Idaho murders - live: Moscow police find no link between killings of students and 2021 stabbings in Oregon
Moscow police said they have found no viable evidence that the University of Idaho murders are linked to similar stabbings in Oregon a year before.
Authorities issued a statement on Friday that the August 2021 fatal stabbing of Travis Juettern, 26, in Salem, Oregon, is not believed to be linked to the killings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.
“While these cases share similarities ... there does not appear to be any evidence to support the cases are related,” the statement read.
This week, similarities were drawn between the knife attack on Juetten and his wife, who survived the violence, and the 13 November quadruple murders that took place at the victims’ off-campus rental home located 400 miles away in Moscow.
Juetten’s mother had told The Independent on Thursday she hoped investigators could get answers for all five slain victims.
Key points
Weapon believed to be a fix-blade knife, say police
Police probing possible tie to 2021 murder
Police unable to rule out whether victim Kaylee Goncalves had a stalker
One victim was intended target, victim’s father says
Police rule out link between quadruple University of Idaho murders and Oregon stabbing in 2021
20:22 , Andrea Blanco
Travis Juetten, 26, and Jamilyn Juetten, 24, were attacked in their home in Salem, Oregon, by a masked assailant who broke in armed with a knife, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Mr Juetten tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death while his wife miraculously survived. Despite the victims’ families putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, more than one year on, the case remains unsolved.
Similarities were drawn between the stabbings and the slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Moscow Police Chied James Fry had confirmed that the Oregon killing was on their radar, before issuing a statement on Friday saying that the department had not found relevant evidence that the cases were connected.
“While these cases share similarities ... there does not appear to be any evidence to support the cases are related,” the statement read.
University vigil for victims scheduled for Wednesday
19:41 , Andrea Blanco
The University of Idaho will host a vigil at 5pm local time on 30 November for the slain students.
The vigil was originally slated to be held last week but was postponed after students fled the town, fearful that a murderer is still on the loose.
The university also plans to go through with the commencement ceremony.
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, were just weeks shy of graduating when they were killed.
Surviving roommate gets tattoo in honour of the victims
19:01 , Andrea Blanco
As tributes continue to pour in for Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen more than ten days after they were stabbed to death, their roommate has chosen to immortalize their legacy on her skin, The Sun reports.
On Tuesday, the survivor posted a picture of her ink featuring angel wings and the victims’ initials — MKXE — on VSCO. The wings are reminiscent of a tattoo Mogen also had on the back of her arm.
The Independent has chosen not to name the woman to avoid undue speculation. Authorities have reiterated that the two surviving roommates are not considered suspects in the brutal stabbings and are not necessarily witnesses of the crime.
Roomate who survived Idaho University murders gets tattoo in tribute of victims
Police unable to confirm Kaylee Goncalves had stalker
17:34 , Andrea Blanco
Despite “looking extensively” into concerns raised by people who knew Goncalves that she had complained about a stalker, police were unable to confirm those reports, the department said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“We obtained information through some of our interviews that Kaylee had made some comments about having a stalker, so that’s where that came from,” Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier said.
“So far we have not been able to corroborate that, but we are not done looking at that piece of information.”
Prosecutor warns of potential lengthy investigation
16:48 , Andrea Blanco
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the Daily Mail that Moscow Police do not have a viable suspect at this time.
‘I have heard nothing to indicate they have identified a viable suspect or heard evidence that could lead to a suspect,” he said.
It could very well be [a lengthy investigation] – I think that all depends on the answers they’re able to find.”
‘If they’re lucky, they will find answers for who is responsible for this and what happened quickly, or it could be they don’t get those answers quickly and have to keep digging.’
Grieving famikies say conspiracists have hijacked cae
15:47 , Andrea Blanco
After University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were brutally murdered, their loved ones have tried to navigate grieve amid rampant rumours about the circumstances surrounding the killings.
“All the noise out there is really harming the families,” a friend of Kristi and Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s parents, told The Independent. “And it’s taking the police down trails that are not real and taking them away from the ones that are.”
Police have issued similar pleas updating their social media posts repeatedly to address specific inaccuracies circulating.
They shot down reports that the skinning of a nearby pet dog was related to the murders; then they said a report of a man waiting in a woman’s car was “unfounded.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn has the story:
Families of Idaho murder victims beg for calm as conspiracists hijack case
No suspects two weeks into the investigation
15:26 , Andrea Blanco
The murders took place in the early morning hours of 13 November in the off-campus rental home shared by the victims.
Two victims were killed on the second floor and two on the third floor of the home. Two surviving roommates were sleeping on the first floor and were unharmed.
The horrific crime scene went unnoticed for several more hours, with police receiving a 911 call at 11.58am on Sunday, reporting an “unconscious individual” at the home.
Police arrived to find the four victims dead. The coroner has revealed that all four victims were stabbed multiple times with a large knife while in their beds.
There were no signs of sexual assault on any of the victims and the murder weapon – a fixed-blade knife – has not been recovered.
Authorities will not release information on why they believe the attack was targeted
14:39 , Andrea Blanco
Aaron Snell, with Idaho State Police, told Fox News Digital on Saturday that information about the targeted murders is being handled with caution so as to not jeopardize the investigation, which has entered its second week with no arrests or major developments.
“And so if we just provide information to the public, I just don’t think that that’s going to be a wise choice,” he said.
ICYMI: People who have been rruled out as suspects
13:49 , Andrea Blanco
Two weeks into the investigation, no arrests have been made and no suspects named.
Moscow police have ruled out several people as suspects in the grisly murders.
They have said that the two surviving housemates who were in the home at the time of the killings and the other friends who were in the home when the 911 call was made are not considered suspects at this time.
A man who was caught on camera with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a food truck in the downtown area before they headed home and the private party who gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck have also been ruled out.
Goncalves’ former long-term boyfriend, with whom she shares a dog, is also not linked to the crime, police said.
From campus to club to crime scene: What happened in the Idaho murder victims’ final hours?
13:00 , Andrea Blanco
It could have been anyone, in any US college town, on any Saturday night. That’s how typical the murdered students’ behaviour was in Moscow, Idaho, just hours before they were brutally stabbed to death, The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports.
She writes: “The University of Idaho campus had been busy that day, a sea of gold and silver as the Vandals prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome.
“It was 28 degrees at kickoff – the weather was listed as a daunting “ice fog” – but happy, loyal fans turned out; the Vandals’ 44-26 loss was disappointing but did not deter the students from preparing to hit the town.
“Among them were five girls living in a three-bedroom rental home on King Road, just over a mile from the stadium and only two blocks from the edge of campus.”
Hours later, three of them and a fellow student were killed inside the home.
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow:
Campus to club to crime scene: Final hours of Idaho college murder victims
Moscow police rule out link between University of Idaho murders and 2021 stabbing in Oregon
11:30 , Andrea Blanco
Moscow Police issued a statement on Friday that the August 2021 fatal stabbing of Travis Juettern, 26, in Salem, Oregon, is not believed to be linked to the killings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.
“There have been numerous media inquiries about a 1999 double stabbing in Pullman, Washington, and the 2021 double stabbing (with one death) in Salem, Oregon,” the statement read.
“While these cases share similarities ... there does not appear to be any evidence to support the cases are related.”
This week, similarities were drawn between the knife attack on Juetten and his wife, who survived the violence, and the 13 November quadruple murders that took place at the victims’ off-campus rental home located 400 miles away in Moscow.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the story:
Moscow police rules out link between Idaho murders and 2021 stabbing in Oregon
Surviving roommate of the four University of Idaho murder victims gets tattoo in their honour
10:00 , Andrea Blanco
As tributes continue to pour in for Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen more than ten days after they were stabbed to death, their roommate has chosen to immortalize their legacy on her skin, The Sun reports.
On Tuesday, the survivor posted a picture of her ink featuring angel wings and the victims’ initials — MKXE — on VSCO. The wings are reminiscent of a tattoo Mogen also had on the back of her arm.
The Independent has chosen not to name the woman to avoid undue speculation. Authorities have reiterated that the two surviving roommates are not considered suspects in the brutal stabbings and are not necessarily witnesses of the crime.
Read the full story:
Roomate who survived Idaho University murders gets tattoo in tribute of victims
No suspects or arrests two weeks after the brutal stabbings
08:30 , Andrea Blanco
On Wednesday, authorities gave a press conference with virtually no updates, but pointed out that more than 1,000 tips have been received and 190 interviews have been conducted.
Moscow Police said that thousands of pictures were taken of the crime scene and DNA was also collected. Captain Roger Lanier said that the department believes the attack was targeted but won’t release information as to why they think so.
“You’re going to have to trust on that at this point because we are not going to release why we think that,” he said.
The FBI, Idaho State Police and Moscow Police Department have allocated $1m to the case and have assigned more than 130 officers and agents and a few behavioural analysts to work on it.
Terror grips Idaho college town after quadruple murder
07:00 , Andrea Blanco
Parents are ordering deadbolts, teens are asking for guns and the streets are empty in Moscow, locals tell The Independent’s Sheila Flynn.
