Idaho quadruple murder victims' former roommate reveals her final text to them before they were slashed in killing that shocked the world
- Four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in November 2022
- Ashlin Couch lived at the home with two of the victims until May 2022
- Couch recalled the moment she texted her friends when she heard of the crime
The former roommate of the University of Idaho murder victims is speaking out about the last message she sent her friends and how she is honoring their legacy.
Ashlin Couch lived with Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen at their off-campus house on Kings Road in Moscow until May 2022 when Xana Kernodle took over her lease.
Goncalves, 21, Mogen, 21, Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in that home in November 2022.
Couch recalled the gut-wrenching moment she received an alert that there had been a homicide near her former residence and texted her friends to see if they were okay.
'I texted like our group of friends, and I just had said, 'Has anyone heard from Maddie?' And I remember, like my last text message to her was like, 'Are you okay,'' Couch told KXLY.
![Ashlin Couch (left), the former roommate of Madison Mogen (center) and Kaylee Goncalves (right), revealed the last message she sent her friends](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/84611889-13395849-image-m-2_1715175985710.jpg)
Ashlin Couch (left), the former roommate of Madison Mogen (center) and Kaylee Goncalves (right), revealed the last message she sent her friends
![Couch lived at the off-campus house on Kings Road in Moscow until May 2022 when Xana Kernodle took over her lease](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/84611563-13395849-image-m-5_1715176008835.jpg)
Couch lived at the off-campus house on Kings Road in Moscow until May 2022 when Xana Kernodle took over her lease
![Couch recalled the gut-wrenching moment she received an alert that there had been a homicide near her former residence and texted her friends to see if they were okay](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/84611557-13395849-image-m-6_1715176026017.jpg)
Couch recalled the gut-wrenching moment she received an alert that there had been a homicide near her former residence and texted her friends to see if they were okay
'I felt it like right then and there, I kind of just knew that something was wrong.'
'It crosses my mind more that, that could have happened while I was there. And, you know, you never know like how long someone is watching your house,' she said.
Couch and her mother Angela Navejas founded the Made With Kindness foundation to honor her friends and created a scholarship in their names.
'I just wish that I could do at least one more time is like, you know, just give her one last hug just to be able to say goodbye,' Couch said.
'I couldn't even walk to my car in the dark for months after, you know, it happened. Like, you just want to at least feel a little bit safer. And if we can help college students do that and just create more awareness of that and just help them feel a little bit safer knowing that something like this had happened, I think is helpful in any way.'
Bryan Kohberger is accused of committing the heinous crime that shocked the nation, but has yet to have a trial scheduled nearly two years later.
Although he was initially set to stand trial in the spring of 2024, the repeat delays saw a judge in February push the court date back to at least the spring of 2025.
When Kohberger was arrested in December 2023, over a month after the slayings, cops said a key piece of evidence was a white Hyundai seen in surveillance footage driving to and from the site of the killings that matched Kohberger's car.
However, Kohberger's alibi filing claims that cellphone expert Sy Ray will offer testimony that shows his cellphone did not travel towards the home, and 'thus could not be the vehicle captured on video.'
Along with the surveillance footage, another key piece of evidence put forward by prosecutors is Kohberger's DNA allegedly found on a knife sheath left behind at the massacre.
![Bryan Kohberger (pictured) is accused of committing the heinous crime that shocked the nation, but has yet to have a trial scheduled nearly two years later](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/83789573-13395849-Idaho_murders_suspect_Bryan_Kohberger_has_offered_up_an_alibi_in-a-8_1715176046277.jpg)
Bryan Kohberger (pictured) is accused of committing the heinous crime that shocked the nation, but has yet to have a trial scheduled nearly two years later
![The scenes inside the home were so gruesome that blood dripped down the outside of the wall of the property, which investigators described as the worst crime scene they have ever seen](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/64584927-13395849-The_scenes_inside_the_home_were_so_gruesome_that_blood_dripped_d-a-7_1715176042791.jpg)
The scenes inside the home were so gruesome that blood dripped down the outside of the wall of the property, which investigators described as the worst crime scene they have ever seen
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/66897281-13395849-From_cellphone_data_produced_by_prosecutors_the_route_allegedly_-a-9_1715176050758.jpg)
On the night of the murders, the four victims and their friends had been enjoying a typical night out at local college bars, and Mogen and Goncalves were last seen buying carbonara pasta from a takeout truck shortly before they returned home at around 2am.
