Inside Reporting The Idaho Four: Tramping Around The Woods In The Poconos

One of the more unusual days reporting The Idaho Four involved time with Special Forces veteran Mark Baylis, who took me to his secluded home in the Poconos and gave me a tour of the surrounding woods, where he believes Kohberger sometimes returned after playing Airsoft with his son, Jack. Baylis believed that Kohbgerger would sit in the trees, watching him, waiting for an opportunity to break into his house. And that he’d leave Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup wrappings on the ground. Almost as a calling card.

But the police never discovered who was robbing Baylis and Kohberger has not said that he did any of this. Now he’s pled guilty to the murders of the Idaho Four, Baylis will likely not get the satisfaction of knowing whether his supicions are correct.

Here’s a sneak preview from a chapter in the book:

Watch the full promo video and get the sneak preview from a chapter in the book on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Following In Kohberger’s Footsteps

Hey Everyone,

People have asked me what it felt likt to report The Idaho Four, given it’s such a dark story.

Today I talk about the most chilling moment for me: I traced Bryan Kohberger’s footsteps and the routes he drove the night of the murder. I sat in a car behind the house at 1122 King Road, in the spot where he would have parked his car on November 13th 2022 – and on the twelve previous times when police believe he was stalking the house.

With me was Alexia “Lexi” Pattinson, a neighbor and friend of the victims. Lexi told me how most nights she’d walk out to her car parked in the cul-de-sac behind the house and see Maddie Mogen at her vanity, putting on her make-up or curling her hair. Maddie’s was the bedroom window you could see clearly from the road.

Anyone would have known it was her bedroom because she had a sign saying Maddie in the window. And a pair of pink cowboy boots.

Watch the full promo video and read the full text of insights on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Bryan Kohberger Was An Incel. What Does That Mean?

Hey Everyone,

So, in the wake of yesterday’s hearing in the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, in which a chillingly cool, calm Bryan Kohberger said “Guilty” several times, admitting to the murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, here’s a sneak preview of what you’ll learn about his psychology in The Idaho Four. I’ll admit I never thought that this would become the textbook explainer for his crimes. I thought we’d get to a trial. But here we are….

I know that Kohberger was very familiar with Incel (Involuntary Celibate) Culture…a dark violent online world of sexually-repressed men, which is well-known to all young people these days (my own sons and their friends even joke about it). But Kohberger was an actual student of its “patron saint” Elliot Rodger whose psychology and 2014 misogynistic-fueled mass-murder suicide in a college town Kohberger learned all about in a course at De Sales University.

When I looked into Incel culture, which I knew nothing about, I’ve got to say I was repelled.

It also occurred to me that when I was in my late teens and twenties, even the most nerdy and socially-awkward among us eventually met and found someone. The idea that a young man or woman would sit alone at home on a phone or laptop and never meet or engage with anyone physically…I don’t think that was a thing.

Physical isolation seems to me to be a construct of the Internet age, and I’d agree with the social scientist Jonathan Haidt that the impact on young people is grim.

Am I wrong?

What do you think?

As a reminder, you can pre-order The Idaho Four Here.

Watch the promo video here.

 

Last Summer Bryan Kohberger’s Father Said His Son Was Innocent…

Last summer Michael Kohberger, Bryan’s father, declared to a friend that his son, Bryan, was innocent; he had not committed four murders. And that a trial would clear his name.

I guess things changed… As we learned yesterday. At the eleventh hour before a trial which has been delayed and delayed, Bryan is pleading guilty. It’s a decision that has shocked everyone, including the victims’ families.

There were signs this was coming if you knew where to look.

A couple weeks ago, someone on Bryan Kohberger’s defense team phoned Connie Saba, the mother of Bryan’s one and only childhood friend, Jeremy Saba, who died, tragically of an overdose in 2021. This person asked Connie what she remembered of Bryan’s behavior and mental health, because, he said, they were looking for ways for him to avoid the death penalty. (Obviously, the lawyers have now found a different way to achieve that objective, with a guilty plea).

Connie told him, what she told me about Kohberger for The Idaho Four. He was a strange, silent young man, in awe of her popular, athletic son. Both of them had learning disabilities. Both of them turned to drugs.

Watch the full promo video and read the full text of insights on Vicky Ward Investigates.

The Brave Young Couple Who Discovered The Tragic Idaho Murders…Only To Be Falsely Accused

A couple weeks ago I spoke to Christine Pelisek of People magazine, for her cover story, that is now online about The Idaho Four and is due on newsstands later this week.

I’m glad to see that, after reading the book, someone at the magazine decided to feature Emily Alandt and Hunter Johnson on the cover. These two young people are very close to my heart.