Sheila writes: “Moscow Lock Shop can’t keep up with the demand for deadbolts.”
“The calls started coming in just hours after police discovered four University of Idaho students fatally stabbed on 13 November. Then the phone started ringing even more; by Thursday, the number of calls had reached 50 in a day.”
A student estimated that about 50 per cent of the student body left campus before the Thanksgiving break, while a local tattoo shop owner told The Independent that he is offering to check people’s homes before they close their doors for the night.
Read Sheila’s full coverage of the case that has stumped police and left locals desperate for answers:
Guns, deadbolts and mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho town after murders
Criminal experts reveal three key missteps in the investigation
05:30 , Andrea Blanco
While the public and grieving families have grown frustrated over the lack of information being released and the conspiracy theories fueled by internet sleuths, respectively, a retired NYPD sergeant told Fox that Moscow Police have revealed plenty.
“Investigators have given out too much information,” Joseph Giacalone, a 20-year police veteran and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice told the network.
Mr Giacalone went on to criticise Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt, who appeared in several interviews with media outlets across the nation and divulged what Mr Giacalone described as speculation.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the story:
Criminal experts reveal three key missteps in Idaho murders investigation
Victims ‘hosted parties with lots of people coming in and out of the house,’ neighbours say
04:00 , Andrea Blanco
Jeremy Reagan, a third-year law student who lives near the scene of the murders that shocked the university town of Moscow last week, told Fox News that the victims would often host self-contained gatherings and added that people went in and out of the house “pretty frequently.”
“There were parties that were kind of loud,” Mr Reagan said.
“As I would take my dog in and out to go to the bathroom [and] I would see people in the windows almost every night, probably four or five nights a week ... it was kind of a party house but then again this whole neighbourhood is a party neighbourhood.”
Families of Idaho murder victims beg for conspiracists to stop
02:30 , Andrea Blanco
After University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were brutally murdered, their loved ones have tried to navigate grieve amid rampant rumours about the circumstances surrounding the killings.
“All the noise out there is really harming the families,” a friend of Kristi and Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s parents, told The Independent. “And it’s taking the police down trails that are not real and taking them away from the ones that are.”
Police have issued similar pleas updating their social media posts repeatedly to address specific inaccuracies circulating.
They shot down reports that the skinning of a nearby pet dog was related to the murders; then they said a report of a man waiting in a woman’s car was “unfounded.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn has the story:
Families of Idaho murder victims beg for calm as conspiracists hijack case
Idaho murders Reddit sleuth community tops 43,000
01:00 , Andrea Blanco
Following a press conference on Wednesday marked by a lack of notable developments, the Reddit subchannels MoscowMurders and IdahoMurders have amassed more than 43,000 members who discuss the case on a daily basis.
In the forums, people from across the country are weighing in on the investigation into the slayings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen inside their off-campus rental home in Moscow.
Some posts contain information that is entirely speculative and has already been debunked by authorities, while other users have reminded that police are doing their jobs and the case is “not a 60-minute CSI crime show.”
The Independent has the story:
Idaho murders Reddit sleuth community tops 43k after frustrating Moscow police update
Multiple people spoke with 911 dispatcher
Saturday 26 November 2022 23:50 , Andrea Blanco
“There [were] other friends that had arrived,” Moscow police Chief James Fry said at a press conference last week.
“Honestly, I’m not quite sure [how many] at this time.”
The call originated from the cellphone of one of the victims, which was passed around as several individuals spoke with the dispatcher.
In the call, it was reported that there was “an unconscious individual.” Police have said that the two surviving roommates ‘summoned friends” to the house because they believed one of the victims had passed out.
University of Idaho murders house: Police reveal ‘multiple’ were home for 911 call
Vigil for victims planned for Wednesday
Saturday 26 November 2022 20:59 , Andrea Blanco
The University of Idaho will host a vigil at 5pm local time on 30 November for the slain students, who were murdered in the early morning hours of 13 November.
The vigil was originally slated to be held last week but was postponed after students fled the town, fearful that a murderer is still on the loose.
With no arrests made and no suspects named 12 days into the investigation, it remains to be seen if terrified students will return after the Thanksgiving break.
ICYMI: Here’s everything we know about the 911 call
Saturday 26 November 2022 20:02 , Andrea Blanco
All four victims are believed to have been killed at around 3am or 4am on the morning of 13 November.
The attack was brutal with each victim stabbed multiple times.
Police were not called to the home until 11.58am on Sunday.
Police said that the roommates slept through what happened and when they woke up on the Sunday, they called some unidentified friends to the home because they believed that one of the victims on the second floor “had passed out and was not waking up”.
After the friends arrived on the scene, one person in the group made the 911 call from the cellphone of one of the roommates.
In the call, the individual reported an “unconscious individual”.
The roommates and the unidentified friends were still on the scene when officers arrived.
It is unclear what the roommates and “other friends” had discovered prior to placing the call and what led them to describe a victim as merely “unconscious”.
More than 260 digital submissions of evidence in the investigation
Saturday 26 November 2022 18:49 , Andrea Blanco
Following Moscow PD’s urging to the public for evidence submissions on the portals made available, more than 260 digital tips have been received, the department said on Friday.
Via a link on the FBI’s website, people with information about the case can submit pictures or video.
“Detectives are also seeking additional tips and surveillance video of any unusual behavior on the night of November 12th into the early hours of November 13th while Kaylee and Madison were in downtown Moscow and while Ethan and Xana were at the Sigma Chi house,” the department said in a press release.
Police have asked residents of the area to submit video even if it does not appear suspicious to them.
Dog was found unharmed after polcie arrived at the scene
Saturday 26 November 2022 17:52 , Andrea Blanco
Idaho police have confirmed that an unharmed dog was found at the crime scene of the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.
The Moscow Police Department released a statement on Monday saying that officers responding to the fatal stabbings at 1122 King Road on 13 November located a dog at the residence.
The pet was unharmed and turned over to Animal Service, police said. It has since been released to a “responsible party.”
The dog – Murphy – was shared by Kaylee Goncalves and her former long-term boyfriend.
It was not disclosed whether police believe that the killer, who is still at large, spared the dog’s life or never came into contact with it.
Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin’s last movements
Saturday 26 November 2022 16:58 , Andrea Blanco
Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin spent the night of 12 November at a party at Sigma Chi.
The frat house is built into the hill and slopes upward, facing Nez Perce Drive, which winds through campus and passes the arboretum, just a short walk further uphill.
The grounds of the UI Arboretum and Botanical Garden back up onto Taylor Road, just a block from the girls’ house, which you have to cross to get to Sigma Chi.
Police have specifically asked for surveillance footage from areas around the highway and the arboretum.
Xana and Ethan returned to King Road around the same time as Kaylee and Maddie.
It is unclear where they were between 9pm and 1.45am.
Prosecutor warns of potential lenghty investigation
Saturday 26 November 2022 16:05 , Andrea Blanco
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the Daily Mail that Moscow Police do not have a viable suspect at this time.
‘I have heard nothing to indicate they have identified a viable suspect or heard evidence that could lead to a suspect,” he said.
It could very well be [a lengthy investigation] – I think that all depends on the answers they’re able to find.”
‘If they’re lucky, they will find answers for who is responsible for this and what happened quickly, or it could be they don’t get those answers quickly and have to keep digging.’
The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Saturday 26 November 2022 15:29 , Andrea Blanco
The university town of Moscow, Idaho, woke up on Monday with law enforcement everywhere, students scarce and answers still elusive in the frustrating – and terrifying – investigation into the vicious quadruple murder of four college kids.
The bodies of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were discovered around noon on Sunday 13 November.
All four had been brutally stabbed and were found on the second and third floors of a house just two blocks from the University of Idaho campus.
Chapin, a Sigma Chi fraternity member, was spending the night with his girlfriend, Kernodle; she and the other two victims lived with two more female roommates in the three-storey home on King Road.
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow:
No suspect, weapon or witnesses: The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Revisiting the victims’ final hours
Saturday 26 November 2022 15:01 , Andrea Blanco
The University of Idaho had prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome on 12 November, unaware of the dark cloud that would linger over the town of just 25,000 for days to come, Sheila Flynn reports.
Sheila writes: “Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21 and childhood best friends, were heading together to the bars downtown. Xana Kernodle, 20, was planning to hang out with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.”
Less than 12 hours later, they all had been killed.
The Independent has a detailed account of the victim’s final hours:
Campus to club to crime scene: Final hours of Idaho college murder victims
Likelihood of catching killer falls as time passes, finds analysis
Saturday 26 November 2022 14:29 , Andrea Blanco
The chances of catching a killer falls as time passes, according to a new analysis by The Washington Post.
The paper analysed 8,000 homicide arrests across 25 major US cities since 2007.
The analysis found that, in half of all cases, an arrest was made in 10 days or less. Two-thirds of arrests were made within one month and around 30 per cent within the first 48 hours.
However, the figures reveal a disheartening reality about identifying a killer more than one year on from the murder. Just five per cent of cases that remained unsolved after one year led to an arrest, the data shows.
