Someone ‘behind the house’: Did Kaylee’s dog Murphy notice Kohberger stalking 1122 King Road before the attack?

Newly unsealed police and court documents, released in July 2025 after Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life terms, shed light on unsettling moments at 1122 King Road leading up to the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students.

The files outline multiple incidents, including some involving Kaylee Goncalves’ dog, Murphy, that suggest Kohberger may have been stalking the house before the fatal attack.

Murphy noticed a stranger

According to recently unsealed police records, about a month before the murders, Goncalves took her dog Murphy outside late at night and noticed a dark figure standing on the tree-lined hill behind the house. She immediately told her roommate, Bethany Funke, who later relayed the incident to investigators. Funke added that Murphy barked during the encounter.

In a separate account reported by Men’s Journal, guests at a party at 1122 King Road recalled that Murphy had been let outside and wouldn’t come when called. The dog reportedly ran in and out of the bushes behind the house near the area where Goncalves had earlier seen the stranger.

Investigators have not confirmed whether Kohberger was present during these incidents, but they documented them as possible signs of early surveillance. According to the unsealed affidavit, law enforcement believes the killer entered the house from the hillside behind the home, reinforcing the idea that he may have been familiar with the terrain well before the November 13, 2022, attack.

Other red flags

Unsealed documents also now reveal that on November 4, 2022, just nine days before the killings, the roommates returned home to find their front door ajar and loose on its hinges, as if tampered with. Xana Kernodle‘s father repaired the door after being called. Kernodle was later murdered. In September, Goncalves told a friend over lunch that she had received creepy messages on Facebook Messenger and had a gut feeling she was being watched.

Roughly 300 pages of investigative records were unsealed on July 24, 2025, the day after Kohberger’s sentencing. In a deal to avoid the death penalty, Kohberger pleaded guilty to murdering Goncalves, Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, and Maddie Mogen on July 2 and has now been sentenced to life without parole. Kohberger was likely motivated to accept the deal because he realized prosecutors had enough evidence to convict.