Cases from 2022 include criminal investigations, trials, and notable events that occurred during the year. Whether they involved new charges, breakthroughs in cold cases, high-profile trials, or tragic incidents that captured national attention, the cases documented here reflect the state of the criminal justice system in 2022. CaseSleuth provides detailed, chronological coverage of each case with timelines, evidence breakdowns, profiles of key people involved, and links to primary sources and media coverage.
4 cases found
On November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students — Kaylee Goncalves (21), Madison Mogen (21), Xana Kernodle (20), and Ethan Chapin (20) — were stabbed to death at an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho, in the early morning hours. Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University, was identified through investigative genetic genealogy linking his DNA to a knife sheath left at the scene, corroborated by surveillance footage of his white Hyundai Elantra and cellphone location data. Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania and ultimately pleaded guilty on July 2, 2025, to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary; he was sentenced on July 23, 2025, to four consecutive life terms without parole plus ten years for burglary.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was convicted in November 2023 on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy after billions in customer funds were secretly funneled to his hedge fund Alameda Research. He was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in March 2024, capping one of the largest financial fraud cases in American history.
Karen Read, a financial analyst, was charged with the second-degree murder of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, who was found dead in the snow outside a fellow officer's Canton, Massachusetts home on January 29, 2022. After a first trial ended in a hung jury mistrial in July 2024, Read was acquitted of murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene at her retrial on June 18, 2025, but was convicted of operating under the influence. The case became a national flashpoint over allegations of a law enforcement cover-up, investigator misconduct, and deep community polarization.
On January 3, 2022, 911 reported that 66-year-old Sheila Fletcher and her husband Clay Fletcher of Slaughter, Louisiana, had found their 36-year-old daughter Lacey Ellen Fletcher dead on their couch. It was revealed that for at least 12 years, Fletcher had been neglected by her parents after becoming unable to leave her house due to a cognitive health decline. It was discovered that after this decline, Sheila and Clay had left their daughter on their couch to suffer, failing to get her medical care; she was covered in her own excrement, and insects ate at her body.