Several individuals ruled out as suspects
Saturday 26 November 2022 13:59 , Andrea Blanco
Nearly two weeks into the investigation, no arrests have been made and no suspects named.
Moscow police have ruled out several people as suspects in the grisly murders.
They have said that the two surviving housemates who were in the home at the time of the killings and the other friends who were in the home when the 911 call was made are not considered suspects at this time.
A man who was caught on camera with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a food truck in the downtown area before they headed home and the private party who gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck have also been ruled out.
Goncalves’ former long-term boyfriend, with whom she shares a dog, is also not linked to the crime, police said.
Roommate honours victims with tattoo
Saturday 26 November 2022 13:31 , Andrea Blanco
One of the surviving roommates of the murdered victims has posted a picture of her ink featuring angel wings and the victims’ initials — MKXE — on VSCO.
The Independent has chosen not to name the woman to avoid undue speculation.
Authorities have reiterated that the two surviving roommates are not considered suspects in the brutal stabbings and are not necessarily witnesses of the crime.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the story:
Roomate who survived Idaho University murders gets tattoo in tribute of victims
Police believe only one of four students was ‘target’, says victim’s father
Saturday 26 November 2022 13:00 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police believe that only one of the four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home was the intended “target” of the quadruple murders, according to the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves.
Ever since law enforcement made the grim discovery on 13 November, officials have described the attack as “targeted” but have refused to reveal what has led them to that conclusion.
“I’ve been told it’s one, but then again, there’s the bigness like it’s purposely big,” Steve Goncalves told CNN.
“I’m hoping, but it confuses everyone, yeah, because nobody knows what that really means other than maybe somebody had a different kind of attack footprint; so you know that’s... I feel like we just want some more. We all want to play a part in helping, and we can’t move if we don’t have any real substantial information.”
It is not clear who among Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin is believed to be the target and no motive is known at this time.
Police are continuing to explore claims that Goncalves had a stalker – a claim that they have not been able to verify or rule out yet.
Mr Goncalves voicded frustration that investigators are “not sharing much with me” and said that, when he asked about the stalker claims, he received little information.
“I mean I, yesterday I asked about the stalker question and they couldn’t confirm anything, and then today I hear that they’re reaching out to the community saying that there’s a stalker involved, so I don’t know...” he said.
“They’re just so vague with everything that they say and then they like slowly peel it back later layer until you like find the real story. It all started with a sharp edged weapon. What was the use in telling the community that a sharp edge weapon was used.”
Theories swirl about ties to a third unsolved stabbing
Saturday 26 November 2022 12:00 , Rachel Sharp
Theories are now swirling that the murders of the four University of Idaho students could be tied to a third unsolved stabbing case.
This week, similarities were drawn between a 2021 knife attack on a young couple in Oregon and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.
Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, then 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.
Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.
He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.
Now, a local outlet has pointed to similarities to a third unsolved stabbing murder.
The Idaho Tribune reported that Sandra Ladd, 71, was found stabbed to death in her home in Washougal, Washington, on 14 June 2020.
She had also suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso. No suspects have been identified.
Investigators in Moscow have not said that they are exploring a link between this case and the other two.
Police unable to confirm or deny stalker claims
Saturday 26 November 2022 11:00 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police have been unable to confirm or deny widely-circulated claims that murder victim Kaylee Goncalves had a stalker.
Goncalves, 21, was found brutally stabbed to death on 13 November along with her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Xana’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.
Since the killings, it has emerged that Goncalves had complained to friends about a stalker.
On Wednesday, Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier said that investigators had been “looking extensively” into the claims but were unable to confirm the existence of a stalker – but were also unable to rule it out.
“We obtained information through some of our interviews that Kaylee had made some comments about having a stalker, so that’s where that came from,” he said.
“So far we have not been able to corroborate that, but we are not done looking at that piece of information.”
Moscow falls quiet as students flee in wake of murders
Saturday 26 November 2022 10:00 , Rachel Sharp
The community has shrunk since the murders; UI senior Dylan Bartels couldn’t believe how quickly his campus emptied out when he went to class two days after the murders.
“Normally, I have to drive around five minutes trying to find a parking spot; I pulled in and one of the closest spots is open,” he told The Independent’s Sheila Flynn on the ground in Moscow this week.
“I mean, literally, the student population going to class declined by 50 per cent. Overnight.”
A 6’2”, 240-pound former member of the UI football team, the Colorado native says he’s one of the few staying on campus - and he, too, is nervous.
“I’m here til Christmas; I don’t have the option to go home,” he said.
“And for me, it’s concerning ... we have no idea if this was a student or was not. And it puts me on edge, the fact that I need to go sit in a classroom and I could be sitting next to someone that unstable. Whoever that is that did this, you know, that’s a very unstable person who even had the reasoning to be able to take this on.”
Mr Bartels, 22, says he’s not a big partier but would sometimes “go down to one of the local bars and grab a couple of drinks on a Friday night.
“I haven’t done that since this happened, and I won’t,” he said.
Guns, deadbolts and a mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho college town after quadruple murder
Saturday 26 November 2022 08:00 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow Lock Shop can’t keep up with the demand for deadbolts.
The calls started coming in just hours after police discovered four University of Idaho students fatally stabbed on 13 November. Then the phone started ringing even more; by Thursday, the number of calls had reached 50 in a day.
“If you imagine that there’s two of us working, and then we’re going out and actually doing calls, and there’s 50 phone calls in one day ... we’re not getting them all done,” locksmith Casper Combs, 28, tells The Independent, pointing out that it takes about an hour to install each deadbolt.
The Lock Shop has a waiting list “past Thanksgiving, that’s for sure,” he says. Most of the calls come from landlords and scared parents of students at UI, which is less than a mile away – “typically moms who are worried about their kids.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from the on the ground in Moscow:
Guns, deadbolts and mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho town after murders
What happened during the victims’ final hours?
Saturday 26 November 2022 07:00 , Rachel Sharp
The University of Idaho campus had been busy the day before the murder, Sheila Flynn reports.
The Vandals had prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome, unaware of the dark cloud that would linger over the town of just 25,000 for days to come.
Sheila writes: “Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21 and childhood best friends, were heading together to the bars downtown. Xana Kernodle, 20, was planning to hang out with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.”
Less than 12 hours later, they all had been killed.
The Independent has a detailed account of the victim’s final hours:
Campus to club to crime scene: Final hours of Idaho college murder victims
Mother of murdered Oregon man speaks out after police reveal possible link to Idaho student slayings
Saturday 26 November 2022 06:00 , Rachel Sharp
The grieving mother of a 26-year-old man murdered in Oregon last year says she has been given “hope” that the case will finally be solved after police revealed they are exploring a potential link to the murders of four University of Idaho students in Moscow.
Myra Juetten told The Independent on Thursday that finding out who killed her son Travis Juetten in a brutal stabbing attack in his home in Silverton, Oregon – and also catching the killer of the slain students in Idaho – would be “the best Christmas present ever”.
“I want answers for all five of them,” she said of the victims.
“If law enforcement can work together and solve both cases that would be the best Christmas present ever.”
The Independent‘s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Exclusive: Mother of murdered Oregon man reacts to possible link to Idaho slayings
Roommates butchered in bed, 600 tips with no suspect, weapon or witnesses: The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Saturday 26 November 2022 05:00 , Rachel Sharp
The university town of Moscow, Idaho, woke up on Monday with law enforcement everywhere, students scarce and answers still elusive in the frustrating – and terrifying – investigation into the vicious quadruple murder of four college kids.
The bodies of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were discovered around noon on Sunday 13 November.
All four had been brutally stabbed and were found on the second and third floors of a house just two blocks from the University of Idaho campus. Chapin, a Sigma Chi fraternity member, was spending the night with his girlfriend, Kernodle; she and the other two victims lived with two more female roommates in the three-storey home on King Road.
Almost everything that happened after 1.45am on 13 November inside the college home where four students were murdered still remains a mystery – compounded by changing stories from law enforcement and wild social media speculation that has seeped into the local rumour mill.
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow:
No suspect, weapon or witnesses: The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
What we know about 911 call:
Saturday 26 November 2022 04:00 , Rachel Sharp
All four victims are believed to have been killed at around 3am or 4am on the morning of 13 November.
The attack was brutal with each victim stabbed multiple times.
Police were not called to the home until 11.58am on Sunday.
Police said that the roommates slept through what happened and when they woke up on the Sunday, they called some unidentified friends to the home because they believed that one of the victims on the second floor “had passed out and was not waking up”.
After the friends arrived on the scene, one person in the group made the 911 call from the cellphone of one of the roommates.
In the call, the individual reported an “unconscious individual”.
The roommates and the unidentified friends were still on the scene when officers arrived.
Police are continuing to remain tightlipped about the identity of the caller. It is also unclear what the roommates and “other friends” had discovered prior to placing the call and what led them to describe a victim as merely “unconscious”.
Families of the Idaho murder victims, separated by hundreds of miles but united in sorrow, have begun the process of publicly grieving.
