Former roommate Ashlin Couch marked the 18-month anniversary of the tragic murder of University of Idaho students by revealing the final message she sent to her late friend, Madison Mogen. Couch received an alert from their alma mater about a homicide on the same road as their old college house and immediately texted Mogen to ask if she was okay. However, she never received a response. The three roommates, Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Xana Kernodle, along with Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were brutally killed in their upstairs bedrooms after a night out.
Couch vividly remembers the moment she heard about the homicide. The university sent out a text alert to the community, which caused her to panic and reach out to their group of friends to inquire about Mogen’s whereabouts. The lack of response led Couch to fear that something was seriously wrong. Mogen and Goncalves were found in the same bed, while Kernodle and Chapin were killed in the bedroom across the hall, which Couch had lived in just six months prior. The realization that the tragedy could have occurred while she was still living there haunted Couch.
The fear and panic continued for two weeks while the killer, Bryan Kohberger, remained at large. Even after his arrest, Couch struggled with anxiety and felt unsafe walking alone in the dark. This traumatic experience inspired her to establish the Made with Kindness Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and educating students about social media safety. The foundation aims to teach students how to protect themselves, recognizing that some actions are beyond their control. Couch believes that her friends did nothing wrong and that horrible people will always do what they want.
Despite her efforts with the foundation, Couch still feels a deep sense of loss and wishes she had the opportunity to say goodbye to her friends one last time. The Moscow home where they once shared happy memories has been demolished by the university, a controversial decision that the victims’ families believe eliminated the potential for finding additional forensic evidence.
Kohberger, who faces multiple charges including murder and burglary, recently claimed through his lawyers that he was not present at the college house during the killings but was driving alone 40 minutes away. He is scheduled for a closed-door hearing on May 14.
