Why does the Idaho Murders/Bryan Kohberger case continue to fascinate?
the true crime that's worth your time
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen, was in court this week. Any thoughts I had that the public had moved on from the November 2022 case were shuffled out of my head, as tens of thousands of news outlets around the globe covered the suspect’s brief Idaho arraignment Monday.
I’ll save you the clicks: Kohberger didn’t respond when asked what he pled, so the judge entered a “not guilty” plea. It’s a strategy called “standing silent” that has flummoxed some experts, and suggests that Kohberger is expected to take the stand in his trial, which is scheduled to begin on October 2.
Don’t forget that Best Evidence is on sale this week, $52 for an annual paid subscription to acknowledge my 52nd birthday. Snag one today before we get any older!
There’s been a gag order — extended to attorneys for both sides — on the case since January, which is another reason coverage of the moments in court was so widespread. Meanwhile, Deadline reports that — of all people — airport bookshop novelist James Patterson will partner with Chasing Ghislaine producer Vicky Ward for a book on the case, publisher Little, Brown and Company said via press release, drawing “from dozens of exclusive interviews, extensive on-the-ground reporting, copious court transcripts, and also will attend Kohberger’s trial.” The book, which doesn’t have a publication date, already has a docuseries development deal, so expect a streaming/TV treatment, too.
In the release, Patterson says he’s “haunted” by the case, and that it has “captured imaginations all around the world and I’m as caught up in it as anyone else.” So far, it seems like he’s not wrong, and that people remain fascinated by this crime, more so than others that are arguably more compelling on paper.
But…why? Sarah and I slacked a little about this yesterday, and batted around some theories (the manhunt element, Kohberger’s criminology background, the unverified details of the crime scene, among others). But, surely, there are other cases that are just as compelling that make for a crime brief or an in-court report or two, before falling completely off the radar. But there’s something different about this case, as Patterson admits, something that keeps itself in our brains. What do you think that is — and do you think that interest will be sustained through to October, and across a trial? — EB