TRUE CRIME NEWSFriends of Slain University of Idaho Students Pay Heartfelt Tribute on Wedding Day Nearly 4 Years After Massacre
Emily Alandt and Hunter Johnson honored their late friends who were murdered at the University of Idaho in 2022.
Oct. 12 2026, Published 5:36 p.m. ET
Emily Alandt and Hunter Johnson, two close friends of the victims who were among the first to discover the tragic 2022 University of Idaho murder scene, married over the weekend in Boise, Idaho, and paid a heartfelt tribute to their late friends at their wedding.
Nearly four years after the tragedy, the couple kept their classmates' memories central to their milestone celebration.
The couple tied the knot in Boise and included a memorial display sign that read: "In Loving Memory. Ethan Chapin. Xana Kernodle. Katie Marshall. You are forever with us today and every day."
Chapin and Kernodle were the two University of Idaho students murdered along with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, while Marshall was another beloved, late friend of the couple.
Stacy Chapin, mother of Idahol victim Ethan Chapin, posted her congrats to the couple.
Ethan's family, including parents Stacy and Jim and siblings Maizie and Hunter, attended, with Stacy sharing celebratory photos online.
“What an incredibly special weekend in Boise! Congrats to Hunter [and] Emily!!” Stacy in a post accompanied by photos of herself, Jim, the newlyweds, and Ethan’s triplet siblings.
'That Was Our Last Day Living as Kids'
Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves were murdered in 2022.
Emily and Hunter were called to the King Road home on November 13, 2022, by surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen, with Johnson discovering the bodies.
The tragedy profoundly shaped the couple's lives as they supported one another. The four victims ultimately lost their lives in the attack by Bryan Kohberger.
“That was our last day living as kids,” Hunter told PEOPLE in a July 2026 interview.
“Our innocence was gone,” Emily added.
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The newlyweds honored their late friends at their wedding.
“We just want happiness for the [victims’] families, and we want them to come to a point where they can, you know, wake up and have a good day,” Emily told ABC News in June 2025, sharing that she and Johnson moved in together after graduating from the University of Idaho.
This experience “sticks with you forever, but you get the option to get up and choose to live a happy life,” Emily said.
“Hopefully the next part of life is building our own family together,” Hunter added.
Bryan Kohberger Attempts to Withdraw Guilty Plea
Bryan Kohberger is serving four consecutive life sentences he is trying to reverse.
Kohberger is currently serving four consecutive life sentences without parole, but he is actively trying to withdraw his 2025 guilty plea and remove the presiding judge from his case.
Having pleaded guilty in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, Kohberger reversed course by launching a petition for post-conviction relief.
Kohberger filed a handwritten petition claiming he was "convinced to falsely confess" because his former legal counsel threatened and manipulated him. He alleges his original attorneys withheld evidence and pressured him into the deal.
Kohberger's new public defender filed a memo revealing that his original trial team explicitly expressed concerns to the court just days before his confession. They argued that Kohberger struggled to understand adverse pretrial rulings rationally and requested extra time and expert help to guide his defense, but the judge denied them.
