Bryan Kohberger, charged in the murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022, appears for a hearing at the Ada County Courthouse on July 2, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty.
Courtesy of Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images
Idaho
‘One Night in Idaho’ Directors on Refusing to Let the Bryan Kohberger Take the Spotlight
Just days before the July 11 premiere of “One Night in Idaho: The College Murders” on Prime Video, the coda to the four-episode docuseries had to be rewritten. Initially, the final card stated that Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022, would face trial in 2025. But on June 30, Kohberger shocked those following the case by accepting a plea deal that spared him from the death penalty on the condition he plead guilty to the murders and waive his right to appeal. He will spend the rest of his life in prison, without the chance for parole.
The news stoked anger in some of the victims’ families, while others accepted the prosecutors’ decision, with the second group including the families of Ethan Chapin and Maddie Mogen, who are featured in the docuseries, co-directed by Liz Garbus and Matthew Galkin. For Galkin, who was in attendance for Kohberger’s July 2 plea hearing, the sudden assemblage of everyone involved in the case was surreal. The families barely had 36 hours notice to get to Boise to be in the courtroom for the hearing. Galkin says he was on the first flight he could get.
“The atmosphere in the courtroom was harrowing,” he tells Variety. “It was a combination of emotionally charged, obviously, but also extremely dramatic because you had basically every main player in this horrific saga in one room, finally, facing each other because, logistically, that’s the way the courtroom is set up. All the families and the prosecutors were looking one direction, but the plaintiff and his legal team were off to the side, looking back towards the families. So there were a lot of crossed eyelines going on, and it was a really, really intense thing to witness.”
Galkin and Garbus began documenting the case mere months after the murders, first contacting the Chapins (including Ethan’s triplet siblings Hunter and Maizie) in April 2023 and later the Laramies (Maddie’s parents). The families of the other two victims, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves, did not participate in the series, but Garbus confirms they were approached. While the Chapins and Laramies had largely avoided talking to the media about their lost children and the horrors of the circumstances surrounding their deaths, Garbus and Galkin pitched a victim-forward style of filmmaking. In the years since the murders, the fascination surrounding Kohberger has been eclipsed only by the intense internet sleuths who thought –– and in many cases, still think –– they could solve a case with so many unanswered questions. Through it all, the victims were often pushed out of their own stories.
“We wanted to reclaim them from this maelstrom of social media,” Garbus says. “I will say a lot of those people on social media are very well-meaning. But there is a fervor around this case in which the victims can get lost.”
Hunter Chapin (Ethan Chapin’s brother)
Courtesy of Prime Video
Garbus, one of the co-founders of the series’ producer Story Syndicate, took a similar approach earlier this year with Netflix’s “Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer,” which chronicled the decades-long killing spree of sex workers in and around the Gilgo Beach area of Long Island . In that case, the victims had been dismissed by the institutions meant to protect them and the communities meant to shelter them because of their professions. Their families spent years just trying to get attention paid to their unsolved cases.
The opposite happened for Maddie, Kaylee, Xana and Ethan after the news broke that they had been murdered in an off-campus house on a Saturday night.
“In this case, it was the entire world wanting to solve this, casting aspersions on boyfriends and developing conspiracy theories that really overtook those who were living through the heart of this darkness,” Garbus says. “What I’m so proud of is that we were able to not just talk about them as victims, but get to know them as people. Who they were and what their dreams were, and how they were loving life in this incredible friend group.”
Also featured in the documentary are members of that friend group, including Hunter Johnson, Emily Alandt and Josie Lauteren, all of whom were among those who first discovered the bodies on November 13, 2022. Johnson and Alandt, specifically, became the subjects of cruel and targeted conspiracy theories online questioning their involvement, taking an emotional toll they address head-on in the series.
Hunter Johnson (friend)
Courtesy of Prime Video
But last week’s abrupt end to the two-year legal effort to give the families and friends their day in court leaves one question unanswered –– why? Why did Kohberger — who was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022 — stalk, and then enter the off-campus apartment at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho and stab four friends he did not know personally to death, while also leaving two others alive under the same roof? Why did he choose this close-knit group of friends, and who among them was his intended target?