Emily, 23, was Xana’s Kernodle’s best friend. Emily’s boyfriend Hunter Johnson, 24, was one of Ethan Chapin’s. They are terrific young people. We’ve been on speed dial for much of the past two years. Emily is whip-smart, vivacious and determined, just like Xana was. Hunter is soulful, athletic and a wonderful guitarist.

When you read The Idaho Four, you’ll discover that they’ve been through hell, quite apart from the shock of losing their friends. Online trolls either falsely accused them of murdering their best friends or ascribed blame to them for all sorts of spurious reasons.

Watch the full promo video and read the full text of insights on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Behind The Scenes: How To Avoid Retraumatization With Our Questions

How could we interview people who suffered horrific shock and loss on November 13 2022, the night of the murders of The Idaho Four and avoid worsening their pain?

Of course that was uppermost in our minds at the outset of researching The Idaho Four.

The Chapins and the Goncalves families spoke to us, I think, because they wanted to have a correct version of their children were, out there.

Stacy Chapin said that she wanted to tell Ethan’s story once and she wanted to do it properly. And I checked with her before reaching out to Ethan’s siblings Hunter and Maizie and we chatted about what might be the best way to go about that.

Steve Goncalves and his eldest daughter, Alivea, also wanted to protect Kaylee’s memory and legacy. But they also wanted to tell readers what it’s like to be in their shoes as her family. They’ve had very little support and help. There’s no hand-book telling you what to do in these tragic situations.

Watch the full promo video and read the full text of insights on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Why We Are Publishing The Idaho Four Before the Trial of Bryan Kohberger?

Jim and I are of course aware that Bryan Kohberger’s defense attorney Anne Taylor has said in court that our new book, The Idaho Four, poses a problem around convening a fair jury for Kohberger, on trial for the murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin because, she argues, the book is coming out on July 14th. (You can pre-order it here.) The trial is scheduled to begin on August 11th.

What’s our answer to that?

Come on!

Watch the full promo video on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Behind The Scenes: What Went Into Reporting The Idaho Four

Hey Everyone,

So, as you will have noted in my live video chat with Adam Klasfeld, the copies of The Idaho Four are now finally in the warehouse! I got my paws on one on Tuesday!

So, in the run-up to publication day on July 14, the marketing begins! You can pre-order the book here.

I won’t stop reporting on the trials and corruption and all the things I usually cover here.

But I will also share with you the behind-the-scenes short videos I’m making for social media about our book on the unfathomable murders of four University of Idaho students, that give you insights into the reporting, writing and other details, including myth-busting, that you won’t get from the text alone.

If you’ve got questions for Jim and me, don’t hesitate to write to either one of us here and we’ll answer you. You can also link to his substack, Hungry Dogs.

He and I are going to be recording a video chat together that you’ll be able to watch the week after next.

Watch the full promo video and read the full text of insights on Vicky Ward Investigates.

“F— you!” Whistleblower Claims Former Trump Attorney Emil Bove Told DOJ To Ignore A Court Order

Hey Everyone,

Adam and I did our live chat a day early, because he’s in Nashville, Tennessee right now for the Kilmar Abrego Garcia hearing and I encourage you all to follow him on All Rise News. He’ll be doing a live zoom with paid subscribers at 7pm CT. There could be a very dramatic moment if Abrego is released by the judge, only to be detained by ICE.

It’s worth paying close attention to what Adam reports directly from the courtroom. A lot of it doesn’t make it into mainstream news coverage: and you’ll have a much better of understanding, of why, for example, the DOJ’s case against Garcia, claiming he is a gang member of MS-13 is so woefully thin.

Meanwhile: we kicked off yesterday, talking about today’s Senate Confirmation Hearing of former Donald Trump criminal defense attorney Emil Bove, who is up for a Federal judgeship and who was quoted by a whistle-blower literally telling the judiciary: “F—k you.”

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Viewers Would Tell Me: “The News Gives Me A Panic Attack”

Thank you Jessica Yellin, the brilliant creator of News Not Noise for last night’s live video chat. As those of you watching know, I knew Jessica a little bit when she was in New York/DC as the Chief White House correspondent for CNN. But I haven’t seen her in over a decade. So it was great to catch up!

All these years later, what an evolution she has effected! In 2013 she left CNN, wrote a satirical novel, Savage News, and then in 2018 she created the wildly successful platform on Instagram that is News Not Noise, that’s also here on substack.

I reached out to Jessica because I wanted to know how she chooses her stories for News Not Noise, and how she then figures out how to report them in a way that is meaningful and not shrill. Whatever she’s doing, it clearly works, because she has nearly 200,000 subscribers here! And that’s separate from her followers on Instagram and You Tube.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.