More than two weeks have passed since four University of Idaho students were discovered stabbed to death in a Moscow, Idaho, residence on November 13; nevertheless, authorities have not yet identified a suspect or suspects.
Here is what we currently know.
What occurred
At 11:58 a.m. on Sunday, November 13, officers responded to a complaint of an unconscious individual. There, the Moscow Police Department discovered four deceased University of Idaho students on the second and third floors.
Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Xana Kernodle were housemates who resided in the residence, although Ethan Chapin did not reside there but was Kernodle’s boyfriend.
Chapin and Kernodle reportedly attended a party at a Sigma Chi residence on the University of Idaho campus on Saturday night. On November 13, about 1:45 a.m., they returned home.
Mogen and Goncalves were in a pub in central Moscow called The Corner Club that night. Police said they exited the pub, stopped at a food truck, and then returned home about 1:45 a.m.
According to authorities, the coroner stated that the victims were presumably sleeping, some had defensive wounds, and everyone was stabbed numerous times. According to investigators, there was no proof of sexual assault. Multiple calls to the cellphone of the ex-boyfriend of Kaylee Goncalves indicate that the killings occurred shortly after 3 a.m.
According to authorities, two other surviving housemates were out separately in Moscow on November 13 and came home around 1 a.m. According to authorities, it appears they slept through the stabbings. The authorities have stated that they do not believe the surviving housemates were engaged in the murders.
Chief of Police in Moscow James Fry stated that the 911 call was made using a phone belonging to one of the surviving roommates, but he would not confirm the caller’s identity.
What were the names of the victims?
Madison Mogen, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was 21 years old, and Kaylee Goncalves, of Rathdrum, Idaho, was 21 years old. Mogen, according to the institution, majored in marketing, whilst Goncalves studied general studies.
Xana Kernodle, age 20, from Post Falls, Idaho, also majored in marketing. She belonged to the Pi Beta Phi sorority, whereas Ethan Chapin, a twenty-year-old student from Mount Vernon, Washington, belonged to Sigma Chi. The school states that he majored in recreation, sport, and tourist management.
What have the authorities discovered?
Authorities stated that they had accumulated “hundreds of pieces of information” to date, which, as of Wednesday, November 30, includes more than 113 pieces of physical evidence. Investigators at the crime site gathered “about 4,000 pictures” and “several” 3-D scans of the residence. Police announced on November 23 that detectives had processed “almost 1,000 total tips” and conducted 150 interviews.
On November 30, officials removed five vehicles from the murder scene in order to continue collecting evidence. Earlier in the inquiry, the contents of three dumpsters were confiscated, but no helpful evidence was reportedly discovered.
Fry told reporters on November 16 that investigators felt it was a “targeted strike.” In the days that followed, however, authorities did not clarify or explain how they could make such a statement in the absence of a suspect.
However, in a statement released Wednesday night, the department attempted to pull that back in response to recent contradictory statements made by Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson questioning whether or not the attack was targeted. Wednesday, the agency stated that Thompson’s statements were the product of a “miscommunication” and that detectives “we not currently know if the property or any of its residents were intentionally targeted.”
Alivea Goncalves, the sister of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told Chris Cuomo of NewsNation that authorities had provided no more information to the family.
“Law enforcement is using the term ‘targeted,’ but we don’t know what it means, and it almost seems alienating because we don’t have further information,” Goncalves explained. “I have no idea who the target was, whether it was one of them or all of them. I simply do not know.”
The police stated that they questioned both the guy seen wearing a white hoodie in a video showing Mogen and Goncalves at the food truck, as well as the person who transported them home that night. According to police, neither suspect was engaged in the murders.
Despite the early am phone conversations, police do not consider Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend a suspect.
Chief of Police James Fry stated that the 911 call was made using a phone belonging to one of the surviving roommates, but he would not confirm the caller’s identity. Fry stated that, in addition to the two surviving roommates, there were “other friends” at the residence at the time of the 911 call. During a news conference on November 20, a week after the murders, he stated that authorities did not know how many individuals were in the house at the time of the 911 call and did not specify when the “other friends” arrived.
The identities of the surviving roommates and “other pals” have not been made public.
Later, the police confirmed in a statement that “the surviving roommates summoned friends to the apartment” because they believed that one of the victims had passed out and was not regaining consciousness. According to investigators, many persons spoke with the 911 dispatcher. According to authorities, none of those inside the residence at the time of the 911 call are thought to have been engaged in the murders.
Moscow police stated that investigators had “exhaustively investigated” accusations that Goncalves had a stalker. On November 22, police stated, “They have pursued hundreds of pieces of information relating to this issue but have been unable to corroborate or identify a stalker.”
The murder weapon, described by authorities as a big fixed-blade knife, has not been located.
On Sunday, November 27, the agency said that tips continued to stream in and that community members had submitted more than 500 digital entries to the FBI link requesting information on the case. The inquiry involves dozens of officers of the Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and the Idaho State Police, and Governor Brad Little has authorized up to $1 million in state emergency funds for the probe.
Moscow police stated, “We recognize there is a sense of anxiety in our neighborhood.”
Although detectives have used various tips and surveillance videos to eliminate potential suspects, they are currently seeking additional tips and surveillance footage of “any unusual behavior” observed during the night of November 12 — while Goncalves and Mogen were out in downtown Moscow and Kernodle and Chapin were at the Sigma Chi fraternity house — and the early hours of November 13.
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