None of these are questions the docuseries could answer, especially since law enforcement and the surviving roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke have been under a gag order since the murders and remain so until a verdict is reached (that date will now be the July 23 sentencing hearing). But Galkin says the answers many outside observers hoped the trial would offer were never the only priority for the families.
“I think anyone interested in this case, obviously, would like to have an answer of why this happened at all,” Galkin says. “I don’t want to necessarily speak on behalf of the Chapins or Laramies, but they were never involved in the investigative details of this case. They were focused on their own grief, and ultimately their own healing. I’ve had the conversation with Stacy Chapin before, and she said, ‘Well, who cares? It’s not going to bring Ethan back.’ So answering the question of why is not foremost on her mind.”
Without the insight of law enforcement and the eyewitness accounts directly from Dylan and Bethany, Galkin and Garbus leaned even more heavily into the stories of the victims. To assist them, they combed through years of social media posts that unintentionally immortalized a friend group that was chronically online.
“People are obviously curated and selective with what they post on social media, so that’s the forward-facing image that everybody wants to project,” Galkin says. “We were trying to look under the hood as much as we could with the access that we had to their family and friends. But it is a fascinating component of this story, because they were so well-documented that it lent itself to millions of people feeling like they knew these kids.”
The King Road house, rebuilt on a Brooklyn soundstage
Courtesy of Katie King
The mountain of visuals also offered the filmmakers an opportunity to faithfully and meticulously rebuild portions of the house at 1122 King Road, which was torn down in December 2023 after it had become a gruesome tourist attraction. Using social media posts, insight from their friends and even blueprints of the original home, the series’ creative team rebuilt the main entryway and staircase, the living room, Xana’s bedroom, Maddie’s bedroom and a small part of Dylan’s bedroom to scale on a soundstage in Brooklyn.
To put the viewer inside the home, the team sourced all of the furniture and wall treatments for each room from the original vendors. The set build and shoot took about a week, but the entire process –– including research, drafting and prep –– took months.
“We took that very seriously,” Galkin says “It was uncanny to the point that when we showed the series to the Chapin and Laramie families, they both turned to me and asked, ‘How did you guys get inside the house?’ Obviously, this was a house they knew really well.
“We had the ability to do this really accurately,” Galkin continues, “and so we decided to capitalize on that — because it’s important to get the details right.”
Even armed with intense research, the directors were still confronted with surprises as they interviewed the families. In the final episode, Ethan’s father Jim unexpectedly shares what happened to his son’s cremated remains. The family couldn’t decide where he should be buried, so they brought him home. As Jim explains, now they visit with him every day and, when one of them passes, he will be buried with them. Until then, they didn’t want him to be alone.
The Chapin family had told Galkin nothing was off the table when they agreed to the interviews –– “If they were going to do this, they wanted to do it,” he says. But even he was taken aback at this admission.
“I didn’t know that Ethan’s remains were in the house at all,” he says. “It was nothing that had ever come up in some of our pre-interviews or earlier conversations. So when Jim said that to me, I mean — I started crying in the interview. The way he tells that story is so moving. I’m glad that we were able to capture it on camera. It is truly such a beautiful moment. Obviously, you feel the loss through the whole series, but that’s really a moment that crystallized it for me when we were shooting. It’s really heartbreaking.”
Stacy Chapin (Ethan Chapin’s mother)
Courtesy of Prime Video
Both the Chapins and the Laramies were able to watch the series with Galkin and Garbus before its release, and prior to Kohberger’s plea deal. “As filmmakers, it was what you hope for,” Galkin says. “Karen Laramie described feeling a kind of lightness that she hadn’t felt since the murders. So I think there’s something very healing there.”
When news of the plea deal broke, questions circulated about what would happen to the docuseries. Should it be shelved out of respect? Does it even matter now, because the ending is already written? But Galkin is adamant that because their focus was always the victims, Kohberger’s plea deal only changed one thing.
“It changes the ending,” he says. “We changed the final card. But I don’t think knowing the ending completely changes the way you should look at these four hours.”
