There’s a big moment in The Idaho Four around a police chief who isn’t James Fry, Moscow’s police chief at the time of the college murders, that will likely take readers by surprise.
If you don’t want to know what it is, don’t watch the video or read ahead!
It comes when the FBI is readying a dawn raid on Bryan Kohberger’s parents home in Pennsylvania, in order to arrest him for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
It’s at this moment that Moscow Police Chief, James Fry reaches out to an old friend, Chief Gary Jenkins, who is the chief over at Washington State University, which is a ten minute drive from Moscow, in the town of Pullman in Washington State. Jenkins had just been moved to head the university campus police having been the chief in Pullman for twelve years. So, he’s worked with Fry and his team many, many times.
You’ll learn in the book that the two college towns operate like siblings, given they share an aquifer and an airport. When serious crimes occur in Moscow, the Pullman cops typically spring into action and vice versa, because the chances are, anyone looking to make a getaway will drive through the other town on their way out of the area.
But when the murders of the four University of Idaho students happened in Moscow in November 2022 the Pullman police were kept in the dark, much to their frustration, although Jenkins understood the imperative to keep the investigation under wraps. (Even so, some sixth sense told Jenkins to tell the guy in charge of camera security on Stadium Way in Pullman to retain video footage beyond the usual sixty days. That would turn out to be critical because it showed Kohberger’s car driving towards Moscow on the night of the murders.)
But on December 28th 2022, when most people, Jenkins included, were still ignorant of who had committed the Moscow murders, Fry phoned Jenkins and asked him to come over to the Moscow Police station alone.
Jenkins found a room packed with Moscow cops, Idaho State police and FBI agents. Detective Brett Payne, who was leading the investigation told him they’d finally got a suspect for the murders, and that the person was living in WSU housing, and so, Payne said, Jenkins would need to be ready to get his team together to issue a warrant to search the house at the right time.
When Brett Payne revealed the name of the suspect: Bryan Kohberger, Jenkins flinched. It’s an unusual name, but one that Jenkins told Payne he knew. The room went completely silent.
Jenkins explained that just months prior, when he still Pullman chief, he’d interviewed Kohberger on zoom for an internship.
Something about Kohberger had made him think he wouldn’t be able to earn the trust of colleagues, so he had given the position to someone else.
Jenkins then drove back to Pullman and sat at his desk and went through his files. He sent everything he’d got on Kohberger - his resume and cover letter - over to Payne. And then his phone rang.
Here’s the snippet from the book:
Fry phones him to thank him. “No problem,” says Jenkins.
“Oh, and Gary, one more thing,” says Fry, letting out a small chuckle: “Aren’t you glad you didn’t accept his application?”
“More than you know,” replies Jenkins.
You can pre-order The Idaho Four here.
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