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Speaker 1: Crime Alart, hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Nicole Parton.

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Speaker 1: A recent publication exploring the tragic murders of the University

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Speaker 1: of Idaho seeks to uncover the layers of mystery surrounding

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Speaker 1: the case, offering insight into what those close to the

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Speaker 1: victims believe motivated Brian Colberger's heinous actions. The book, titled

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Speaker 1: The Idaho Four An American Tragedy, is a collaboration between

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Speaker 1: best selling author James Patterson an investigative journalist Vicky Ward,

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Speaker 1: and it was released on Monday. It not only suggests

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Speaker 1: a possible motive, but also provides a glimpse into Colberger's

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Speaker 1: life prior to the incident, while presenting various perspectives on

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Speaker 1: the timeline of events that rattled the community of Moscow

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Speaker 1: and captured national headlines. For more, here's James Patterson in

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Speaker 1: speaking with Fox News.

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Speaker 2: He obviously had a big problem with women. We believe

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Speaker 2: he was targeting Maddie. Things that happened. He just got

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Speaker 2: fired from you. He was going to lose the scholarship

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Speaker 2: out there at University of Washington State. I'll tell you

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Speaker 2: one thing. Anybody listening and watching, if you're disappointed, because

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Speaker 2: you're not going to find out what's happening in the trial.

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Speaker 2: Everything that would have been covered in the trial is

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Speaker 2: covered in this book. Everything and so much more. Thinks

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Speaker 2: about the police department there thinks about Coburger, which who

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Speaker 2: you're getting into. One of the interesting things is we

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Speaker 2: went down to Pennsylvania, Vicky Ward and I and he

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Speaker 2: was a heroin addict as a young guy there, and

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Speaker 2: he was breaking and entering into houses. He'd been doing

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Speaker 2: it for years, and that's exactly what happened in Moscow.

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Speaker 2: He broke into this house and killed these four beautiful students.

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Speaker 1: On November thirteen, twenty twenty two, roommates Matty Mogan, Kaylee Consolves,

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Speaker 1: and Zana Kernoudle, along with Cernudle's boyfriend Ethan Chapman, were

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Speaker 1: found brutally murdered in their off campus home. Patterson and

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Speaker 1: Ward conducted over three hundred interviews with individuals connected to

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Speaker 1: the case, including family and friends, many of whom believe

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Speaker 1: that Mogan was specifically targeted. There is a general agreement

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Speaker 1: that Mattie was the intended victim. I think the families

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Speaker 1: of the victims would concur Ward remarked. Authorities in Moscow

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Speaker 1: have indicated that Colberger's cell phone record suggested his phone

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Speaker 1: was located near the victim's home on at least a

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Speaker 1: dozen occasions between August and the night of the murders,

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Speaker 1: most often during late night hours. The book recounts a haunting,

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Speaker 1: reoccurring nightmare experienced by the victim's friend, Emily, following the tragedy.

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Speaker 1: Emily imagined a scenario where Coburger visited Mogan's workplace, expressed

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Speaker 1: romantic interest, and, upon being rejected, retaliated violently. When friends

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Speaker 1: were informed that the individual responsible for their death was

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Speaker 1: Brian Colberger, they didn't recognize him from the photo. It

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Speaker 1: just didn't click with them. Ward noted Emily shared that

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Speaker 1: the only plausible ex explanation she and her boyfriend Hunter

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Speaker 1: Johnson could formulate was the narrative we present her dream

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Speaker 1: of Coburger targeting Maddie. Although she couldn't recall every detail,

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Speaker 1: there was the best theory. Prosecutors have indicated that Mogan

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Speaker 1: was the first of the four to be killed, with

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Speaker 1: a knife sheath containing Colberger's DNA discovered beneath her body.

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Speaker 1: The book also examines Colberger's life as a pH d

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Speaker 1: student in criminology at nearby Washington State University at the

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Speaker 1: time of the murders. Patterson suggests that the crimes of

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Speaker 1: Coberger's earlier years somewhat prepared him for the tragic crime

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Speaker 1: on that night. Colburger, with his criminology background, had the

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Speaker 1: training to execute this crime nearly flawlessly. Patterson stated, had

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Speaker 1: he not left behind that knife sheath, he might have escaped.

