thing that I just wish that I could do at least one more time," she said. "Like, you know, just give her one last hug. Just to be able to say goodbye.”
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"It crosses my mind more that that could've happened while I was there," Couch added. "And, you know, you never know, like how long someone is watching your house."
The arrest
The month after the murders, police arrested Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohberger and charged him with first-degree murder and burglary.
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However, the impacts of the murders stayed with Couch for long after Kohberger was arrested.
“I couldn’t even walk to my car in the dark for months after it happened, like you just want to at least feel a little bit safer,” she recalled.
In May 2023, a judge entered a plea of not guilty for Kohberger, whose lawyers have claimed he was 40 minutes away when the murders took place. He is currently in jail awaiting trial.
The tribute
In honor of her friends who lost their lives, Couch has started the Made with Kindness Foundation, which helps to raise awareness and educate students on how to protect themselves at home.
Noting that the actions of others are out of our control, Couch said: “Horrible people are going to do what they’re going to do. It’s not anything that they could have done. They absolutely did nothing wrong."
Topics: Crime, True crime, US News
Emily Brown