Picture Credit: Netflix
Among the true crime documentaries I’ve recently reviewed on Netflix, I’ve discovered that the best ones are those that aim to empathize with those impacted by a criminal tragedy and offer some semblance of healing. Last week, A Toxic Love Story poignantly provided Michelle Hadley—a victim of wrongful conviction—the platform to right history and find her own justice. The latest Netflix crime doc, The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, respectfully does the same for the surviving families and friends of those lost in the shocking 2022 murder of four young college students.
Though it might initially seem like the last of the streamer’s true crime docs to arrive at the party—following the four‑part Prime Video series, One Night in Idaho, and the pathetic Peacock feature, The Idaho Student Murders that, *checks notes,* used a TikTok journalist as a reliable source and came out while the case was still unfolding—this three‑part docu‑miniseries, executive produced by Joe Berlinger and directed by Skye Borgman, strays from sensationalizing or exploiting. Instead, it offers solace to the community within the small college town of Moscow, Idaho, affected by the shocking 2022 quadruple homicide.
On November 13, 2022, at 4 AM at an off-campus house on King Road, University of Idaho students—Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle—were fatally stabbed. The surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, called 911. Within the initial episode, footage redacted from law enforcement takes the viewer into the procedure and the crime scene. All four were pronounced dead at the scene.
For months, said law enforcement were moving like molasses to find any real leads on a killer. All they had was footage of a speeding white Elantra and a knife sheath. Meanwhile, social media was in a frenzy as heartless losers started harassing those connected to the situation and spreading false information. But soon investigators traced DNA evidence to 28-year-old Washington State University PhD student Bryan Kohberger.
Out of every streamer iteration to tackle the crime story, Borgman’s is the best example of “slow and steady wins the race.” The other competing projects are (not to discredit the friends and family who had provided accounts on them) such rushed products that were released before Kohberger’s sentencing. Prime Video has just renewed for a second season to wrap up what they prematurely left out, while Peacock had to use a text statement for the family members who willfully agreed to be in Borgman’s. I can’t stop thinking about Peacock dropping a whole documentary on a TikTok journalist and thinking that’s in any way acceptable. College Nightmare gets the upper hand as the definitive account via source preference, from Borgman getting the trust to document key family and friends, access to bodycam footage, and talking head interviews that paint the picture of, more importantly, the portrait of who these kids were and how short their lives were.
The documentary meticulously reconstructs the timeline of the crime as it unfolded, the family’s reaction, the police’s handling of the situation, and the manner in which innocent individuals were falsely accused, and the majority of the information is sourced directly. The miniseries is very detailed and deliberate in deconstructing every ounce of the case and the struggle it was for law enforcement to find the right perpetrator. In many instances, I’d be fuming over police incompetence, but the reality is that Kohberger lacked a real digital footprint, and that caused trouble in the investigation. Twenty FBI agents were investigating at one point. The straightforward procedural angle is fairly robust, as it includes all the firsthand witnesses, Moscow’s police who were present on the day, and other participating members who attempted to locate Kohberger. If this is your first time hearing of the murders as well, like I have, the doc is the best way to get an intimate perspective while retaining an ingenuity. Granted, this does one of my pet peeves when talking heads dramatize a definition of a word like “incel,” as you can tell the doc is trying to stretch itself to befit a 44-minute runtime per interview.
Although I appreciate the deliberate approach, College Nightmare serves as a tribute to the late students. The doc shows countless footage of Madison, Kaylee, Ethan, and Xana having fun off their TikToks, celebrating and being carefree, and gives a glimpse of who they were and how they should be known. Each relative’s testimony paints a portrait of just how youthful and spirited they were. Each family member’s account of the love they shared with victims, as well as their preference for justice, is chilling. It’s such a harrowing and depressing case that only gets more infuriating as more details about Kohberger emerge.
Despite being another Netflix true crime doc, College Nightmare finds weight in giving its subjects the space for airing their grievances and for healing. Leading all the way to the sentencing when the families met face-to-face with the killer, it’s truly about the resilience of the people affected by such an immeasurable loss. Not just the immediate but the whole small town as well. I am surprised that I was moved to tears when a police officer recounted the PTSD he experienced, followed by sharing his admission to seek therapy. At the end of the day, Borgman delivers a doc that well honors the innocent and powerfully immortalizes the buoyant spirit they all shared.