Idaho 4 case: John ‘Jack’ Showalter arrested in Ada County, Idaho on unrelated charges

John “Jack” Showalter was arrested on Nov. 3 for “disturbing the peace” in Ada County, Idaho, where Boise is located. While the charges appear unrelated, Showalter was seen in food truck livestream footage near Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen the night the Idaho State University students were brutally murdered at their home in Moscow, Idaho.

Two years before Showalter’s arrest, Goncalves and Mogen, along with ISU students Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, were viciously stabbed and killed at their Moscow home. The victims are now commonly known as the “Idaho 4.” Then-28-year-old Bryan Kohberger, a Washington State University criminology student in Pullman, WA, not far from Moscow, was arrested and charged with the quadruple murder.

Now known by some internet detectives as the “Food Truck Guy,” some think Showalter, now 24, may have followed Goncalves and Moden and even argued with the young women based on how some perceive his behavior in the food truck footage the same night the murders happened. No other evidence suggests that’s the case, and Showalter has not been charged with any crime.

Police have cleared Showalter

Multiple reports say police spoke with Showalter and cleared him of any involvement in the shocking ISU murders that rocked the nation, but unfounded online conspiracy theories have persisted that Kohberger is innocent and Showalter, among other potential suspects, could be guilty. Suspicions ran rampant enough that the unconfirmed theory was covered in mainstream media.

Moreover, debunked rumors spread online that Showalter left Moscow late that same night and then flew to Africa, but there are no official sources of information to verify if that’s true, and those two stories are now believed to be fake.

But furthering the speculation, Showalter’s recent arrest revealed his middle name is “Rodgers.” As those who have followed the Idaho 4 case will recall, “Pappa Rodgers” is a social media alias from someone who seemed to post information about the case before it was publicly available. Some have speculated that Kohberger could be “Pappa Rodgers.”

“A young guy doing something stupid”

Despite what could be a coincidence as far as Showalter’s middle name — or as true-crime TikToker Matt Thibodeau speculates, something done intentionally by the person who established the Pappa Rodgers account to throw investigators off his track — Rodgers doesn’t match the description of the surviving Idaho 4 roommate who said she saw the attacker with “bushy eyebrows.” Showalter’s alibi also checked out, multiple reports have said.

There’s no further publicly available information about why Showalter was arrested in Ada County, so there’s no reason to think it is related in any way to the Moscow murders. As Thibodeau points out, the likeliest explanation is that Showalter was “a young guy doing something stupid.”

The incident happened around 1:30am on Nov. 3, and it’s unclear if Showalter is still in custody. Disturbing the peace is a misdemeanor in Ada County. No one else besides Kohberger has been charged in the case. Kohberger was linked to the crimes through DNA evidence, and his trial is set to start next summer in Boise, ID.