The mother of one of the four Idaho students murdered has revealed she was abandoned by her attorney, who is now representing her daughter’s accused killer.
Cara Northington’s daughter Xana Kernodle, 20, was killed in November in a Moscow, Idaho dorm she shared with three friends.
On December 30, police arrested Bryan Kohberger, a criminology graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, eight miles from the Moscow residence.
Northington was being represented at the time by Kootenai County chief public defender Ann Taylor on various drug charges.
On Jan. 5, the day Kohberger appeared before an Idaho judge, Taylor — without telling her — officially dropped Northington to represent the 28-year-old.
“I’m heartbroken,” Northington told News Nation anchor Ashleigh Banfield.
Cara Northington, right, speaks with News Nation anchor Ashleigh Banfield on Wednesday night
Cara Northington, the mother of Xana Kernodle, 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’s daughter Xana Kernodle, 20, was murdered Nov. 13 at her college dorm in Moscow, Idaho
“Because I trusted her. She acted like she wanted to help me.
“And to find out that she’s representing him — I can’t even express how betrayed I feel.”
Kootenai County’s lead defender Ann Taylor represented Northington until Jan. 5 — when she switched to representing Bryan Kohberger
She doesn’t know if she has an attorney in her own case or is representing her daughter.
Northington said she felt she had been let down by prosecutors and was also angry that police may have identified Kohberger as a suspect but didn’t tell them – which her other daughter, Jazzmin Kernodle, allowed to continue her studies at Washington State University alongside Kohberger.
“The fact that they knew and allowed Jazzmin to attend WSU — I’m just blown away,” she said.
“She was dying to go to school but I think if she had known Xana’s killer was there it would have been different.”
Northington, who has long battled addiction, said she only found out Taylor was representing her daughter’s accused killer when a friend saw it on social media and told her.
Taylor is seen with Kohberger on January 5 – the day Taylor stopped representing Northington
Prosecutors did not inform Northington that her attorney was no longer representing her
Taylor is seen with her 28-year-old client on January 5. He was a graduate student in criminology at Washington State University eight miles from the crime scene
Taylor had power of attorney over her affairs in the midst of her addiction, and Northington now doesn’t know who controls her legal affairs.
“I already signed that so she could help me,” she said.
“I don’t understand how she could have done that.
“I don’t know what’s going on now – does she still have power of attorney?”
Some speculated that Taylor’s appointment as Kohberger’s representative was a necessity because the small, remote county did not have many qualified public defenders.
Taylor is one of only 13 public defenders in Idaho licensed by the state’s Public Defense Commission to lead a death penalty case. It’s also the only one in all of northern Idaho.
Prosecutors have yet to say whether they will seek the death penalty in the Kohberger case.
Palm Beach County Prosecutor Dave Aronberg said Northington’s situation was “heartbreaking.”
He added: “It makes them a victim again.”
Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney, told Banfield that Taylor would have trouble interviewing Northington if she was called as a witness in her daughter’s murder trial, as expected.
He said Taylor could bring in another attorney for this particular part of the trial, but added that her previous representation for Northington Kohberger – if convicted – would give ample grounds for an appeal.
He predicted that a hearing would soon be convened to resolve the issue before the next scheduled meeting in June.
Aronberg added: “You should never have a situation like this.
“It’s up to the court to fix this.
“I think they will in the end and nobody wants that to be overturned on appeal.”
Mark Geragos (center) and Dave Aronberg (right) both said they awaited a hearing to resolve the conflict of interest
Northington told Banfield that she felt she was kept in the dark about the case
Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin (left) were both killed along with friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (right).
Kaylee and Madison were found on the top floor of the house in Moscow, Idaho. College lovers Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were found in a second-floor bedroom, while survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were sleeping on the first floor
Northington said no one from the prosecution had contacted them and that the only people they called were the media.
It was unclear why no liaison officer from the Victims and Witnesses Coordination Team had come forward.
She said she hadn’t spoken to any of the other three victims’ family members – although she wouldn’t object – nor had she spoken to the other two housemates who were in the home at the time of the killings.
Northington said she did not mention Kohberger before his arrest.
“I can’t imagine she had any connection to him,” she said.
“He’s quite a bit older than you or any of your friends.
“I don’t know if you knew him.”
She said it’s “possible” her daughter met him at the vegan pizza restaurant Mad Greek, where she works.
Kohberger is said to have eaten at the restaurant shortly before the murders – but the owner has since denied seeing him.
In the weeks following her daughter’s murder, Northington was active in Facebook groups dedicated to finding the killer.
She now knows, to her horror, that Kohberger was a member of the group.
“That was shocking,” she told Banfield.
“Absolutely shocking.
“I had no idea he was fooling the groups like that.
“That was shocking to me.”
Members of the Moscow Police Department and Idaho State Police collect and remove the personal items and property from the home
Victims: Pictured are the four Idaho students who were stabbed to death in the early hours of November 13. Ethan Chapin (center right), Xana Kerndole (right), Kaylee Goncalves (bottom left) and Madison Mogen (top left)
She said the discovery was “creepy, very creepy.”
“I think it shows what a sick-headed person we’re dealing with,” she said.
“Someone who can do that must be very sick in the head.
‘It’s a game for him.
“That’s how I feel – it’s a game he’s playing.
“This is not a game – this is real life.
“And it makes me sick.”
Northington said she was “glad” when he was arrested, adding, “It was all so much.”
She continued, “I have a lot of feelings… obviously bad feelings towards him.
“I don’t know what to think of all this.
“I look at social media all the time and see he’s trying to say he’s innocent.
“It breaks my heart – there’s no regrets.
“He’s trying to frame someone else.”
She said when she saw him in court she struggled to understand what had happened.
“I can’t believe there’s someone like him out there – capable of doing something so outrageous,” she said.
“There are no regrets, nothing.”
When asked what she would say to him if she could talk to him, Northington replied: “I just want to know why.
,Why did he do that? Why did he take these children? Why? What did they do to him?
“I can’t imagine them doing anything that deserves him to murder them.”
She admitted she was struggling to cope, but said she believed she could make it.
“I have my friends around me and I watch a lot of Xana’s TikTok videos and that helps,” she said.
‘Coping as well as I can, you know.’
She said her daughter, a marketing student, is “tough.”
“She was strong. She was funny,’ she said.
“She could just make you smile no matter what.
“She just had a quality about her.
“Not many people have the talent to light up a room like she did.
“You can see from her TikToks how carefree she was and just plain funny.
“I don’t think I will ever get over the grief of losing my child.
“But she would want us to remember the good things.”