"I can't fathom the amount of terror" — Internet reacts with horror to Dateline's Idaho Murders breakdown

NBC's Dateline: The Terrible Night on King's Road, which aired on May 9, 2025, revisited the 2022 University of Idaho killings with fresh details and a chilling forensic timeline. The Dateline episode delved into what allegedly unfolded inside the Moscow home where Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen were brutally murdered.

Redditors, many of whom have followed the case since its earliest days, were quick to react to the revelations, especially those involving forensic footprints, timeline reconstructions, and Xana Kernodle's final moments.

According to a preview shared on Reddit, the breakdown suggested Madison was the initial target, Xana may have witnessed part of the attack, and a potential survivor was meant to be present that night but stayed away last minute.

Dateline podcast byu/Commercial-Cut-111 inIdaho4

These revelations prompted intense emotional reactions across Reddit’s r/Idaho4 and r/TrueCrime communities. After hearing that Xana may have run upstairs, realized what was happening, and then tried to escape, one user wrote on the platform:

“I can't fathom the amount of terror”

Comment byu/Commercial-Cut-111 from discussion inIdaho4

With the Dateline episode airing, reactions continue to pour in online, many focused on the psychological terror experienced by the victims, especially Xana Kernodle.

“Poor Xana. She has stuck with me the most out of all the victims,” another redditor said.

"So this means that it likely was xana who DM heard say 'someone is here.'...I think also that X was noted as being on tik tok at 4:10 am," a comment noted.

Some internet users deemed the new details revealed in the Dateline special "terrifying."

"And instead of just letting her run off, he said he was going to help her and friggin killed her. He couldve left," a user added, criticizing the manupulative killer instincts.

“Terrifying,” one Redditor wrote.

"It’s literally something out of a horror film," another user added.

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The events that led to the fatal stabbings of Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen are explored in Dateline

During the early morning of November 13, 2022, University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen were discovered fatally stabbed in a rented home located off campus. Authorities later linked Bryan Kohberger to the murders using DNA recovered from a knife sheath left at the scene. The DNA was matched through genealogical databases.

Surveillance footage showed a white Hyundai Elantra, similar to Bryan Kohberger's, circling the area that night. Additionally, cellphone tower records indicated his device connected near the home 23 times in the months leading up to the incident.

Kohberger, a Washington State University Ph.D. student in criminology, was arrested seven weeks later. He allegedly searched online for information about serial killer Ted Bundy and used keywords related to nonconsensual acts, including "drugged," "passed out," and "sleeping."

These searches occurred both before and after the murders. However, investigators have not confirmed any personal relationship between Kohberger and the victims, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen.

Bryan Kohberger is currently awaiting trial, scheduled for August 11, 2025, on four counts of murder and one count of burglary. His defence claims he was driving alone during the killings.

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NBC's Dateline: The Terrible Night on King's Road presented new findings, including search history and interviews with those close to the victims and the suspect.