The filmmakers had planned to cover the trial, and potentially revisit the story with a possible second installment of the documentary. Without a trial, though, Galkin says they don’t know what is next. He remains close with the Chapins, with whom he attended the July 2 hearing. As for new interview subjects, he says they are interested in talking to law enforcement about the investigation, and would consider reaching out to the survivors to tell their story, which remains something that’s been revealed only through affidavits. But as of now, there is no formal plan in place for a followup.
“If there is an appetite, if there is more story to tell, 100% yes,” Galkin says. “But until then, we’re not going to put that kind of media attention on people, because you are entering their lives when you reach out to someone who has been going through something like this. So if we did it, we would want to do it as gently and delicately as possible. And without an actual production, there’s kind of no reason to reach out to them. So we’ll wait and see what happens.”
Lights illuminate police tape on a home where a quadruple murder took place on January 3, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho.
Courtesy of David Ryder/Getty Images
For now, Galkin will be in the courtroom on July 23 for the final appearance of Kohberger for sentencing. It will be the last time families can give victim impact statements and address the man who, on July 2, confirmed to a judge that he accepted the plea deal because he did, in fact, kill Xana, Ethan, Maddie and Kaylee. It isn’t known whether Kohberger will speak during the sentencing, to share his motive or what really happened in the King Road house. But Galkin says decisions are being made as to who among the Chapin or Laramie families might take the opportunity to do so.
“I’m glad I could be there for the families,” Galkin says of the July 2 hearing. “Both of them were incredibly brave to be there and to face all of this and to come out publicly and support this, even though there are other families that don’t necessarily feel the same way. Because they are finding peace in this decision, it brings me peace. That’s all I care about. If it’s good with them, then it is good with me.”
Pride Month looks different this June along Boise’s Harrison Boulevard, where a long-standing tradition of hanging Pride flags on lamp posts has been put on hold after a new state law restricted which flags can be flown on government property.
For several years, Pride flags lined lamp posts along Harrison Boulevard in Boise’s North End neighborhood. But Idaho House Bill 561, signed by Gov. Brad Little in March, restricts which flags can be flown on government property, including the City of Boise’s Harrison lamp posts.
In response, a group of neighbors formed Pride North End and launched a distribution effort to help residents show support from their own front yards. The group has been making Pride flags and yard signs available to people who want to display them at home.
“I thought that I would…be a personal example of ‘yes, this is what I do.’ This is what I believe in,” said Edna Schochat, a North End resident.
Pride North End has already distributed more than 900-yard signs and 250 flags. The group’s original donation goal was around $2,000 to order 100 flags and 200 yard signs, but it has exceeded that GoFundMe goal, reaching $10,000 worth of donations.
The group plans to continue holding public flag and sign distributions through the end of the month.
“We cannot just say something without doing something that proves that we mean what we say,” Schochat said.
Pride North End said any leftover funds after materials are distributed will go to local LGBTQ+ nonprofits. A link to the group’s GoFundMe can be found here.
July 1 isn’t just the start of a new fiscal year for Idaho public schools. It’s also the effective date for many new education-related laws.
From mandatory moments of silence to restrictions on taxpayer funding for teachers’ unions, the Legislature enacted a slew of new policies affecting public schools during this year’s session.
Here’s what educators, parents and students should know:
School trustees, administrators and teachers
Here are the new laws that will affect school trustees, administrators and teachers:
Union activities. Public schools can no longer use taxpayer resources to accommodate teachers’ unions — including by giving teachers paid time off for union “activities” or by using payroll systems to deduct union dues.
The list of union “activities” in House Bill 516 is long. Among other things, it includes:
- Supporting or opposing candidates for office
- Influencing legislation
- Promoting union membership
- Participating in the “administration business or internal governance” of a teachers’ union
- Preparing, conducting or attending a union event
- Distributing union communications
- Speaking on the union’s behalf
- Engaging in union negotiations
- Filing a grievance on behalf of the union
A school district can’t give teachers paid time off to participate in these activities, unless the union reimburses the district.
HB 516 was based on a report from the Washington-based Freedom Foundation, an anti-union think tank, which alleged that public schools have spent more than $1 million subsidizing teachers’ unions.