Saturday 26 November 2022 03:00 , Rachel Sharp
The first of four services was held on Monday in the Washington State hometown of 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, the sole male victim of the quadruple homicide more than a week earlier near the University of Idaho. He was found brutally stabbed along with his girlfriend, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her roommates Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21. All four were UI students and their killer is still at large.
Ethan’s memorial was closed to the media. As hundreds gathered to pay their respects, the three other victims’ families were also grieving six hours away in Idaho – and pleading for an end to wild speculation about the case that has both amplified their pain and complicated investigations.
“All the noise out there is really harming the families,” a friend of Kristi and Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s parents, told The Independent. “And it’s taking the police down trails that are not real and taking them away from the ones that are.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow:
Families of Idaho murder victims beg for calm as conspiracists hijack case
Moscow police ‘stumped’ after surviving roommates sleep through attack
Saturday 26 November 2022 02:00 , Rachel Sharp
Police investigating the violent murders of four University of Idaho students have admitted that they’re stumped as to how the two surviving roommates managed to sleep through the brutal knife attack without being woken.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death inside a home in King Road, Moscow, in the early hours of the morning of 13 November. The coroner said that they were stabbed multiple times each with a large knife and were likely sleeping in bed when the attack unfolded. Their bodies were found on the second and third floors of the three-storey home.
The surviving roommates were on the first floor of the home.
Goncalves and Mogen had spent Saturday night at a bar in downtown Moscow while Kernodle and Chapin attended a sorority party on campus together. All four victims returned to the home at around 1.45am.
The three female victims live inside the home close to the university campus, along with two other female students.
Police said that the pair were also in the property at the time of the killings, having returned to the property at around 1am – not long before the four victims also returned home.
The pair were unharmed in the violent knife attack and appear to have slept through what happened.
A 911 call was made from the property at 11.58am on Sunday from the cellphone of one of the roommates, reporting an “unconscious individual”.
In a press conference on Sunday, police said that the surviving roommates “did not wake up until later that morning”.
When pressed about how the two women managed to sleep through the violent stabbings of four individuals, officials admitted it is something investigators are also struggling to understand.
“I don’t even know that information at this point in time,” said Chief James Fry of the Moscow Police Department. “That’s why we’re continuing to investigate.”
Surviving housemate gets tattoo in tribute of slain friends
Saturday 26 November 2022 01:00 , Rachel Sharp
One of the housemates who survived the horror quadruple murders in Moscow, Idaho, has revealed that she has gotten a new tattoo paying tribute to her slain friends.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in an off-campus home that the three women shared in Moscow back on 13 November.
Two other roommates were home at the time of the murders but were left unharmed.
Police said they were in the first floor of the house and are believed to have slept through the attack. The housemates, two other female University of Idaho students, have been ruled out as suspects.
One of the surviving housemate shared a photo of a new tattoo on her arm on her VCSO account this week.
The tattoo features anglel wings and the initials of her four murdered friends: “MKXE”.
The arm of a second person is also in the photo with the same tattoo.
Details of Moscow’s last notorious murder
Saturday 26 November 2022 00:40 , Rachel Sharp
The safe, small college town of Moscow has not seen a murder since seven years ago – and the town has only seen a handful of others in living memory.
The town’s most famous murder, up until last week, was the December 1969 killing of 18-year-old waitress Janice Foiles.
The waitress was bludgeoned to death at what was then the Tip Top Cafe.
That case also remains unsolved.
Last known movements: Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin
Saturday 26 November 2022 00:20 , Rachel Sharp
Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin spent the night of 12 November at a party at Sigma Chi.
The frat house is built into the hill and slopes upward, facing Nez Perce Drive, which winds through campus and passes the arboretum, just a short walk further uphill.
The grounds of the UI Arboretum and Botanical Garden are sweeping, beautiful and back up onto Taylor Road, just a block from the girls’ house, which you have to cross to get to Sigma Chi. That same road winds west pass the arboretum, up into a hilly residential neighbourhood; to the east, it intersects with Highway 95.
Police have specifically asked for surveillance footage from areas around the highway and the arboretum.
Xana and Ethan returned to King Road around the same time as Kaylee and Maddie. It is unclear where they were between 9pm and 1.45am; the area would have been busy at that time, surrounded by other student accommodation, as other young people headed home, too. The bars close at 2am.
Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow
Last known movements: Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen
Saturday 26 November 2022 00:00 , Rachel Sharp
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen spent the night of 12 November at a bar in downtown.
The best friends arrived at Corner Club on Main Street by 10.30pm. The bar is low-slung hotspot with its own party bus that’s a “staple in the town,” according to UI senior Dylan Bartels, 22.
It has a wide customer base but is particularly popular with members of fraternities and sororities, students tell The Independent. Like many colleges in the Greek system, there is a big divide between Greek and non-Greek social life, the students said, but there’s no palpable animosity and everyone tends to co-exist amicably. Maddie, Xana and another roommate were members of Pi Beta Phi; Kaylee pledged with Alpha Phi.
Kaylee and Maddie, both blonde and bubbly, were dressed in college bar casual – Kaylee in stonewashed ripped jeans and an Idaho sweatshirt, Maddie in a black jacket, darker denim jeans and black shoes. They spent around three hours at Corner Club at the northern edge of Main Street; by the time they left, the streets were swarming with other college kids looking for food and rides as they ended the night.
The pair walked straight down Main Street to a red brick building that used to host the now-defunct Garden Lounge; a favourite food truck, Grub Wandering Kitchen - fondly called Grub Truck by its many local fans – often parks outside on Main Street.
Kaylee and Maddie ordered, laughed and chatted with friends as they got their pasta carbonara; according to police, they got a lift home from a “private party” and returned to King Road around 1.45am.
Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow
Victim’s family say killer left ‘mess’ of evidence
Friday 25 November 2022 23:40 , Rachel Sharp
The investigation into the killing of four University of Idaho students is moving slowly because the killer left behind a “mess” of evidence, according to one of the victim’s parents.
Steve and Kristi Goncalves, whose daughter Kaylee was among the four killed at an off-campus house in the early hours of 13 November, said they’ve heard from police that the crime scene is sprawling and chaotic.
“They’re telling us that there’s so much evidence that it’s going to take a lot of time to process it all,” Mr Goncalves told Fox News. “This wasn’t like a pinpoint crime. This person was sloppy.”
The parents also shared their final memories of Kaylee, whom they described as a bright and ambitious young woman who had recently bought her first car, and was planning a backpacking trip to Europe in January ahead of beginning a new job.
The Goncalves family said Kaylee was a “street wise” individual who was always aware of her environment, including filming anything she thought was suspicious.
What happened during the victims’ final hours?
Friday 25 November 2022 23:20 , Rachel Sharp
The University of Idaho campus had been busy the day before the murder, Sheila Flynn reports.
The Vandals had prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome, unaware of the dark cloud that would linger over the town of just 25,000 for days to come.
Sheila writes: “Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21 and childhood best friends, were heading together to the bars downtown. Xana Kernodle, 20, was planning to hang out with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.”
Less than 12 hours later, they all had been killed.
The Independent has a detailed account of the victim’s final hours:
Campus to club to crime scene: Final hours of Idaho college murder victims
Moscow police share photo of cake as they work through Thanksgiving
Friday 25 November 2022 23:00 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police have shared photos of a cake sent by local residents to investigators on the quadruple murders case as they worked through Thanksgiving to try to solve the crime.
The department posted images on their social media page on Thursday, saying that local “residents have shown up in force with signs of support”.
“As of 9:00 p.m. this evening, there were still several members of our law enforcement investigative team working. Many of our detectives from partnering agencies are from out of state, missing time with their families this Thanksgiving,” the department said.
“Our Moscow residents have shown up in force with signs of support and delivered an amazing feast of food (photos are just a few of the fixings), giving these detectives a sense of home away from home. Thank you!
“Please keep Ethan, Madison, Xana, and Kaylee in your thoughts. Knowing that their families are missing a loved one today drives us to work even harder to find the answers they deserve... it’s what our community deserves. #MoscowStrong”
This comes as police have faced criticism over their handling of the case, with no suspects named and no arrests made 12 days on.
Guns, deadbolts and a mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho college town after quadruple murder
Friday 25 November 2022 22:40 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow Lock Shop can’t keep up with the demand for deadbolts.
The calls started coming in just hours after police discovered four University of Idaho students fatally stabbed on 13 November. Then the phone started ringing even more; by Thursday, the number of calls had reached 50 in a day.
“If you imagine that there’s two of us working, and then we’re going out and actually doing calls, and there’s 50 phone calls in one day ... we’re not getting them all done,” locksmith Casper Combs, 28, tells The Independent, pointing out that it takes about an hour to install each deadbolt.
The Lock Shop has a waiting list “past Thanksgiving, that’s for sure,” he says. Most of the calls come from landlords and scared parents of students at UI, which is less than a mile away – “typically moms who are worried about their kids.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from the on the ground in Moscow:
Guns, deadbolts and mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho town after murders
Mother of murdered Oregon man says her ‘heart breaks’ for Idaho victims’ parents
Friday 25 November 2022 22:20 , Rachel Sharp
The grieving mother of a 26-year-old man murdered in Oregon last year has said that her “heart breaks” for the parents of the four University of Idaho student after it emerged that police are probing a potential tie between the two cases.
Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home in Oregon, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.
Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.
This week, similarities were drawn between the knife attack on the young couple and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.
He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.
Having lost her son in tragically similar circumstances, Myra Juetten told The Independent on Thursday that her “heart breaks” for the parents of the four victims in Idaho.
“My heart breaks for the parents of these four young adults,” she said.
“It’s very, very hard to lose a child so brutally with no answers. My heart breaks for them.”
For Ms Juetten, having to spend the last year knowing her son’s killer is still out there is “a nightmare”.
“It’s awful. It’s our worst nightmare. It’s very hard on the entire family as there is a killer out there,” she said.
Over 1,000 tips sent in
Friday 25 November 2022 22:00 , Rachel Sharp
Law enforcement have received more than 1,000 tips and have carried out around 150 interviews so far in the investigation – but are yet to catch the killer of the four students.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry urged the public to keep sending in tips in a press conference on Wednesday.
“No bit of information is too small and every tip will be pursued,” he said.
Idaho State Patrol Col. Kedrick Wills added: “We collected 103 pieces of individual evidence. We took approximately 4,000 photographs. We’ve come and conducted multiple 3D scans of the residence.”
Four friends posted photos enjoying Idaho college life. Hours later they were killed. What happened?
Friday 25 November 2022 21:40 , Rachel Sharp
Twelve days after four students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home, no arrests have been made and no suspects named.
With authorities now walking back claims that there is no danger to the community, unanswered questions and fears continue to plague the college town.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Four friends posted photos enjoying Idaho college life. Hours later they were killed
ICYMI: Victim’s dog found unscathed
Friday 25 November 2022 21:20 , Rachel Sharp
Idaho police have confirmed that an unharmed dog was found at the crime scene of the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.
The Moscow Police Department released a statement on Monday saying that officers responding to the fatal stabbings at 1122 King Road on 13 November located a dog at the residence. The pet was unharmed and turned over to Animal Service, police said. It has since been released to a “responsible party.”
The dog – Murphy – was shared by Kaylee Goncalves and her former long-term boyfriend.
It was not disclosed whether police believe that the killer, who is still at large, spared the dog’s life or never came into contact with it.
The victims:
Friday 25 November 2022 21:00 , Rachel Sharp
The four victims killed in the horror attack were all close friends, with touching social media posts showing Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, enjoying college life together.
Chapin was a freshman and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, while Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
Both Kernodle and Mogen were members of the Pi Beta Phi sorority both majoring in marketing – the former a junior and the latter a senior.
The three young women were roommates, while Kernodle and Chapin were dating.
Mogen and Goncalves both graduated together from Lake City High School in 2019 and made the university’s dean’s list in spring 2021.
Several weeks ago, Goncalves posted a touching tribute for her “best friend” in celebration of her 21st birthday.
“swipe to watch me and @maddiemogen grow up together!!” she wrote, sharing a series of photos of the pair together.
“happy 21st maddie may I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to be the main character in all my childhood stories. see you at the bars in 14 days, 14 minutes, and 14 seconds, i love you!!!”
Mogen replied: “I love you more than life! My best friend forever and more.”
Police seek surveillance footage and tips from certain parts of Moscow
Friday 25 November 2022 20:40 , Rachel Sharp
Investigators are currently seeking surveillance footage and tips from “two areas of interest” around the city of Moscow as they hunt for the knife-wielding assailant who stabbed four University of Idaho students to death inside their off-campus home.
Businesses and homes within the geographical areas are being asked to share all outside surveillance video taken between 3am and 6am on 13 November – whether there appears to be motion and content or not.
“Investigators have determined the two areas of interests within the city and have provided maps which are on our Facebook page and on our website,” Roger Lanier, operations captain of Moscow Police Department, said at a press conference last Sunday. “And these are areas that they have canvassed for additional surveillance video and tips and have contacted several residents in the areas.”
The areas include: West Taylor Ave (north boundary), West Palouse River Dr (south boundary), Highway 95 south to the 2700 block of Highway 95 S (east boundary) and Arboretum & Botanical Garden (west boundary).
The Independent revealed on Sunday that a grassroots search was underway in the arboretum, organised by the cousin of murder victim Xana Kernodle.
Family members, friends and local volunteers were seen combing through the grounds – located on the same road as several Greek houses, including the Sigma Chi house where Kernodle and her boyfriend and fellow victim Ethan Chapin spent their last night – looking for any clues that could help track down the killer.
The areas of interest in question are close to the home on King Road, Moscow, where Kernodle, Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen were stabbed to death in the early hours of the morning of 13 November.
Kernodle and Chapin would have likely passed the aboretum on their return from Sigma Chi house – where they attended a party on the night of 12 November – to the home Kernodle shared with the other two female victims.
Roommates butchered in bed, 600 tips with no suspect, weapon or witnesses: The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Friday 25 November 2022 20:20 , Rachel Sharp
The university town of Moscow, Idaho, woke up on Monday with law enforcement everywhere, students scarce and answers still elusive in the frustrating – and terrifying – investigation into the vicious quadruple murder of four college kids.
The bodies of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were discovered around noon on Sunday 13 November.
All four had been brutally stabbed and were found on the second and third floors of a house just two blocks from the University of Idaho campus. Chapin, a Sigma Chi fraternity member, was spending the night with his girlfriend, Kernodle; she and the other two victims lived with two more female roommates in the three-storey home on King Road.
Almost everything that happened after 1.45am on 13 November inside the college home where four students were murdered still remains a mystery – compounded by changing stories from law enforcement and wild social media speculation that has seeped into the local rumour mill.
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow:
No suspect, weapon or witnesses: The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Who have police ruled out as suspects?
Friday 25 November 2022 20:00 , Rachel Sharp
Eleven days into the investigation, no arrests have been made and no suspects named.
However, police have ruled out several people as suspects in the grisly murders. They are:
- The two surviving housemates who were in the home at the time of the killings.
- The other friends who were in the home when the 911 call was made.
- The man who was caught on camera with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a food truck in the downtown area before they headed home.
- The person who gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck.
- Goncalves’ former long-term boyfriend, with whom she shares a dog.
Timeline of the murders:
Friday 25 November 2022 19:40 , Rachel Sharp
Officials in the small town of Moscow, Idaho, have been a little cryptic about what happened to four University of Idaho students who were murdered on 13 November.
Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves were found dead at a house near the University of Idaho campus, mere hours after posting smiling photographs on Instagram.
So far, neither the suspect nor the murder weapon have been traced and the police have cautioned the small town of 25,000 people to remain vigilant.
So what exactly happened in the hours before and after the students’ bodies were discovered?
Here’s the best timeline we currently have:
Timeline: What we know so far about the murder of four University of Idaho students
Campus vigil planned for next week
Friday 25 November 2022 19:20 , Rachel Sharp
The University of Idaho will host a vigil at 5pm local time on Wednesday 30 November for the slain students, who were murdered in the early morning hours of 13 November.
The vigil was originally slated to be held last week but was postponed after students fled the town, fearful that a murderer is still on the loose.
With no arrests made and no suspects named 12 days into the investigation, it remains to be seen if terrified students will return after the Thanksgiving break.
Theories swirl about ties to a third unsolved stabbing
Friday 25 November 2022 19:00 , Rachel Sharp
Theories are now swirling that the murders of the four University of Idaho students could be tied to a third unsolved stabbing case.
This week, similarities were drawn between a 2021 knife attack on a young couple in Oregon and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.
Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, then 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.
Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.
He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.
Now, a local outlet has pointed to similarities to a third unsolved stabbing murder.
The Idaho Tribune reported that Sandra Ladd, 71, was found stabbed to death in her home in Washougal, Washington, on 14 June 2020.
She had also suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso. No suspects have been identified.
Investigators in Moscow have not said that they are exploring a link between this case and the other two.
Criminal experts reveal three key missteps in Idaho murders investigation
Friday 25 November 2022 18:40 , Rachel Sharp
Experts have pointed out a series of missteps in the investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students.
The brutal stabbings have garnered national attention as the local police department in Moscow, which had its last homicide in 2015 before the quadruple tragedy on 13 November, scrambles to piece together the evidence.
Now, 12 days after the brutal stabbings of Xana Kernodle, 20, Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Moge, 21, no arrests have been made in the case and suspects have yet to be identified.
While the public and grieving families have grown frustrated over the lack of information being released and the conspiracy theories fueled by internet sleuths, respectively, a retired NYPD sergeant told Fox that Moscow Police have revealed plenty.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the full story:
Criminal experts reveal three key missteps in Idaho murders investigation
College says students won’t have to return to campus until end of year
Friday 25 November 2022 18:20 , Rachel Sharp
On Tuesday, University of Idaho president Scott Greene announced that the college plans to “be flexible through the end of the semester,” and that faculty were asked to prepare in-person and remote learning options for the final two weeks of the semester.
