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.

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.

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 student house has since been demolished. (KXLY/ABC News)

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?’

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.”

“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.”

Ashlin Couch moved out just a few months before the murders. (KXLY/ABC News)

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.

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.

Police arrested Bryan Kohberger in relation to the killings. (Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images)

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

An Idaho man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for “purposely” trying to spread HIV through sexual contact with both men and teenage boys, prosecutors announced.

Alexander Louie, 34, was sentenced for a felony charge of transferring body fluids containing the HIV, among other charges, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Monday. Ada County District Judge Derrick O’Neill sentenced Louie to 30 years in prison on Friday, in which he has to serve 16 years before he is eligible for parole.

“Your conduct would be the Webster’s definition of a predator,” O’Neill said during the Louie’s sentencing.

Louie admitted that he had sexual intercourse with 30 to 50 different men and teenage boys, including a 16-year-old, and lied to his victims about his HIV status, according to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.

Investigators found that Louie, who is HIV positive, was not taking his medication and that he was “purposely having sexual contact with both men and teenage boys in hopes to transfer HIV to them,” the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The investigation led to Louie pleading guilty to three felonies, including sexual battery of a minor, enticing a child through the internet, and transferring body fluids containing HIV, according to online court records.

“This defendant’s repeated and egregious offenses negatively impacted many people in our community,” Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts said in a statement. “I want to thank the Ada County Sheriff’s Detective and my trial team. Their hard work on this case ensured Mr. Louie was brought to justice in order to protect our community from his predatory and dangerous conduct.”

Idaho man had online sexual conversations with victims

The investigation began as a child enticement case in August 2023 and later expanded into “dozens of charges” against Louie, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office previously said.

Louie was arrested in September 2023 during an internet sting operation and initially charged with multiple felonies for having illegal sexual contact with a 16-year-old last year and not telling the teenager that he was HIV positive, according to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.

Detectives arrested Louie after he began an “online sexual conversation with who he believed was a 15-year-old boy,” but was an undercover sheriff’s detective, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office said. Authorities took him into custody at an arranged meeting place near a local high school.

Louie had sent naked photos to the undercover detective during their online conversations and said he was “going to videotape their encounter,” the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office added.

Following his arrest, investigators discovered evidence of other victims, including the 16-year-old boy who authorities determined had illegal sexual contact with Louie three times in September. Investigators also found evidence that Louie met the victim through online messaging apps and that Louie stopped taking his HIV medication on purpose before their encounter.

Many 90’s kids grew up as latchkey kids, often both parents were working. The kids that were not involved in extracurricular activities went home after school and were essentially raised by the television. It’s never too late to realize things may not be what they once seemed? Recently, there was a Coeur d’Alene, ID Lake Middle School whistleblower talking about the school affirming her daughter’s sudden onset of gender dysphoria. The age of her daughter just so happened to be twelve at the time. This “Secret Education of American Children” is happening in front of our faces. I’m seeing a pattern here and it never appears to be in the best interest of the family or child. If you didn’t know you had a choice, you do now. There are good people that really want you and your child to be healthy and happy. They may be a bit more work to find, but they are out there. Amplify the good in your household, I greatly thank the Seattle Parents and Shelia Bucher for sticking up for their children when no one else would, even those who we were taught to trust without question didn’t support the parents. Choose the healthy, the good and the beautiful. Define it for your children so they cannot be lead astray. It is not too late to steer the ship right.

This Op-Ed was submitted by Christi Warhurst. Op-Eds do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.