Days after the man who was sentenced for the deaths of four University of Idaho students says he wants to withdraw his guilty plea, Netflix has debuted a documentary about the murders that shook the nation.
“The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare” is a three-part documentary focusing on the victims: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Gonclaves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle.
The “most cathartic moment,” Netflix said in a news release, was when Kaylee Gonclaves older sister, Alivea Goncalves, spoke directly to Bryan Kohberger, telling him, “I won’t stand here and give you what you want. I won’t offer you tears. I won’t offer you trembling. Disappointments like you thrive on pain, on fear, and on the illusion of power, and I won’t feed your beast.”
“That choice — to build ‘The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare’ around the four vibrant victims rather than the person who killed them — shapes every part of the series," Netflix said.
“This was never a story about who did this. It’s a story about who they were,” Skye Borgman, the documentary director, said.
Earlier this week, Kohberger told The New York Times that his plea was based on “false promises and blatant disinformation,” and that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.
It was the first time he had spoken about the case.
After a nationwide manhunt, Kohberger, a graduate student in criminology at Washington State University, was captured in Pennsylvania, six weeks after the murders, The Associated Press reported at the time of his sentencing last July.
Investigators matched DNA from a Q-Tip found at his parents’ home with material left on a knife sheath found at the scene of the murders, according to the AP.
The guilty plea brought with it Kohberger waiving his right to appeal, while prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.
He is serving four life sentences without parole for the murders.
© 2026 Cox Media Group
