Newly released crime scene photos show the DoorDash meal Xana Kernodle was eating just before she and three other University of Idaho students were murdered in November 2022. The images, obtained by PEOPLE from Idaho State Police, include more than 350 photographs, one of which depicts the partially eaten food Kernodle retrieved minutes before encountering alleged killer Bryan Kohberger inside her Moscow home.
The Last Delivery
Records confirm Kernodle’s Jack-in-the-Box order was left outside the home’s front door at 3:59 a.m. Surveillance footage shows Kohberger’s car arriving nearby at 4:06 a.m. Investigators believe Kernodle, 20, collected her meal and began eating in the kitchen when she heard suspicious noises upstairs. Photos of the kitchen table show a Jack-in-the-Box bag labeled with her name, discarded wrappers, and a half-eaten order of fries.
The Deadly Encounter
Authorities believe Kernodle went to investigate the sounds, leading her to cross paths with Kohberger in Madison Mogen’s bedroom on the third floor. Kernodle likely tried to flee, forcing Kohberger to pursue her downstairs, where he left behind the knife sheath later used to link him to the crime. Blood evidence indicates he caught up to Kernodle at her bedroom doorway, where she was brutally attacked.
A Timeline of Minutes
Phone records show Kernodle was still active on TikTok at 4:12 a.m., suggesting she was alive just minutes before the murders began. At 4:17 a.m., a surveillance camera near the home captured whimpering and a loud thud. By 4:20 a.m., Kohberger’s car was seen speeding away. Investigators believe Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were killed upstairs, while Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were murdered on the second floor.
A Kitchen Frozen in Time
The newly released images do not show victims but instead capture details of an ordinary night interrupted by horror: a cluttered table with dirty dishes, a jug of orange juice, stacks of red Solo cups, and Xana’s meal, forever frozen as evidence of the moments before her life was cut short.
