Dateline NBC
The Idaho student murders: new details. Karen Read's voicemails. And Sean Combs's trial begins.
Thu, 8 May 2025
Keith Morrison shares his latest reporting on the murders of four University of Idaho students including exclusive interviews and never-before-publicly-seen video. The retrial of Karen Read is in week three. The prosecution plays some of her final voicemails to John O'Keefe. And jury selection is underway in Sean Combs's blockbuster trial.Find out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com
Chapter 1: What new details have emerged in the Idaho student murders?
Jury selection is officially underway in the sex trafficking trial of Sean Diddy Combs.
But before all that, we've got two very special guests, Keith Morrison and Dateline producer Shane Bishop. They're here to tell us about their groundbreaking investigation into a crime that stunned the nation, the murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022.
Within days of the tragic discovery that the students had been fatally stabbed in their beds in the college town of Moscow, Idaho, Dateline producers were on the ground covering the story.
For the next two years, Keith and his team followed the case at every turn, reporting on the manhunt, the arrest of the suspected killer, criminology student Brian Koberger, and the family's painful wait for answers. Koberger's trial is set to begin in 12 weeks, and the judge has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Chapter 2: What is the focus of Keith Morrison's investigation?
Now, Keith is back with Dateline's latest reporting on the case, from never before publicly seen security footage to exclusive interviews with people who crossed paths with Koberger. It's the kind of insight you won't find anywhere else. Keith and Shane, thank you so much for coming on to talk about this.
Our pleasure, I'm sure.
Just remind us, who were the students who were killed in the house in those early hours of November 13th, 2022?
So the four students that were murdered were Maddie Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Zanna Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Two of them were about ready to spring into the world, just about, almost finished with their studies. Two were not quite so far along. All were, you know, lauded by their families and by their parents as responsible kids who were nevertheless, you know, going to college and having a good time as college students as well.
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Chapter 3: What were the final moments of the Idaho students like?
Shane, there's always been a question about whether the killer was targeting one of the students in particular. What did you find out about that?
So we've confirmed with investigative sources that they believe the target that night was Maddie Mogan. One reason they believe that is because the killer seems to have gone immediately up to Maddie's room. So he was familiar in some way with where that girl's room was. As we all know by now, the killer found Kaylee with Maddie. These same sources tell us that
there was a struggle upstairs in Maddie's room between Maddie, Kaylee, and the killer. And the noise of that confrontation, the thumping is the words that our source used, got the attention of Zanna on the floor below. So the belief is by these sources that she went up to investigate the thumping upstairs, the killer got interrupted, and then chased Zanna downstairs.
So just awful, awful final moments for these poor students. You found out that there was another girl who was supposed to be there that night, but lucky for her, she had a change of plans. And Keith, you had a very emotional interview with her mom. Let's take a listen.
How soon was it that you thought, my God, she was going to be there?
I didn't think about that right away. All I could think about was the kids. But she just cried. In her bed. She didn't want to talk about it. We just cried together for a long time.
Makes you sad too, doesn't it?
It does. Wow.
Well, I mean, imagine this. You've got kids yourself, Andrea, and you know how desperate a mother is to keep her children safe. Her daughter was intending to go that weekend to spend several days with her best friend, Maddie Mogan. And... Only at the very last minute, she had to stay at home to watch over the family dog. And if she hadn't, she would have gone to Moscow, Idaho.
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Chapter 4: What is happening in Karen Reed's retrial?
So there is some never-before-publicly-seen security video, which you'll show. Describe this video for us.
You have to see it to get a full appreciation of it. But there is certainly some pretty dramatic evidence of a white car in the vicinity of the crime scene right around the time it happened and afterwards.
And... You can't say for sure that it's Brian Koberger's car, but he owns a car similar, at least looks similar to what's in that video, right?
Well, we know Koberger owns a white Elantra.
Your team tracked down people who crossed paths with Koberger, including some guests at a pool party he attended. What did you learn from these people?