“We have heard from many of you about how you hope we will proceed as a university after Fall Break,” the statement read.
“Moving courses fully online is not preferred but may be necessary in limited situations. Students, your faculty will communicate course options soon.”
The university also announced that they plan to hold commencement ceremonies on 10 December. Two of the victims killed in their off-campus rental home, Goncalves and Mogen, were set to graduate with the class of 2022.
Chapin and Kernodle were about to finish their first semester as juniors.
Mr Green thanked the community and said that resources had been made available for students struggling with the aftermath of the slaying that rocked the town of just 25,000.
“We appreciate our staff who are keeping offices open, providing resources and helping our students, again while dealing with their own natural reactions to this tragedy,” Mr Green added.
What we know about the home where the murders took place:
Friday 25 November 2022 18:00 , Rachel Sharp
The 25,000-person town of Moscow, really, is centred on the university.
Set over 1,600 acres at the southwest corner of downtown, UI is the largest employer around, and its 11,500-strong enrollment accounts for nearly half of Moscow’s population.
Students are scattered around off-campus accommodation, sharing apartments, rental homes, sororities and fraternities.
The girls’ home was among the closest to campus set on and against a hill amidst other affordable houses and complexes, all with the look of undergrad décor: fairy lights, chipping paint, secondhand furniture and used cars outside.
The King Road residence was known for hosting parties; the roommates even poke fun at themselves for this in TikTok videos.
Mother of murdered Oregon man speaks out after police reveal possible link to Idaho student slayings
Friday 25 November 2022 17:40 , Rachel Sharp
The grieving mother of a 26-year-old man murdered in Oregon last year says she has been given “hope” that the case will finally be solved after police revealed they are exploring a potential link to the murders of four University of Idaho students in Moscow.
Myra Juetten told The Independent on Thursday that finding out who killed her son Travis Juetten in a brutal stabbing attack in his home in Silverton, Oregon – and also catching the killer of the slain students in Idaho – would be “the best Christmas present ever”.
“I want answers for all five of them,” she said of the victims.
“If law enforcement can work together and solve both cases that would be the best Christmas present ever.”
The Independent‘s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Exclusive: Mother of murdered Oregon man reacts to possible link to Idaho slayings
Police believe only one of four students was ‘target’, says victim’s father
Friday 25 November 2022 17:20 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police believe that only one of the four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home was the intended “target” of the quadruple murders, according to the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves.
Ever since law enforcement made the grim discovery on 13 November, officials have described the attack as “targeted” but have refused to reveal what has led them to that conclusion.
“I’ve been told it’s one, but then again, there’s the bigness like it’s purposely big,” Steve Goncalves told CNN.
“I’m hoping, but it confuses everyone, yeah, because nobody knows what that really means other than maybe somebody had a different kind of attack footprint; so you know that’s... I feel like we just want some more. We all want to play a part in helping, and we can’t move if we don’t have any real substantial information.”
It is not clear who among Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin is believed to be the target and no motive is known at this time.
Police are continuing to explore claims that Goncalves had a stalker – a claim that they have not been able to verify or rule out yet.
Mr Goncalves voicded frustration that investigators are “not sharing much with me” and said that, when he asked about the stalker claims, he received little information.
“I mean I, yesterday I asked about the stalker question and they couldn’t confirm anything, and then today I hear that they’re reaching out to the community saying that there’s a stalker involved, so I don’t know...” he said.
“They’re just so vague with everything that they say and then they like slowly peel it back later layer until you like find the real story. It all started with a sharp edged weapon. What was the use in telling the community that a sharp edge weapon was used.”
PICTURED: Key Moscow locations in the investigation
Friday 25 November 2022 17:00 , Rachel Sharp
The three female victims lived at this house on King Road with two other roommates. The four victims were found dead in the home on 13 November:
This path, just across from the girls’ house, leads down to Taylor Road; the frat houses are across the field on the hill on campus:
Sigma Chi frat house. Ethan Chapin was a member of the fraternity and he and Xana Kernodle attended a party here on the night of 12 November:
The grounds of the UI Arboretum and Botanical Garden which backs up onto Taylor Road and is just a block from the victims’ house. Police have specifically asked for surveillance footage from areas around the highway and the arboretum:
Kaylee and Maddie bought food at popular Grub Truck on their home on Saturday night, which was parked outside this red brick building on Main Street in downtown Moscow:
From campus to club to crime scene: What happened in the Idaho murder victims’ final hours
Friday 25 November 2022 16:40 , Rachel Sharp
It could have been anyone, in any US college town, on any Saturday night. That’s how typical the murdered students’ behaviour was in Moscow, Idaho, just hours before they were brutally stabbed to death.
The University of Idaho campus had been busy that day, a sea of gold and silver as the Vandals prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome. It was 28 degrees at kickoff – the weather was listed as a daunting “ice fog” – but happy, loyal fans turned out; the Vandals’ 44-26 loss was disappointing but did not deter the students from preparing to hit the town.
Among them were five girls living in a three-bedroom rental home on King Road, just over a mile from the stadium and only two blocks from the edge of campus. Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21 and childhood best friends, were heading together to the bars downtown. Xana Kernodle, 20, was planning to hang out with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. The girls’ two other female roommates would spend the night out, also.
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow:
Campus to club to crime scene: Final hours of Idaho college murder victims
Likelihood of catching killer falls as time passes, finds analysis
Friday 25 November 2022 16:20 , Rachel Sharp
The chances of catching a killer falls as time passes, according to a new analysis by The Washington Post.
The paper analysed 8,000 homicide arrests across 25 major US cities since 2007.
The analysis found that, in half of all cases, an arrest was made in 10 days or less. Two-thirds of arrests were made within one month and around 30 per cent within the first 48 hours.
However, the figures reveal a disheartening reality about identifying a killer more than one year on from the murder. Just five per cent of cases that remained unsolved after one year led to an arrest, the data shows.
Local prosecutor spied at police HQ on Thanksgiving
Friday 25 November 2022 16:00 , Rachel Sharp
The local prosecutor was spotted visiting Moscow police headquarters on Thanksgiving, according to Fox News.
Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson paid a visit at around 2pm on Thursday afternoon as investigators worked round the clock on the holiday to try to solve the mystery case.
Aaron Snell, communications director for the Idaho State Police, told the network that the prosecutor’s visit doesn’t necessarily indicate that there has been a break in the case.
“He’s there daily. He continues to work through the holiday/weekend,” he said.
Idaho murders Reddit sleuth community tops 43,000
Friday 25 November 2022 15:40 , Rachel Sharp
Internet sleuths frustrated over the lack of substantial updates in the University of Idaho murders investigation have taken to Reddit to share their theories about what happened on the night of 13 November.
Following a press conference on Wednesday marked by a lack of notable developments, the Reddit subchannels MoscowMurders and IdahoMurders have amassed more than 43,000 members who discuss the case on a daily basis.
In the forums, people from across the country are weighing in on the investigation into the slayings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen inside their off-campus rental home in Moscow.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco and Sheila Flynn have the full story:
Idaho murders Reddit sleuth community tops 43k after frustrating Moscow police update
12 days on and no closer to solving crime
Friday 25 November 2022 15:20 , Rachel Sharp
Twelve days on from the brutal murders, police appear to be no closer to solving the crime.
No arrests have been made and no suspects named.
Investigators have described the murders as “targeted” but have refused to say what has led them to that conclusion or if one of the victims was the intended target.
On Wednesday – in only the third press conference since an investigation was launched – police had few new details about what happened.
Instead they appealed for help from the public and the media to help catch the killer.
Families of Idaho murder victims beg for calm as conspiracists hijack case
Friday 25 November 2022 15:07 , Rachel Sharp
Families of the Idaho murder victims, separated by hundreds of miles but united in sorrow, have begun the process of publicly grieving.
The first of four services was held on Monday in the Washington State hometown of 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, the sole male victim of the quadruple homicide more than a week earlier near the University of Idaho. He was found brutally stabbed along with his girlfriend, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her roommates Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21. All four were UI students and their killer is still at large.
Ethan’s memorial was closed to the media. As hundreds gathered to pay their respects, the three other victims’ families were also grieving six hours away in Idaho – and pleading for an end to wild speculation about the case that has both amplified their pain and complicated investigations.
“All the noise out there is really harming the families,” a friend of Kristi and Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s parents, told The Independent. “And it’s taking the police down trails that are not real and taking them away from the ones that are.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Moscow, Idaho:
Families of Idaho murder victims beg for calm as conspiracists hijack case
Victims posted heartbreaking TikToks enjoying college life before murders
Friday 25 November 2022 14:40 , Rachel Sharp
Heartbreaking TikTok videos have revealed how the victims were enjoying college life together before they were murdered in a brutal knife attack.
Just weeks before the 13 November killings, videos posted online show roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and their two other surviving roommates joking around together inside the house that would soon become a crime scene.
In one video, the five roommates are seen doing jokey impressions of each other.
In another video, Goncalves is seen dancing with her pet dog Murphy – who was left unharmed in the attack.
