Final Text from Ethan Chapin to His Sister Revealed Before University of Idaho Murders

In a deeply emotional revelation, Mazie Chapin, the sister of Ethan Chapin, one of the four University of Idaho students brutally murdered in November 2022, has shared the last message her brother sent her just hours before he was killed. The chilling details were disclosed as part of a new Amazon Prime documentary titled One Night in Idaho: The College Murders, which revisits the events of that harrowing night and the years-long legal journey that followed.

On the night of Saturday, November 12, 2022, Mazie invited her brother to be her date to her sorority formal, an event she typically attended alone. Since Ethan’s friends were already planning to go, she figured it would be a fun opportunity to spend time together. “It was super fun,” she said in the documentary, reflecting on their final night out.

They left the formal around 9 p.m., after which some attendees went on to the fraternity house shared by Ethan and his brother Hunter Chapin, who is also Mazie’s triplet. Mazie, however, chose to go home and rest. “For some reason, I stayed and went to bed,” she recalled. Ethan kept texting her that evening, asking her to join him. The last message he sent read: “I love you.”

Mazie described the text as “weird”, explaining that she and Ethan “don’t say that to each other.” Hours later, in the early morning of Sunday, November 13, 2022, Ethan and three other students — Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves — were stabbed to death in their off-campus rental home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in an attack that shocked the nation.

The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, 30, was later arrested and charged with four counts of murder. After nearly two and a half years of legal proceedings, Kohberger signed a confession on July 1, 2025, admitting to the killings as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. According to court documents, he confessed to premeditated and maliciously planned murders, detailing how he broke into the residence with the intent to kill.

The murders occurred around 4 a.m., and the victims were found later that Sunday. The horrific crime scene and extended investigation captivated national media and prompted questions about campus safety, law enforcement response, and the motivations behind the attack.

Ethan Chapin, 20, was a freshman and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. His girlfriend, Xana Kernodle, 20, lived in the house where the murders occurred. Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, were longtime best friends and roommates.

The case gripped the Moscow community and devastated the victims’ families. The grief has lingered, but the recent confession has brought a long-awaited moment of closure for many.

In the documentary, Mazie’s recollection of that final exchange with her brother adds a poignant human dimension to a tragedy that has often been viewed through the lens of crime reporting. Her memory of Ethan’s last message — a simple yet powerful “I love you” — is now etched into a timeline of events that forever altered four families and a university town.