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Judge Orders Redaction of Graphic Photos in Idaho Student Murders Case, Citing Family Trauma
MOSCOW, Idaho – An Idaho state judge has blocked the full release of graphic crime scene photographs taken by investigators in the quadruple murder case involving Bryan Kohberger, ruling that public dissemination would cause “extreme emotional distress” to the victims’ families. Second District Judge Megan Marshall’s decision, issued Wednesday, determined that the families’ right to privacy significantly outweighs the public’s interest in seeing the unredacted images.
Judge Marshall characterized the photos as “incredibly disturbing” and highlighted concerns that their widespread availability online could inadvertently re-traumatize the victims’ loved ones. Her order directs the city of Moscow to black out any portions of the images that depict the victims’ bodies or the blood immediately surrounding them.
However, the judge also affirmed the public’s right to access investigative records. Consequently, other photos, videos, and documents related to the case will be released, including footage showing distraught friends of the victims on the morning their bodies were discovered.
The ruling stems from the highly publicized 2022 murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus rental home in Moscow. Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty in July as part of a deal that spared him the death penalty, and he was subsequently sentenced to life without parole.
Family members of two of the victims, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin, had formally petitioned the court to keep certain graphic crime scene images from public view, citing their invasive and traumatizing nature. Ethan’s mother, Stacy Chapin, conveyed their ongoing pain in an August court document, stating the images “are heartbreaking and continue to reopen a wound that has yet to heal.”
The criminal case garnered significant worldwide attention, leading the Moscow Police Department to receive hundreds of requests for investigatory records. While Idaho law generally permits the unsealing of such records once an investigation concludes, Judge Marshall’s ruling creates a specific exception for the most graphic content. The city of Moscow had previously released some crime scene photos and videos after Kohberger’s sentencing, with the bodies of the deceased students and the faces of other witnesses blurred.
In her written decision, Judge Marshall underscored that “there is little to be gained by the public in seeing the decedents’ bodies, the blood soaked sheets, blood spatter or other death-scene depictions,” noting that these images have already inflicted “extreme emotional distress” on the families. She concluded, “The fact remains: the murder investigation and the criminal case are closed,” and that releasing these records would have “minor effect upon those who continue to be perplexed by the facts or fixated on unfounded conspiracies whereas it has and will continue to have profound effect upon the decedents’ loved ones.”