Later this week will mark the 11-month anniversary of the tragedy at 1122 King Road.
In the early hours of Nov. 13 last year, the Idaho 4 were killed at their home. 
The deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin not only shocked the community of Moscow, but countless people nationwide and globally.
As 2022 wound down, Bryan Kohberger was arrested more than 2,000 miles away in his native Pennsylvania on Dec. 30. To date, Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
Given there has been a gag order on the case in place for sometime now, getting accurate information and not online rumors can be difficult at times.
One thing that seems to be pretty clear from family statements, online research and so on is that the families of three of the four victims had their loved ones cremated.
Chapin, who did not live at the home but was visiting his girlfriend (Kernodle) when the murders took place, apparently was the only victim not cremated before being laid to rest in Washington State. At a vigil, Steve Goncalves said that his daughter and Mogen were in the same bed when they died. Now (December of 2022), Kaylee’s ashes are right next to Mogen’s at the Goncalves’ house, NewsNation’s Brian Entin reported.
If you’ve followed the case closely, you have heard reports that the crime scene was quite bloody. Unlike other manners of death, attacks with knives can be rather messy as one would expect.
So, while we do not like to deal in wild online rumors and such, it has been out there for a while now that Mogen reportedly had her throat slit and would have died rather quickly.
Meantime, reports that include comments from some of the family members, indicate both Goncalves and Kernodle put up a fight for their lives. If this in fact is true, one could reasonably gather that both victims suffered countless knife wounds and perhaps other forms of attack.
At the end of the day, cremation may have been the only viable option for three of the families. If their loved ones were attacked so viciously, trying to prepare a body for traditional burial may not have been a viable option.
If you stop and think about it, how many young adults have a conversation with their families about what funeral plans they’d want to have should they die unexpectedly at such a young age? My guess is none of these four murder victims had such discussions to any great length with their parents prior to Nov. 13, 2022. As such, the brutality that they came face to face with on that morning may have left their families no other choice but cremation.
I bring all this up because I still do not buy that one individual waltzed into that home during the middle of the night and quickly took four young lives.
It makes much more sense to me that more than one person did this horrific act.
If it was only one person as the police and prosecution seem to stand by, than is their timeline of the murders off? It would seem to take longer than 15 minutes or so for an individual in presumably dark conditions, on two different floors, meeting resistance from at least two of the victims, and not leaving a major blood trail out of the home to pull this off. Keep in mind that attacking an individual even if they are drunk and/or asleep is not like taking a knife to a pillow etc. If the police timeline is off, what else might be off about their case?
While many people (most notably the families) want answers, the fact that three of the four victims were reportedly cremated may give us some insight into simply how brutal these killings were and all that went into them both in terms of individuals and time involved.
Editor’s note: Xana Kernodle cremation notice from Findagrave.com.
DavidAlanThomas 