Moscow falls quiet as students flee in wake of murders
Friday 25 November 2022 14:20 , Rachel Sharp
The community has shrunk since the murders; UI senior Dylan Bartels couldn’t believe how quickly his campus emptied out when he went to class two days after the murders.
“Normally, I have to drive around five minutes trying to find a parking spot; I pulled in and one of the closest spots is open,” he told The Independent’s Sheila Flynn on the ground in Moscow this week.
“I mean, literally, the student population going to class declined by 50 per cent. Overnight.”
A 6’2”, 240-pound former member of the UI football team, the Colorado native says he’s one of the few staying on campus - and he, too, is nervous.
“I’m here til Christmas; I don’t have the option to go home,” he said.
“And for me, it’s concerning ... we have no idea if this was a student or was not. And it puts me on edge, the fact that I need to go sit in a classroom and I could be sitting next to someone that unstable. Whoever that is that did this, you know, that’s a very unstable person who even had the reasoning to be able to take this on.”
Mr Bartels, 22, says he’s not a big partier but would sometimes “go down to one of the local bars and grab a couple of drinks on a Friday night.
“I haven’t done that since this happened, and I won’t,” he said.
Details of Moscow’s last notorious murder
Friday 25 November 2022 14:00 , Rachel Sharp
The safe, small college town of Moscow has not seen a murder since seven years ago – and the town has only seen a handful of others in living memory.
The town’s most famous murder, up until last week, was the December 1969 killing of 18-year-old waitress Janice Foiles.
The waitress was bludgeoned to death at what was then the Tip Top Cafe.
That case also remains unsolved.
Police unable to confirm or deny stalker claims
Friday 25 November 2022 13:40 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police have been unable to confirm or deny widely-circulated claims that murder victim Kaylee Goncalves had a stalker.
Goncalves, 21, was found brutally stabbed to death on 13 November along with her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Xana’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.
Since the killings, it has emerged that Goncalves had complained to friends about a stalker.
On Wednesday, Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier said that investigators had been “looking extensively” into the claims but were unable to confirm the existence of a stalker – but were also unable to rule it out.
“We obtained information through some of our interviews that Kaylee had made some comments about having a stalker, so that’s where that came from,” he said.
“So far we have not been able to corroborate that, but we are not done looking at that piece of information.”
Mother of murdered Oregon man has had no contact from police about potential tie to Idaho slayings
Friday 25 November 2022 13:20 , Rachel Sharp
The grieving mother of a 26-year-old man murdered in Oregon last year has revealed that she has had no contact from police about a potential tie to the murders of four University of Idaho students in Moscow – only learning a link was being mulled in the press conference like everyone else.
Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home in Oregon, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.
Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.
This week, similarities were drawn between the knife attack on the young couple and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.
He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.
“We’re looking at every avenue and we have other agencies reaching out to us with other cases and stuff that we are going to follow up on,” he said, adding that authorities are “looking into any possible connection”.
“I actually had a tip come in on that case and I forwarded it,” he added.
Myra Juetten told The Independent on Thursday that she was caught off guard when she heard police tying the case to the killing of her son.
She revealed that she hadn’t been contacted by investigators in Moscow or by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office there in Oregon about the possible development in her son’s case and said that watching the press conference was the first time she knew officials were exploring a link.
“I heard it on the news conference the other day that they were exploring it or that they were aware of it – that was the first I knew,” she said.
The Independent‘s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Moscow police share photo of cake as they work through Thanksgiving
Friday 25 November 2022 13:00 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police have shared photos of a cake sent by local residents to investigators on the quadruple murders case as they worked through Thanksgiving to try to solve the crime.
The department posted images on their social media page on Thursday, saying that local “residents have shown up in force with signs of support”.
“As of 9:00 p.m. this evening, there were still several members of our law enforcement investigative team working. Many of our detectives from partnering agencies are from out of state, missing time with their families this Thanksgiving,” the department said.
“Our Moscow residents have shown up in force with signs of support and delivered an amazing feast of food (photos are just a few of the fixings), giving these detectives a sense of home away from home. Thank you!
“Please keep Ethan, Madison, Xana, and Kaylee in your thoughts. Knowing that their families are missing a loved one today drives us to work even harder to find the answers they deserve... it’s what our community deserves. #MoscowStrong”
This comes as police have faced criticism over their handling of the case, with no suspects named and no arrests made 12 days on.
Surviving housemate gets tattoo in tribute of slain friends
Friday 25 November 2022 12:40 , Rachel Sharp
One of the housemates who survived the horror quadruple murders in Moscow, Idaho, has revealed that she has gotten a new tattoo paying tribute to her slain friends.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in an off-campus home that the three women shared in Moscow back on 13 November.
Two other roommates were home at the time of the murders but were left unharmed.
Police said they were in the first floor of the house and are believed to have slept through the attack. The housemates, two other female University of Idaho students, have been ruled out as suspects.
One of the surviving housemate shared a photo of a new tattoo on her arm on her VCSO account this week.
The tattoo features anglel wings and the initials of her four murdered friends: “MKXE”.
The arm of a second person is also in the photo with the same tattoo.
Who have police ruled out as suspects?
Friday 25 November 2022 12:20 , Rachel Sharp
Eleven days into the investigation, no arrests have been made and no suspects named.
However, police have ruled out several people as suspects in the grisly murders. They are:
- The two surviving housemates who were in the home at the time of the killings.
- The other friends who were in the home when the 911 call was made.
- The man who was caught on camera with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a food truck in the downtown area before they headed home.
- The person who gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck.
- Goncalves’ former long-term boyfriend, with whom she shares a dog.
Terror grips Idaho college town after quadruple murder
Friday 25 November 2022 12:11 , Rachel Sharp
Parents are ordering deadbolts, teens are asking for guns and the streets are empty in Moscow.
There is a killer - or killers - on the loose, ten days after four college students were murdered in their beds.
Locals reveal how fear is deepening as time goes by without any arrests and with little information from police.
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reveals all in this special report from on the ground in Moscow, Idaho:
Guns, deadbolts and mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho town after murders
Theories swirl about ties to a third unsolved stabbing
Friday 25 November 2022 11:40 , Rachel Sharp
Theories are now swirling that the murders of the four University of Idaho students could be tied to a third unsolved stabbing case.
This week, similarities were drawn between a 2021 knife attack on a young couple in Oregon and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.
Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, then 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.
Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.
He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.
Now, a local outlet has pointed to similarities to a third unsolved stabbing murder.
The Idaho Tribune reported that Sandra Ladd, 71, was found stabbed to death in her home in Washougal, Washington, on 14 June 2020.
She had also suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso. No suspects have been identified.
Investigators in Moscow have not said that they are exploring a link between this case and the other two.
Police believe only one of four students was ‘target’, says victim’s father
Friday 25 November 2022 11:20 , Rachel Sharp
Moscow police believe that only one of the four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home was the intended “target” of the quadruple murders, according to the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves.
Ever since law enforcement made the grim discovery on 13 November, officials have described the attack as “targeted” but have refused to reveal what has led them to that conclusion.
“I’ve been told it’s one, but then again, there’s the bigness like it’s purposely big,” Steve Goncalves told CNN.
“I’m hoping, but it confuses everyone, yeah, because nobody knows what that really means other than maybe somebody had a different kind of attack footprint; so you know that’s... I feel like we just want some more. We all want to play a part in helping, and we can’t move if we don’t have any real substantial information.”
It is not clear who among Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin is believed to be the target and no motive is known at this time.
Police are continuing to explore claims that Goncalves had a stalker – a claim that they have not been able to verify or rule out yet.
Mr Goncalves voicded frustration that investigators are “not sharing much with me” and said that, when he asked about the stalker claims, he received little information.
“I mean I, yesterday I asked about the stalker question and they couldn’t confirm anything, and then today I hear that they’re reaching out to the community saying that there’s a stalker involved, so I don’t know...” he said.
“They’re just so vague with everything that they say and then they like slowly peel it back later layer until you like find the real story. It all started with a sharp edged weapon. What was the use in telling the community that a sharp edge weapon was used.”
What happened during the victims’ final hours?
Friday 25 November 2022 11:00 , Rachel Sharp
The University of Idaho campus had been busy the day before the murder, Sheila Flynn reports.
The Vandals had prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome, unaware of the dark cloud that would linger over the town of just 25,000 for days to come.
Sheila writes: “Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21 and childhood best friends, were heading together to the bars downtown. Xana Kernodle, 20, was planning to hang out with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.”
Less than 12 hours later, they all had been killed.
The Independent has a detailed account of the victim’s final hours:
Campus to club to crime scene: Final hours of Idaho college murder victims
Mother of slain Oregon man speaks out after police reveal possible link to Idaho murders
Friday 25 November 2022 10:40 , Rachel Sharp
Travis Juetten’s mother speaks to The Independent’s Rachel Sharp after learning that police are probing a possible link between her son’s 2021 stabbing murder in Oregon and the quadruple slayings of four students in Idaho.
On 13 August 2021, Travis, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.
