Former sorority sister of Idaho victim says campus was a terrifying place in weeks after murders

A former sorority sister of one of the four students murdered last November has said the University of Idaho campus was a haunting place in the weeks following the murders before any suspects were caught.

Natalia Zieroth-Chaumont, an Alpha Phi sorority member who was a sister of Kaylee Goncalves, is speaking out six months after the horrific incidents occurred where four students were murdered in their beds in a house close to campus.

Zieroth-Chaumont knew Goncalves well because he was in the same fraternity. To cope with the devastating murders, she learned to put her personal feelings aside.

As a senior and housing counselor in a freshman sorority, she felt she had to try to convey a sense of calm and help other freshmen through the shock of the whole episode.

Despite an increased presence on campus for the rest of this school year, she said she came to realize that danger lurks everywhere.

“Even super-safe places still have their dangers. It certainly opened people’s eyes to real life,” Zieroth-Chaumont told the Idaho press.

Maddie Mogen (above) Kaylee Goncalves (second from left) Xana Kernodle (second from right) and Ethan Chapin (center) – all students at the University of Idaho – were stabbed to death on Nov. 13 in the quiet college town of Moscow. Idaho

Both Kaylee Goncalves, who was killed, and Natalia Zieroth-Chaumont were sisters from the Alpha Phi sorority

Pictured: (L-R) Dylan Mortenson, Xana Kernodle, Bethany Funke, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen

The university where Kohberger worked was only ten miles from the murder scene

Many students, including Zieroth-Chaumont, faced the difficult decision of whether or not to return to campus, and some chose not to return after Thanksgiving break.

“There were a lot of girls who didn’t come back after Thanksgiving,” Zieroth-Chaumont said.

Such a choice was not possible for her because her role as housing adviser prevented her from taking lessons remotely.

A student compared the murders to Covid, causing life to flare up again on campus.

“I like to say that in a sense we really have had two COVIDs,” said Matty Murphy.

Other students on campus say the mood changed significantly after the suspect’s arrest, some 47 days after the murders and 12 days before spring semester classes began.

“Lessons started in a much better position. There’s no question that the arrest has helped put people’s minds at ease,” said Idaho student Paul Gillespie.

Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were all murdered in the home they rented in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022.

Police were alerted when an emergency call came in reporting an unconscious person and the finding of the lifeless bodies of the four students on the second and third floors of the house.

All of the victims had been stabbed multiple times and some showed signs of fighting back against their attacker.

Two other housemates who lived in the house at the time survived the attack.

Zieroth-Chaumont said the incident opened people’s eyes to the realities of life

Zieroth-Chaumont said many students faced the difficult decision to return to campus, with some choosing not to return after Thanksgiving break

Slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves is shown with members of her Alpha Phi sorority in a tribute video posted by the group

Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were found dead in their student apartment in the shadow of the college campus

Kohberger’s apartment was searched hours after he was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30

Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman, Washington, was combed by police looking for evidence for the ongoing investigation – photographed in January of this year

In late December 2022, Bryan Kohberger, a criminology student from nearby Washington State University, was arrested and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder for the violent stabbings.

Kohberger, 29, is said to have remained on campus in the weeks following the murders before driving across the country to Pennsylvania with his father.

A preliminary hearing in Latah County court is scheduled for June, which will determine whether the case will go to trial.

The University of Idaho plans to honor the slain students posthumously at this week’s graduations.