She Fought Back to the Bone: Xana’s Heroic Last Stand Revealed

On Nov. 13, 2022, Bryan Kohberger murdered four University of Idaho students after breaking into their off-campus rental home in the city of Moscow.

Three of his victims — Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — were killed as they lay in bed, suffering fatal injuries before they were even able to get to their feet, according to their autopsy reports.

His fourth victim, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, was not asleep nor in bed at the time of the attack and, according to details from her autopsy report and the crime scene included in a recently unsealed court filing obtained by PEOPLE, fought a brutal battle against her killer as he stabbed her 67 times.

Evidence from the crime scene supports the theory that Kernodle heard concerning noises on the night of the murders and made her way up to Mogen’s bedroom to investigate the situation.

Kernodle had received a food delivery order at around the same time Kohberger entered the home that night, and previously released crime scene photos of a half-eaten meal from Jack in the Box left in the second-floor kitchen suggest that she was eating when she heard some sort of commotion upstairs.

She then went to investigate, which is when she likely encountered Kohberger after he had just killed Mogen and Goncalves.

Kernodle likely ran back downstairs to her bedroom after witnessing the gruesome scene, followed by Kohberger.

This sequence of events is supported by the fact that traces of Mogen and Goncalves’ blood was found on the door of Mogen’s bedroom, the stairwell and bannister leading from the third to the second floor of the home, and on the walls near Kernodle’s bedroom, according to the filing.

Autopsy reports for Mogen and Goncalves determined the two young women never stood up once Kohberger began attacking them, which means that the transfer stains had to be left by another person.

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Kohberger managed to catch up with Kernodle, who despite being nine-inches shorter and unarmed, proceeded to fight back against her attacker.

In the process, she was stabbed 67 times.

Her autopsy reveals she suffered: 23 stab and incised wounds to the face, neck and scalp; seven stab wounds to the chest; four stab wounds of the abdomen; three incised and puncture wounds of the back; 25 incised wounds of the upper extremities; and five incised wounds of the lower extremities.

Kernodle continued to fight as Kohberger attacked her — as evidenced by the presence of blood on the bottom of her feet and wiped blood on her body.

By the end, Kernodle had suffered: punctures on the outside shell of the skull; perforations of the jugular vein, heart, lung, and pulmonary blood vessels; hemorrhage into the chest cavities; wounds extending into the bones of the right hand; and scrapes and bruises on the face, torso and extremities.

Her body was found on the bedroom floor just a few feet away from her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, who was murdered before he even had a chance to stand up, according to his autopsy.

Kernodle had been stabbed so many times that her surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen initially identified her as Goncalves when questioned by police.

There is also evidence that Kernodle and Chapin were in close proximity to one another at some point in their final moments, according to their autopsy reports.

Kernodle’s blood and DNA was found under the fingernails of Chapin’s right hand and Chapin’s blood and DNA was found under the fingernails of both of Kernodle’s hands.

If Kohberger did in fact chase after Kernodle as the blood transfer suggests, it could explain why he left behind his KA-BAR knife sheath with traces of his DNA. And, the battle between the two was likely the “commotion” that led Mortensen to open her door just in time to see Kohberger exit the house that night.

Kernodle is also the reason why classmates of Kohberger reported seeing him covered in cuts and scratches in the aftermath of the murders.

It is because of this evidence against him that Kohberger likely decided to enter a guilty plea to four counts of murder, agreeing to a deal with prosecutors that spared him the possibility of being sentenced to death.

If not for Kernodle, Kohberger may have very well collected his knife sheath, quietly slipped out of that Moscow home and drove off into the night — leaving police with no evidence beyond the make and model of his car.

Instead, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.