‘Betrayed’ mom of Idaho victim blindsided when attorney drops her to represent daughter’s alleged KILLER

The mother of one of the University of Idaho victims is heartbroken that her attorney has abandoned her to instead defend the guy who allegedly killed her daughter.

As previously reported, four University of Idaho students — Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves — were found stabbed to death at their off-campus rented home on Nov. 13th in Moscow, Idaho.

Weeks after the murders, a suspect — Bryan Kohberger — was arrested in late December.

Families of murdered Idaho students react to suspect’s arrest https://t.co/6dDj4VqRI0 pic.twitter.com/FJoyU8tTtY

— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) January 1, 2023

At the time of his arrest, Xana Kernodle’s mother, Cara Northington, was being represented for drug charges by Ann Taylor, the chief of the Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office.

Roughly a week later, Kohberger made his first court appearance, and that’s when Taylor abruptly dropped Northington as a client in his favor.

“Taylor … filed an attorney withdrawal notice in Kootenai County Court for the parent on Jan. 5 — the same day Kohberger made his first court appearance in Idaho in Latah County,” the Idaho Statesman reported.

“The parent previously was sentenced on unrelated misdemeanor charges. In that case, as well as another where the parent faces two felony charges, the public defender’s office withdrew in favor of a local criminal defense attorney unrelated to Taylor or the county’s public defender‘s office,” the paper reported.

Northington was devastated by this move.

“I’m heartbroken because I trusted her. She pretended that she wanted to help me. And to find out that she’s representing him, I can’t even convey how betrayed I feel,” she told NewsNation on Wednesday.

Asked whether she’s spoken with Taylor, she revised, “No. I haven’t spoken with her. I found it through a friend who found it on Reddit.”

Reddit is a social media platform.

Listen:

Xana Kernodle’s mother Cara Northington says she feels betrayed that her public defender Anne Taylor dropped her case – and is now representing Bryan Kohberger – the man accused of killing Xana. Northington says she found out through social media. pic.twitter.com/aafWDf6Avw

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) January 26, 2023

Northington added that she’d previously signed over power of attorney to Taylor.

“I’d already signed over power of attorney so that she could get me by getting into rehab and whatnot. So I don’t understand how she could do this. I don’t understand what happens now. Does she still have the power of attorney?” she said.

Apparently not…

During the NewsNation interview, Northington also expressed anger at the authorities for not having told her prior to Kohberger’s arrest that he was a suspect.

This was problematic because Kohberger had been a teaching assistant at Washington State University, the same school that Northington’s other daughter attended.

“The fact that law enforcement knew who he was from the get-go and didn’t warn us to keep Jazzmin home from school — I’m just beside myself. And Jazzmin was at WSU for the whole 7-week period, from the murders to the arrest. She was there the whole time,” she said.

“I haven’t spoken with her about it yet, but I mean, I can only imagine, you know. She was adamant about going to school. She wasn’t going to let this keep her from going to school, but I think it would have been different had she known that Xana’s killer was going to school with her,” Northington added.

All this comes amid new reporting that Kohberger, who was a Ph.D. student in the criminology department at WSU, had once sought a job at a police department.

“Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of stabbing to death four University of Idaho students in Nov. 2022, interviewed for a job at the Pullman, Wash., police department in the months leading up to the slayings,” according to People magazines.

“In an April 12, 2022 email correspondence … Kohberger sent a note to then-Police Chief Gary Jenkins with the subject line ‘Thank you’ after his interview for a graduate research assistant position,” People reported on Wednesday.

“Chief Jenkins, It was a great pleasure to meet with you today and share my thoughts and excitement regarding the research assistantship for public safety. I look forward to hearing from you,” Kohberger reportedly wrote.

3 nuggets out of Idaho:
-new details on Bryan Kohberger applying for research assistantship position with Pullman Police Dept.
-Kaylee Goncalves reported a missing person sighting in 2021.
-Kohberger’s attorney represented Xana Kernodle’s mom.
Details in this video: pic.twitter.com/ZKFFP56arJ

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) January 25, 2023

In an emailed statement, Jenkins confirmed that he had indeed met with Kohberger.

“I can confirm that I interviewed Mr. Kohberger for a Doctoral Level Graduate Research Assistantship for Public Safety at the Pullman Police Department when I was the Pullman Police Chief,” he said.

He did, however, decline to answer whether Kohberger was chosen for the position “due to the restrictions of the non-dissemination order issued by the court.”

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