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Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the shocking events, A key informant

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Speaker 1: of the investigation was a surviving roommate named Dylan, who

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Speaker 1: recounted her experience to friends regarding what she witnessed on

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Speaker 1: the night of the murders. It was through Emily that

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Speaker 1: we learn about Dylan's harrowing ordeal Ward said, to them all,

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Speaker 1: it seemed surreal as she described the perpetrator wearing a

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Speaker 1: black mask and caring what appeared to be a black vacuum.

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Speaker 1: They were wondering who could this person be and what

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Speaker 1: on earth has transpired. Coberger was arrested nearly seven weeks

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Speaker 1: after the murders. After asserting his innocence for over two years,

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Speaker 1: he confessed to the quadruple homicides in court recently on

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Speaker 1: July two and pleaded guilty to all charges. He is

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Speaker 1: set to receive four consecutive life sentences for first degree

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Speaker 1: murder counts, along with the maximum penalty of ten years

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Speaker 1: for the burglary. As the victim's families prepare for the

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Speaker 1: upcoming sentencing hearing on July twenty three, Patterson and Ward

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Speaker 1: aimed to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the

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Speaker 1: four individuals whose lives were tragically cut short. You will

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Speaker 1: come to know Ethan, Kaylee, Maddie and Zana as real people,

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Speaker 1: Pati person said. You will connect them on a human level.

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Speaker 1: I spoke to Stacy Chapin, Ethan's mother, and she expressed

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Speaker 1: her gratitude for the existence of the book as it

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Speaker 1: ensures their memories endure. It serves as a tribute to

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Speaker 1: their lives. Bore Crime and Justice news after this. A

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Speaker 1: woman has been charged with murder and evidence tampering after

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Speaker 1: telling investigators that her ex husband was on a fishing

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Speaker 1: trip with his new girlfriend, but his body was discovered

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Speaker 1: concealed beneath a stack of rugs in their car port.

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Speaker 1: The Otero County Sheriff's Office received several reports from the

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Speaker 1: family of sixty year old Craig Thetford, who had been

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Speaker 1: missing since January. According to court documents, investigations revealed that

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Speaker 1: Craig Thetford had not entered Mexico since twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 1: as his wife had stated. His remains were found at

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Speaker 1: the couple's residence in Breckinridge, Texas, on June seventeen. Texas

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Speaker 1: Department of Public Safety Sergeant Juan Guterrez reported that Thedford's

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Speaker 1: wife was arrested on July eighth and taken to the

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Speaker 1: Wichita County Jail, facing charges of first degree murder and

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Speaker 1: tampering with evidence. The documents indicated that during an interview

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Speaker 1: with officers in May, Thedford pointed out two large gun

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Speaker 1: safes in the home, claiming they contained between one and

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Speaker 1: one point five million dollars in cash. However, she stated

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Speaker 1: she did not have the combinations and believed her husband

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Speaker 1: had taken the money and left for Mexico with another woman.

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Speaker 1: She offered several inconsistent explanations, including that her husband had

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Speaker 1: broken his phone obtained a new one, the number of

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Speaker 1: which she did not know. Later, she claimed he had

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Speaker 1: gone to Texas to care for his mother, a statement

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Speaker 1: refuted by Bedford's sister. The criminal complaint revealed that around

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Speaker 1: May thirteen, Bedford allegedly told the daughter that she and

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Speaker 1: her husband had a fight, and she showed him multiple times.

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Speaker 1: She claimed he fell down a set of stairs into

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Speaker 1: the pool room, where she left him for several days

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Speaker 1: before moving his body outside. On June seventeen, a search

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Speaker 1: warrant was carried out at the Thetford property on Heather Way,

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Speaker 1: leading to the discovery of his body in the carport,

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Speaker 1: wrapped in black plastic blankets and rugs and covered with

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Speaker 1: a white powdery substance and mothballs. His body was further

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Speaker 1: obscured by piles of cardboard and other debris. An autopsy

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Speaker 1: confirmed that Thetford had died from multiple gunshot wounds, ruling

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Speaker 1: the manner of death as homicide. The corner estimated that

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Speaker 1: he had been dead for at least several weeks, if

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Speaker 1: not months, before his body was found. For the latest

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Speaker 1: crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on

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Speaker 1: your favorite podcasting app with this crime Alert. I'm Nico Barton.