We know that Kohlberger attended a pool party on July 9th in Moscow, which was about 10 days after he'd arrived in Washington from Pennsylvania. One of the people we talked to was a woman named Holly, who had also at some point been a graduate student far from home. And so she felt some responsibility to talk to Kohlberger, try to welcome him to the area.
He seemed a little awkward, kind of like you might expect for a PhD student who didn't know anyone at the party and was maybe trying his best to kind of get out there and be social and make friends.
She told him about a hiking group that she was involved in. They exchanged numbers. The next day, Koberger texted her and said, hey, I'd like to get involved with this hiking group. And then for some reason, she just blew him off. She said, the universe intervened, and I never returned that, and still makes her shiver a little, obviously, in hindsight.
There's so much more reporting that your team did. It is a must-see, and it is called The Terrible Night on King Road, and it airs this Friday on NBC at 9, 8 central. Keith and Shane, thank you so much for just sharing all this information that you found today.
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Chapter 5: What evidence is the prosecution presenting in Karen Reed's case?
Thank you. Up next, Karen Reid's voicemails get played in court, and the defense has some questions about how police collected evidence. And it involves red Solo cups. In Dedda, Massachusetts, Karen Reid's second trial enters week three. Reid is accused of hitting her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, with her SUV after a night of drinking and leaving him to die in a Nor'easter.
Reid has pleaded not guilty. Her defense says she's being framed by law enforcement to cover up what they say is the truth about O'Keefe's death. that Karen dropped him off at an after-party at the home of another Boston police officer. There, the defense says he was beaten up, dragged outside, and left to die in the cold.
This week, the prosecution turned its focus to the day O'Keefe's body was found and how the criminal investigation began. They also played some of the most explosive audio we've heard over the course of the trial so far, angry, explicit voicemails Karen left for John O'Keefe. Dateline producer Sue Simpson is here to fill us in on the latest. Welcome back to the podcast, Sue.
Happy to be here.
Okay, and I have to ask, of course, did you win the lottery this week? Did you get a seat in the courtroom?
I am in the courtroom. It is so exciting.
Oh, wow. Okay. Wow, this is big. All right, so court was back in session on Monday, and we heard from some of the law enforcement and emergency personnel at the scene. The prosecution called a firefighter paramedic to the stand, and Prosecutor Hank Brennan had her describe what she saw that day.
That's right. So Brennan asked Katie McLaughlin about seeing Karen Reed at the scene. And McLaughlin testified that one of the firefighters there asked her to gather more information about what had happened. McLaughlin said she noticed Karen and she decided to approach her.
Did she say anything to you in addition to the typical background information that you would try to obtain from somebody? Yes. What did she say?
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Chapter 6: How is the defense challenging the prosecution in Karen Reed's trial?
And Sue, that's not the first prosecution witness who has testified that they heard Karen say, I hit him.
You're absolutely right. And the defense, of course, maintains that what Karen said was, did I hit him? Or could I have hit him? That she wasn't making a statement. She was asking a question. But, you know, if you wanted to simplify this case, Andrea, and boil it down to a few critical points, this would be one. How will the jury interpret those few words, that handful of words?
McLaughlin also testified that after Karen said, I hit him, Jen McCabe, who was standing right beside Karen, told her to calm down.
Stop talking, calm down, you're hysterical. So she repeated, I hit him. And a police officer asked her why. I said, you what? And she repeated it again. I hit him. And the officer then signaled for his sergeant to come down to the scene.
The defense really pushed back on this in their cross-examination. Alan Jackson, you know, star defense attorney from Los Angeles, what did he have to say about it?
Well, Jackson asked if McLaughlin was sure that Karen wasn't asking a question. And Jackson asked if she was actually admitting to a crime, why didn't they arrest her right then and there?
So they handcuffed her?
No, no. No.
Even though she just confessed in front of a police officer, according to you?
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