The bill also prohibited districts from:
- Deducting union dues through payroll systems.
- Increasing teacher pay to cover union dues.
- Requiring that teachers meet with the union.
- Sharing employees’ contact information with the union.
- Communicating on the union’s behalf.
Civics instruction. Public schools must now ensure that their civics instruction aligns with a law aimed at cultivating the “virtue and knowledge necessary for self-government.”
Senate Bill 1336 codified nearly four pages of requirements for civics instruction. By the time public school students graduate, they must exemplify the virtues of “prudence, justice, fortitude, moderation and patriotism” while understanding the “fundamental principles of the nation’s republican form of government” along with the “history, meaning, significance, and effect of key historical documents.”
Click here to read the list of principles and texts that students must understand.
The bill also required that high school students complete two credits in American history and two credits in American government. These classes must include instruction on the American Revolution and founding along with instruction on the incompatibility of totalitarianism with the principles of American government.
The bill also “encouraged” public schools to display historical portraits of George Washington “in a conspicuous place” in each classroom where civics is taught.
Public charter schools can request an exemption from many of the new requirements. Traditional public schools cannot.
Lastly, the bill pushed back the implementation date for a new civics test that the Idaho Department of Education is writing. The new test will be required in 2027-28, rather than during the upcoming school year.
High-needs funding. Public schools are now eligible to receive up to $100,000 in state funding for “high-needs” special education students.
Senate Bill 1288 set aside $5 million for students who require full-time staff support or specialized equipment. Districts can apply for the state funds to cover students whose individual education program-related costs exceed $30,000 annually.
The state will fully reimburse costs between $30,000 and $80,000. Costs above $80,000 will be reimbursed at 80%, and reimbursement is capped at $100,000. Forty percent of the state funds are reserved for rural schools.
Sexual abuse reporting. School districts are no longer allowed to conduct an internal investigation of abuse in lieu of reporting an incident to law enforcement.
Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, proposed the law in response to sexual abuse complaints against Gavin Snow, a former special education assistant in the Boise School District.
Senate Bill 1412, which passed with unanimous support, also requires that school districts ask job applicants for sworn statements disclosing pending or prior investigations, resignations during investigations or disciplinary action stemming from misconduct. An applicant who lies in the disclosure is no longer eligible for the job.
Funding flexibility. Public school districts and charter schools are now eligible for flexibility in how they spend state funds — if they meet performance benchmarks.
To qualify for the “earned autonomy,” districts would have to post high marks on test scores and graduation rates while charters would be graded on academics and financials.
House Bill 883’s sponsors estimated that about 10 districts and 15 charters would qualify.
Parents
Here are the new laws that parents should be aware of:
Social transition reporting. Parents will now have a right to be notified if their child identifies as a different gender at school. Schools could face a six-figure penalty for failing to comply.
House Bill 822 requires that public school officials notify parents within 72 hours if their child requests help with “social transitioning.” This includes when a student asks to go by a different pronoun or use a bathroom or participate on a sports team that doesn’t align with their birth sex.
Sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, the law gives parents the right to sue a school or healthcare provider for relief and monetary damages if they aren’t notified within the 72-hour window.
The attorney general can also seek a civil penalty up to $100,000.
Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa
Virtual school policy. Parents of virtual-school students will have new restrictions on money they receive to cover the costs of home learning.
After a state report last year found examples of taxpayer money being misused, lawmakers added limits on “supplemental learning funds.” According to House Bill 624, this money can only be spent on “eligible educational expenses, including:
- Computer hardware, internet access or other devices used to meet a student’s educational needs.
- Textbooks, curricula or other instructional materials, including educational software.
- Fees for standardized tests, advanced placement exams, certificate exams or college admissions exams.
- Therapies, including behavioral, physical, speech-language and audiology therapies, along with other State Board of Education-approved services.
In addition to the rules around supplemental learning funds, HB 624 added reporting requirements for private vendors that contract with virtual schools. Vendors must disclose the costs and services they provide while demonstrating a “clear relationship between the public funds received and the services provided.”
Military preference on charter waitlists. Active-duty military parents could be eligible for preference on charter school waitlists.