Chapin and Kernodle had spent the evening at his Sigma Chi fraternity house, and arrived home at around the same time.
After the white Hyundai was initially seen lurking around the home earlier in the evening, it was again spotted on surveillance footage just over an hour after the friends arrived home.
At that moment, Kernodle appears to have still been awake as she had just received a DoorDash order.
Investigators also determined that she had been playing TikTok at around the same moment the white Hyundai was seen performing a three-point turn in the street outside, at 4.04am.
Kohberger's phone had been turned off in Pullman at 2.47am, where he lived around 10 miles from the murder house in Moscow, and turned back on again at 4.48am south of Moscow, on the route back to Pullman.
The victim's surviving roommate, Dylan Mortensen, later told police she was also awake at the time, and even heard what was likely the sounds of the murders taking place in the room upstairs.
Mortensen told investigators she believed the sounds were Goncalves playing with her dog, and even called out to her friends to quiet down thinking they were merely partying.
'Calm down, you're being loud!' she reportedly yelled around 4am, in addition to: 'I'm trying to sleep!'
After she heard the questionable sounds slamming around the house in the dead of night, Mortensen said a male voice upstairs said something to the effect of: 'It's okay, I'm going to help you.'
Surveillance cameras later picked up what was deemed to be someone sobbing, a loud thud, and a dog barking, at 4.17am.
![(L-R) Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were stabbed to death on November 13, 2022](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/83790023-13395849-Kohberger_is_accused_of_murdering_University_of_Idaho_students_L-a-12_1715176073732.jpg)
(L-R) Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were stabbed to death on November 13, 2022
![Couch and her mother Angela Navejas founded the Made With Kindness foundation to honor her friends and created a scholarship in Goncalves (right) and Mogen's (left) names](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/81885799-13395849-The_families_of_the_victims_have_shared_their_frustration_at_the-a-10_1715176058025.jpg)
Couch and her mother Angela Navejas founded the Made With Kindness foundation to honor her friends and created a scholarship in Goncalves (right) and Mogen's (left) names
![Boyfriend and girlfriend Ethan Chapin (left) and Xana Kernodle (right) were slain in bed together in the gruesome murders in November 2022](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/08/14/81886049-13395849-Boyfriend_and_girlfriend_Ethan_Chapin_left_and_Xana_Kernodle_rig-a-11_1715176066203.jpg)
Boyfriend and girlfriend Ethan Chapin (left) and Xana Kernodle (right) were slain in bed together in the gruesome murders in November 2022
In a move that has led to numerous questions since the murders, Mortensen says she opened her bedroom door to investigate the sounds and was stunned to come face-to-face with an intruder, dressed in all black and wearing a mask.
She claims the killer walked right past her and exited out a sliding glass door at the back of the house, leaving her frozen in fear.
Nobody called 911 for over seven hours.
At 4.20am, the white Hyundai Elantra was seen again in surveillance footage driving through the neighborhood, with the car later becoming a key piece of evidence that prosecutors say places Kohberger in the area at the time.
This led to Kohberger's initial alibi, claiming to have been 'driving alone' at the time the murders were taking place.
In December, Idaho officials again came under fire after the off-campus home where the four students were stabbed to death was torn down, against the victim's families' wishes.
Although both prosecution and defense agreed for it to be torn down, the families argued against it, with Goncalves' loved ones fearing the move would 'destroy one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the case.'
Before it was torn down, the scenes inside the home were so gruesome that exclusive DailyMail.com images showed blood seeping down the outsides of the home.