New Forensic Details From the Idaho Student Murders - Part 1
America's Crime Lab
iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope
4.8 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 10 September 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The brutal murders of four University of Idaho students in Moscow stunned the college town and launched a nationwide search for answers. Detectives uncovered a crucial piece of DNA evidence at the crime scene. But with the clock ticking, would it be enough to identify the killer and solve one of the most shocking campus crimes in recent history?
America’s Crime Lab is a true crime podcast about how science solves cold cases, missing persons, and other unsolved cases. Hosted by journalist and clinical psychologist Elin Lantz Lesser, and powered by Othram’s forensic DNA lab, the show connects the science to the story, revealing what really happens in the lab and why it matters.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | On a cold January day in 1995, 18-year-old Krista Pike killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in the woods |
| 0:13.2 | of Knoxville, Tennessee. Since her conviction, Krista has been sitting on death row. How does |
| 0:19.2 | someone prove that they deserve to live? |
| 0:21.8 | We are starting the recording now. |
| 0:23.7 | Please state your first and last name. |
| 0:27.1 | Krista Pike. |
| 0:28.8 | Listen to Unrestorable Season 2, Proof of Life, |
| 0:32.2 | on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:54.0 | Okay. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He just kept saying |
| 0:56.1 | Ethan's not here |
| 0:58.0 | and I was like what |
| 0:59.9 | um |
| 1:03.3 | and that takes a very long time to process |
| 1:08.5 | I still heard the words and it was not registering inside of my head what was, you know, what really actually was happening. |
| 1:19.6 | You worry about things, you worry about your kids, you know, getting in a car accident or being roofied in a bar or, I mean, you know, whatever, right? |
| 1:32.3 | This is not one that ever plays out in your head. |
| 1:51.9 | In November of 2022, the campus of an Idaho college woke up to a shocking crime. Four young students had been murdered in their bedrooms. |
| 1:58.5 | Police had no suspects and little evidence. |
| 2:09.0 | That's when law enforcement decided to try something new and track the killer in real time using their own DNA. |
| 2:13.6 | This is America's Crime Lab. I'm Alyn Lance Lesser. Producer Catherine Venalosa is here, and Catherine lesser. |
| 2:23.7 | Producer Catherine Venalosa is here, and Catherine, the murder of these students at the University of Idaho has been splashed all over the news. |
... |
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