Lawmakers passed a bill that allows charter schools to place children from military families third among categories of students given preference on waitlists. It’s up to each charter school whether they implement the change.
Students
Here are the new laws that students should know about:
Moment of silence. Public school students will now have to start each school day with a moment of silence.
They can use the 60 seconds however they want — to reflect, meditate or pray — but they must be silent, and “no other activities shall take place,” according to House Bill 623.
Sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, the law requires that a moment of silence occur “at or near the beginning of each school day.” It prohibits teachers from instructing students on the “nature of any reflection” they might engage in.
School leaders also must notify parents about the moment of silence and “encourage” them to “provide guidance” to their children on how to use it, according to the law.
Idaho Launch cuts. Less state aid will be available for students going to college after they graduate in 2027.
For the current fiscal year and next fiscal year starting July 1, state lawmakers — with Gov. Brad Little’s approval — cut $10 million from Idaho Launch. The program offers high school graduates $8,000 to spend on an in-state higher education degree or workforce training certificate.
While the award amounts will remain the same, the state now has $65 million in scholarship money to dole out, compared to $75 million in previous years.
IDLA cuts. Fewer students are eligible to take discounted courses through the state’s online learning platform, the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance (IDLA).
House Bill 940 cut funding for IDLA’s elementary program, limiting the platform to students in grades 6-12. The bill also cut driver’s education, and eliminated state funding for students attending all-virtual schools and non-public schools — although private- and home-schoolers can pay IDLA’s full course fee and seek reimbursement through the Parental Choice Tax Credit.
HB 940 also set new fees for courses that are eligible for state funding. Courses that satisfy a graduation requirement are $40, while courses that don’t meet a graduation requirement are $100.
Copyright 2026 KMVT. All rights reserved.
POCATELLO – Learn physics and have some fun at the same time at a community event this weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday, Idaho State University’s Department of Physics will hold its annual Water Rocket Festival at Tydeman Park — North 8th Avenue and East Young Street. The first 100 kids who arrive get to build and launch their own bottle rockets.
“The hope is to sneak some science into the summer,” said Steve Shropshire, the physics professor helping to organize it.
It’s free to the public and held in conjunction with the Kiwanis Club of Pocatello’s Bing Hong Pancake Breakfast fundraiser.
A competition will be held both days. The kid who builds the rocket that goes the furthest will be awarded with their own water-rocket launcher.
Shropshire, who’s been running events like this for nearly 40 years, started the Water Rocket Festival around 16 years ago. As a new member of the Kiwanis club, Shropshire noticed that the fundraiser only took up half of the park.
“I kind of piggybacked onto them, saying, ‘hey, you know, you’re not using this whole field over here. We could sneak some science into this,’ and I think it works well,” Shropshire said.
A student will greet each individual or group, and spend about 15 minutes explaining the physics behind building a rocket.
The kids will build their rockets, with some guidance and tips from students. All basic materials are provided.
Students will help fill the rocket with water and bring it to the launch pad, where Shropshire handles the countdown and launch. Once it’s finished, they can do it all over again.
“The kids are welcome to redesign, rebuild and launch again and again and again, or just keep launching until the thing falls apart,” Shropshire said.
The initial appeal of the event can be summed up by a short statement from Shropshire.
“Rockets are really cool. It certainly captivates the kids’ interest,” Shropshire said.
But beyond that, Shropshire says learning basic principles of physics and then applying them could spark a long-term or lifelong interest.
“The best way to learn is by doing. You understand the principles the best if you actually end up applying them, and seeing them in operation,” Shropshire said.
And Shropshire said the event goes even better when adults get involved.
“I would encourage parents and grandparents to get actively involved in helping their kids build the rockets because that’s kind of a bonding experience … ad I think the kids put better rockets together if they’ve got some parents to help them out,” Shropshire said.
But regardless of whether it sparks a child’s interest in physics or rocket-building, Shropshire said it’s still a worthwhile activity.
“There’s lots of fun, rewarding things that folks can do that are related to science and engineering, and having some awareness of that as the kids go through their schooling is a good thing,” Shropshire said.
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