The mother of one of the slain University of Idaho students said her daughter’s murder last year triggered the drug relapse which led to her arrest.
Cara Northington, 43, told the Daily Mail that she was sober prior to the November 13 slaying of her daughter, Xana Kernodle, 20. Less than a week after Kernodle’s murder, Northington was arrested in Idaho for felony drug possession.
Northington explained to the Daily Mail that she was released in December so she could attend a memorial for her daughter, but she fled instead of returning to custody.
“I relapsed after my daughter’s killing. Then four days after that, I got picked up on new charges. Then I didn’t go to my next court date because I was still getting high,” she said.
The Daily Mail reported that Northington went to Spokane, Washington, where she allegedly used fentanyl and methamphetamines in a hotel room. She was eventually apprehended captured and taken to Kootenai County Jail, where she has been housed since late February.
Suspect Bryan Kohberger, a Ph.D. criminal justice student at Washington State University, is believed to have carried out the November 13 attack which resulted in the deaths of Kernodle, her boyfriend, and her two roommates.
Police claimed Kohberger turned off his phone during the quadruple slayings, but evidence indicated he visited the area 12 times prior to the murders.
Kohberger was arrested on December 30, after a cross-country trip with his father from Washington to Pennsylvania. During their trip, Indiana police reportedly pulled them over twice to view possible injuries on Kohberger’s hands. Kohberger remains jailed as he faces four counts of first-degree murder.
Northington went on to tell the Daily Mail she not only experienced withdrawals while behind bars, but she is still processing her daughter’s violent murder.
“It’s a f**king nightmare,” the jailed mother said through tears. “It’s a living nightmare.”
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[Featured image: Cara Northington/Facebook; Xana Kernodle/Instagram]
