Four college students were dead. A killer was on the loose, and Moscow, Idaho was about to learn what it feels like when your safe little world gets turned upside down.

Previously, on the Idaho murders. On November 13th,

2022, Kaylee Gensolves, Madison Mogan, Ethan Chapin, and Zana Kernel were stabbed to death

in their off-campus house. The only witness, Dylan Mortensen, saw a figure in black

leaving through the sliding glass door. A knife sheath left at the scene

contained DNA that would eventually crack the case wide open. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

Today we're talking about what happened next, how a college town dealt with unprecedented fear,

how investigators began one of the most complex murder

cases in Idaho history, and how the first clues started pointing toward a suspect who was hiding

in plain sight. I'm Tony Bruske, and this is our look back on how we got here in the case

against Brian Koberger. This is Chapter 2 in the series,

a community under siege.

Let's start with what Moscow looked like in the days immediately following the murders,

because the transformation was swift and dramatic.

This wasn't a gradual change.

It was like someone flipped a switch and suddenly turned a peaceful college town into a place

where everyone was looking over their shoulders.

According to local news reports from the week following the murders, hardware stores in

Moscow saw a run on door locks, dead bolts, and security systems.

Local hardware stores reported selling more locks in three days than they

normally sold in a month. Home Depot in nearby Pullman, Washington had similar reports.

Think about that for a second. Moscow was a place where many people didn't even bother locking

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