More than three years after the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, one question still haunts the public: why did Bryan Kohberger choose that house? The director of a new Netflix documentary believes the answer may be simpler and more disturbing than many think. Skye Borgman, who helmed “The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare,” says the killer deliberately targeted the off-campus rental home because it was occupied primarily by women.
The three-part docuseries, which started streaming on July 29, 2026, examines the November 13, 2022 murders that shook the small college town of Moscow, Idaho. Borgman’s theory adds a new layer to a case that already captivated the nation.
Director Points to Gender as Possible Motive
Borgman told Fox News Digital that the evidence points toward a deliberate choice. “The fact that this was the house that he chose. This was a house that had five women living in it,” she said. “The night that the murders happened, Xana Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, was over, but really, this was a house full of women, and it seems quite clear that he targeted it.”
At the time of the killings, the King Road residence was home to five female roommates: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Bethany Funke, and Dylan Mortensen. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was sleeping over that night and became the only male victim. Funke and Mortensen survived by locking themselves in a bedroom.
Borgman pointed out that Kohberger had been watching the property long before the attack. “He watched the house; he was around the house in the days, weeks and months leading up to the murders,” she said. “So, it seems pretty likely that he had a very low regard, if not hatred, for women.”
Documentary Reveals Troubling Pattern of Behavior
“The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare” includes interviews with former classmates and associates who describe Kohberger as someone who frequently spoke down to women. Several students found him “creepy” and said he made them feel uncomfortable. One former classmate, Lilly Karaban, recalled him as having a “his way or the highway” attitude.
The series also reveals that Kohberger, then a teaching assistant at Washington State University, was reported to campus police by a student who believed he was following her to her car. He lost his teaching position following that incident. Another student told investigators she felt cornered by him during an aggressive encounter.
Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger appears in the documentary and describes Kohberger’s past behavior as troubling. “There were just strange incidents and strange behavior,” he said.
The Incel Question
Borgman also raised the possibility that Kohberger may have been connected to the incel movement, an online subculture of men who express deep hostility toward women. “It’s all conjecture, but he seemed to struggle with his relationships with women,” Borgman told Fox News Digital. “And we look at this incel movement and the question of whether or not he was an incel, and whether or not he didn’t like women.”
However, FBI Special Agent Ed Jacobson, who worked on the case, said in the documentary that investigators never found evidence confirming Kohberger was part of the incel community. Jacobson added that Kohberger “was very good at hiding his online activity.”
Borgman acknowledged her theory remains speculation. “It seems to me that there was a hatred of women there,” she said.
The Murders That Shocked the Nation
The case began in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Goncalves, 21, Mogen, 21, Kernodle, 20, and Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in their off-campus home. The killings went unsolved for weeks until DNA evidence on a knife sheath led investigators to Kohberger.
Kohberger, then a Ph.D. student in criminology at Washington State University, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania two months later. On July 2, 2025, he pleaded guilty to all four murders. He is now serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Despite his guilty plea, Kohberger has never publicly explained why he committed the crimes.
Director Focuses on Victims, Not the Killer
Borgman said her goal with the documentary was to shift attention away from Kohberger and onto the young lives that were lost. “I felt a responsibility to keep Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin at the center of every decision we made,” she said in a Netflix release. “At a time when so much attention has been focused on the case itself, I felt it was important to create something that brings the focus back to who they were, the lives they lived, and the love that still surrounds them.”
The series uses bodycam footage, text messages, and interviews with family members to trace the events of that night. It also includes never-before-seen police interviews and forensic evidence.
Executive producer Joe Berlinger, known for “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey,” said the team aimed to tell the complete story. “Though we were among the first documentarians on the scene, it was important to us to tell the complete story,” Berlinger said. “We felt the best way to honor the victims was to tell the full, accurate story of everything that happened that horrible night in Idaho.”
Families Still Seek Answers
For the victims’ families, the lack of a clear motive remains deeply painful. Borgman acknowledged their frustration. “They wish so truly that he had been forced through the terms of his plea deal to give us more information about the why of it all,” she said.
Borgman doubts the public will ever get a full explanation. “I would love to, I think, along with the rest of the world, know why he did what he did,” she told Fox News Digital. “But it is one of those things that I don’t think any of us will ever know.”
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What the Documentary Covers
“The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare” is now available on Netflix. The series reexamines one of the most closely followed murder investigations in recent years. It joins other documentaries on the case, including Peacock’s “The Idaho Student Murders” and Amazon Prime Video’s “One Night in Idaho: The College Murders”.
Borgman, who previously directed Netflix’s “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish,” brings a victim-centered approach to the project. The docuseries does not attempt to solve the mystery of Kohberger’s motive but instead presents the facts and allows viewers to draw their own conclusions.
The series runs three episodes and features unprecedented access to the victims’ families and law enforcement materials.
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