The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy

Maddie uses her photography skills and social media savvy to build the reputation of Pi Beta Phi. The women largely keep their friendship off of social media. Their social media feeds show the close friendships they form with their sorority sisters. For Maddie, this includes her year-older sorority sister, Sophia Whitehead, and Ashlin Couch, who is from Maddie’s town. Kaylee’s often includes her middle- and high-school boyfriend, Jack DuCoeur.

The University of Idaho switches to online classes at the end of spring break, as COVID-19 changes the world. Maddie and Kaylee are home in Rathdrum, Idaho. They decide that it’s okay, under the circumstances, to post pictures together again.

Maddie has been asked to run Pi Beta Phi’s official Instagram account. Originally disappointed to be chosen by a lesser-ranked house, she is now responsible for attracting new members—and she’s good at it.

Kaylee’s libertarian family distrusts the government and other institutions. Kaylee and her father both think the university should reopen the campus. Kaylee is angry that the sisters are all still paying live-in fees to the house when they’re not living there. When rush season starts again, Kaylee bonds with newcomers Emma Tyger and Jaden Anderson. She agrees to be their “Big”—an older sorority sister who will mentor her “Littles” both academically and socially. Jaden and Emma remember Kaylee as someone with “extraordinary enthusiasm” and a “can-do attitude.”

Xana Kernodle joins Pi Beta Phi. She and Maddie quickly bond—Maddie admires Xana’s fearless nature. For example, when Maddie introduces Xana and her best friend, Emily Alandt, to some Sigma Chi brothers, she discovers that Xana and Emily had already met them “on an illicit night out” (27).

Maddie and Kaylee are tiring of the rules and restrictions of sorority life. Alpha Phi is, in Maddie’s words, becoming a Mean Girls nightmare. They look into off-campus living. Kaylee finds an apartment in a neighborhood called The Whites. Maddie finds a house with a deck that will make for a great party space: 1122 King Road. To the girls, this move signifies freedom.

Maddie and Jake Schriger go on their first date and quickly become a couple. Maddie posts him to her social media a little over a year later to celebrate their anniversary. Jake will be graduating soon and moving to Boise. Maddie intends to follow him. She believes he is her future.

Kaylee institutes a “family breakfast” to maintain her close friendships with four of her Alpha Phi sisters: Ava, Zoe, Katie, and Phoebe. She and her boyfriend have been drifting apart a bit—Kaylee is eager for freedom and independence. She has made connections at an IT firm in Austin that could result in a job—but she’d have to leave Jack behind to take it.

Freshmen Ethan and Hunter Chapin rush the university’s fraternities. They are handsome, athletic, intelligent, and well-liked, so they have options. The obvious choice for them is Sigma Chi, but Ethan has come to admire Phi Delta Theta member Hunter Johnson. Ethan knows that his brother, Hunter Chapin, will follow him wherever he goes, so he wants to make the right decision. He asks fellow freshman Tim DeWulf for his advice. DeWulf says Sigma Chi is the obvious choice, so Ethan and Hunter join Sigma Chi.

Xana and Emily and their housemates have gained an identity as a party house. Due to its architecture, the house at 1118 King Road has been given the nickname “Shark Tank.” On this evening, they’ve invited a bunch of Sigma Chi freshmen to get to know them. The Chapin brothers are there. The group plays a game called champagne shackles: A man and a woman are zip-tied together by the wrists and will not be released until they finish their bottle of champagne. As the evening winds down, Ethan and Xana talk. He thinks that “she is the most real person he’s ever met” (36). He asks her to be his Big, despite a taboo around dating between Bigs and Littles. Ethan is unsure whether he is going home or is sleeping over with Xana.

Xana calls Emily’s mother at nearly midnight to announce that she has a boyfriend. Emily’s mother, Karen Alandt, is initially worried and then relieved when she hears Xana’s news. She thinks the relationship is a sign that Xana, like many of the others, is maturing and settling into commitments.

Xana’s home life was difficult. She grew up largely without a mother. Sometimes Emily and Xana drive to Xana’s sister Jazzmin’s dorm, where Xana steals items of clothing. She herself has very little. Emily invited Xana home with her over the first Christmas break when she noticed that Xana was the only one not packing to leave. Karen has come to consider Xana a second daughter.