While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students

by J. Reuben Appelman

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

From the author who brought you The Kill Jar, who also happens to be a PI and a trusted source on true crime, While Idaho Slept is rich with fresh insights and a unique lens into the investigation and the case built around the murders. It’s a rewarding read for fans of the genre.

The author of the acclaimed true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, tells the inside story of the “University of Idaho Murders,” offering a memorable, thoughtful dive into our societal fascination with true crime, the media’s seeming blood-frenzy, and the future of homicide investigations, while cultivating an intimate look into the minds and hearts of the victims and their suspected killer alike. 

Just after 4:00 am on November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were viciously stabbed to death in an off-campus house. The killings would shake the small blue-collar college town of Moscow, Idaho, dominate mainstream news coverage, and become a social media obsession, drawing millions of clicks and views. While a reticent Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and the Idaho State Police searched for the killer, unending conjecture and countless theories blazed online, in chatrooms and platforms from Reddit and YouTube to Facebook and TikTok. For more than a month, the clash of armchair investigators and law enforcement professionals raged, until a suspect—a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate studying criminology—was arrested at his family home 2,500 miles away in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on the day before New Year’s Eve.

While Idaho Slept is a thought-provoking, literary chronicle of a small-town murder investigation blistering beneath the unceasing light of international interest, as traditional investigators, citizen sleuths, and the true-crime media acted—sometimes together, often in conflict—to uncover the truth. As J. Reuben Appelman brings this terrible crime into focus, he humanizes the four victims, examining the richness of their lives, dissects the mind and motivations of their presumed killer, and explores the world of northern Idaho, a rugged, deeply conservative stronghold steeped in Christian values and American patriotism. 

Going deep inside the case, Appelman addresses a crucial question: With so many millions of citizens armed by access and hungry to take part in a true crime hunt of their own, has the nature of homicide investigations permanently changed? Rising above the sensational, While Idaho Slept illuminates the intrinsic connection between today’s media, citizen sleuths, our societal mania for murder tales, and an impatient public’s insatiable appetite for spectacle as never before. Running beneath, the pulse of the story is a heartbreaking narrative of the people we love, the dreams we all share, and the uncertain time left for sharing them.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063346680
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	19,440
File size:	33 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

J. Reuben Appelman’s true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, inspired the popular Hulu docuseries, “Children of the Snow” (2020), with Appelman serving as an on-camera investigator and Executive Producer. He received an MFA in poetry from Boise State University and has published across all genres. Appelman currently works as a private investigator in the state of Idaho, where he has lived for nearly twenty-five years.

 

Editorial Reviews

09/11/2023

Journalist Appelman (The Kill Jar) painstakingly traces the fallout from the murders of four University of Idaho students in this well-researched account. On November 12, 2022, the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen rocked the quiet university town of Moscow, Idaho, where the 37-member police department hadn’t seen a homicide in seven years. The crime, which took place in an off-campus apartment, shocked the nation and riveted true crime fans while baffling police investigators. In addition to members of the national media, who camped out in Moscow to interview family and friends of the victims, podcasters and amateur sleuths headed to the tiny town, determined to solve the case before police did. Based on DNA from a knife sheath left at the scene and security footage of a white vehicle near the residence, detectives eventually arrested Bryan Kohberger, a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University, whose motives remain mysterious. Appelman’s fastidious attention to detail here is admirable, but what really sets this apart is his examination of the tension between Moscow police and the self-appointed investigators who descended on the town. The result is a propulsive real-life thriller with a conscience. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This is an extremely rigorous book. Appelman uses first-hand sources (police files and interviews with people involved in the case) whenever possible, and, while he rightly gives credit where credit is due, he also doesn’t shy away from revealing the investigation’s weaknesses, including the fact that the prosecution’s ongoing case isn’t airtight. A chilling, haunting work of crime nonfiction. — Booklist on While Idaho Slept

Appelman’s fastidious attention to detail here is admirable, but what really sets this apart is his examination of the tension between Moscow police and the self-appointed investigators who descended on the town. The result is a propulsive real-life thriller with a conscience. — Publishers Weekly on While Idaho Slept

"J. Reuben Appelman has successfully captured the strained relationships between police, media and victim's families during the investigation into the deaths of four Idaho students and how the forensic sciences identified the perpetrator." — Michael Baden, M.D., Former Chief Medical Examiner, NYC and author of American Autopsy, on While Idaho Slept

From the Publisher

2023-07-26
How a quadruple homicide upended an Idaho college town.

In his latest, Appelman, a private investigator and author of The Kill Jar, engrossingly analyzes the 2022 case involving the murders of four University of Idaho students. Early on, he brings the young victims into focus and then generously elaborates on their lives throughout the book. On Nov. 13, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogan, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were slaughtered by a knife-wielding intruder in their off-campus residence. Only two roommates survived—one frozen in fear as the murderer brushed past her in a darkened hallway. Appelman brings these chilling details to life as he sifts through police files and witness statements to piece together a crime that flooded the college town with FBI, local police, press, and citizen detectives. Security video catching a white vehicle repeatedly passing by the property complemented DNA found on the military blade sheath left behind at the scene. Diligent detective spadework and a digital device trail led to the arrest and indictment of Bryan Kohberger, a criminology doctorate student and teaching assistant who had a history of depression and heroin use. Grim forensics amplify the disturbing nature of the crime and ensuing investigation, including Kohberger’s historically sociopathic behavior and details on the gore-soaked crime scene. However premeditated his alleged murderous fantasy was, a series of crucial missteps (besides leaving the knife sheath behind) showed his involvement, including using his own car to return to the location the next morning with his phone, which authorities tracked. In fairness, Appelman also examines numerous gaping “holes” in the prosecution’s package, which weakens the case against Kohberger, as well as fascinating social media speculation. Riveting reenactments, intimate human-interest profiles, and urgent prose combine to create a tale of horrific butchery and a must-have exposé for readers following the still-ongoing developments.

A chilling, balanced, meticulously reported true crime story.

Kirkus Reviews