He died and Ms Juetten miraculously survived.
This week, similarities were drawn between the knife attack on the young couple and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.
The Independent has the story:
Exclusive: Mother of murdered Oregon man reacts to possible link to Idaho slayings
Police tell Idaho victim’s family only one of the slain students was the target
Friday 25 November 2022 10:20 , Rachel Sharp
The family of one of the Idaho victims has claimed that law information officials have given them “vague” information about the case and whether it was just one student who was the target in the murders.
Kaylee Goncalves’ father, Steve Goncalves, said that he was “a little in denial” about the killings and is focused on getting justice for his daughter despite the lack of information.
Authorities have remained largely silent about any breakthroughs in the tragedy, in which students Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21, were found dead on 13 November.
“I’ve been told it’s one [target], but then again, there’s the bigness like it’s purposely big. I’m hoping, but it confuses everyone, yeah, because nobody knows what that really means other than maybe somebody had a different kind of attack footprint,” Mr Goncalves said in an interview with CNN.
The Independent’s Maroosha Muzaffar has the full story:
Police tell Idaho victim’s family only one of the slain students was the target
What we know so far about the murder of four University of Idaho students
Friday 25 November 2022 10:00 , Rachel Sharp
Authorities have been cryptic about what happened to Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, and Madison Mogen on the night they were brutally stabbed in their rental home in Moscow, Idaho.
They were killed mere hours after posting smiling photographs on Instagram.
So far, neither the suspect nor the murder weapon have been traced and the police have cautioned the small town of 25,000 people to remain vigilant.
So what exactly happened in the hours before and after the students’ bodies were discovered?
The Independent’s Io Dodds and Rachel Sharp have the story:
Timeline: What we know so far about the murder of four University of Idaho students
Guns, deadbolts and a mass student exodus
Friday 25 November 2022 09:46 , Rachel Sharp
Parents are ordering deadbolts, teens are asking for guns and the streets are empty in Moscow, Sheila Flynn reports.
There is a killer - or killers - on the loose, ten days after four college students were murdered in their beds.
Sheila writes: “Moscow Lock Shop can’t keep up with the demand for deadbolts.”
“The Lock Shop has a waiting list “past Thanksgiving, that’s for sure,” he says. Most of the calls come from landlords and scared parents of students at UI, which is less than a mile away – ‘typically moms who are worried about their kids.’”
Sheila reports from on the ground in Idaho:
Guns, deadbolts and mass student exodus: Terror grips Idaho town after murders
Moscow police unable to confirm reports that victim had a stalker
Friday 25 November 2022 09:00 , Andrea Blanco
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was found brutally stabbed to death on 13 November along with her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Xana’s visiting boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.
Despite “looking extensively” into concerns raised by people who knew Goncalves that she had complained about a stalker, police were unable to confirm those reports, the department said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“We obtained information through some of our interviews that Kaylee had made some comments about having a stalker, so that’s where that came from,” Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier said.
“So far we have not been able to corroborate that, but we are not done looking at that piece of information”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn has the story:
Idaho police unable to confirm reports that victim had a stalker
Housemate of murder victims honours them with tattoo
Friday 25 November 2022 08:00 , Andrea Blanco
On Tuesday, the survivor posted a picture of her ink featuring angel wings and the victims’ initials — MKXE — on VSCO. The wings are reminiscent of a tattoo Mogen also had on the back of her arm.
The Independent has chosen not to name the woman to avoid undue speculation.
Authorities have reiterated that the two surviving roommates are not considered suspects in the brutal stabbings and are not necessarily witnesses of the crime.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the story:
Roomate who survived Idaho University murders gets tattoo in tribute of victims
Dog was found alive and unscathed at bloody scene of Idaho college murders
Friday 25 November 2022 07:00 , Andrea Blanco
Idaho police have confirmed that an unharmed dog was found at the crime scene of the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students.
The Moscow Police Department released a statement on Monday saying that officers responding to the fatal stabbings at 1122 King Road on 13 November located a dog at the residence.
The pet was unharmed and turned over to Animal Service, police said. It has since been released to a “responsible party.”
The Independent’s Sheila Flynn has more:
Dog is found alive and unscathed at bloody scene of Idaho college murders
Reddit sleuths weighing in on the investigation top 43,000
Friday 25 November 2022 06:00 , Andrea Blanco
Internet sleuths frustrated over the lack of substantial updates in the University of Idaho murders investigation have taken to Reddit to share their theories about what happened on the night of 13 November.
Despite the posts being filtered as “speculation,” “information,” “questions” and “theories,” misinformation about the investigation, potential motives behind the killing and people who police have already ruled out as suspects continues to proliferate.
Some posts contain information that is entirely speculative and has already been debunked by authorities.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the story:
Idaho murders Reddit sleuth community tops 43k after frustrating Moscow police update
Victim’s injuries ‘show she fought killer’
Friday 25 November 2022 05:00 , Andrea Blanco
Autopsy findings, released last week, revealed that Xana Kernodle, 20, Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were all stabbed multiple times with a large knife – sustaining injuries that caused them to bleed out inside their home.
Kernodle’s devastated father Jeffrey Kernodle said that his daughter’s injuries showed how she desperately tried to fight off the person who killed her, her boyfriend and two friends in the horror attack.
“Bruises, torn by the knife. She’s a tough kid,” he told CBS5.
The Independent has more:
Knife used in Idaho murders: University victim’s injuries show attack was ‘personal’
Moscow police dispel online speculation
Friday 25 November 2022 04:00 , Andrea Blanco
Authorities in Moscow, where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death last week, have warned the public against rumours online.
“We know that people want answers, we want answers, too,” Idaho State Police Colonel Kedrick Wills said.
“Please be patient as we work through this investigation. We owe this to these young kids. To these young adults. We owe it to them. And we’re absolutely dedicated to mak[ing] sure that that happens.”
On Sunday, police Captain Roger Lanier denied reports that the victims had been found tied and gagged and said that any information circulating about the identity of the 911 caller was mere speculation.
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco has the story:
Moscow police dispel specualtion surrounding University of Idaho students’ murders
Roommates butchered in bed. The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Friday 25 November 2022 03:00 , Andrea Blanco
Almost everything that happened after 1.45am on 13 November inside the college home where four students were murdered still remains a mystery.
Compounded by changing stories from law enforcement and wild social media speculation that has seeped into the local rumour mill, investigators continue to piece together the events that led to the attack, The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reports.
Sheila reports: “As the investigation entered its ninth day on Monday, residents remained nervous and had no idea what to think in the 25,000-person town that borders Washington State.”
“The University of Idaho is Moscow’s largest employer. The town is nestled among rolling hills and farms in Latah County, known for its production of wheat and other grains. The Welcome to Moscow sign sits just yards away from the Welcome to Idaho sign.”
Follow Sheila’s coverage:
No suspect, weapon or witnesses: The Idaho murder mystery that’s stumped police
Idaho police rule out murders connection to brutal death of dog found ‘filleted’ nearby
Friday 25 November 2022 02:00 , Andrea Blanco
Moscow police have said that reports of a skinned dog are not related to the murders of four University of Idaho students on an off-campus housing site on 13 November.
“Detectives are aware of a Latah County Sheriff’s Office incident of the report of a skinned dog and have determined it is unrelated to this incident,” a Moscow Police Department spokesperson told The Independent.
The clarification this week came after reports said that an elderly couple’s Mini Australian shepherd dog was “filleted” just three miles away from where the students were murdered.
Victims often ‘hosted parties with lots of people coming in and out of the house'
Friday 25 November 2022 01:00 , Andrea Blanco
Neighbours of the four University of Idaho students killed in Idaho said the victims often hosted parties in their rental home.
Jeremy Reagan, a third-year law student who lives near the scene of the murders that shocked the university town of Moscow last week, told Fox News that the victims would often host self-contained gatherings and added that people went in and out of the house “pretty frequently.”
“There were parties that were kind of loud,” Mr Reagan said.
“As I would take my dog in and out to go to the bathroom [and] I would see people in the windows almost every night, probably four or five nights a week ... it was kind of a party house but then again this whole neighbourhood is a party neighbourhood.”
The Independent has more:
Slain Idaho students often ‘hosted parties’ in their rental home, neighbours say
Moscow authorities won’t say why they think attacks were targeted
Thursday 24 November 2022 23:55 , Andrea Blanco
Local police still have not named a suspect or located the murder weapon, despite assistance from the Idaho State Police and federal officials.
“You’re going to have to trust on that at this point because we are not going to release why we think that,” Moscow Police Department captain Roger Lanier said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Officials defended their work on the investigation, telling the public it took time to process the crime scene, an off-campus rental home shared by victims Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, and Xana Kernodle, where the fourth victim, Ethan Chapin, was visiting.
Mr Lanier said that his department was prioritising a thorough investigation over speed.
The Independent’s Josh Marcus has the story:
Moscow police refuse to say why they think murdered students were targeted
Criminal expert warns bloody crime scene could be a challenge for investigators
Thursday 24 November 2022 22:50 , Andrea Blanco
Joseph Scott Morgan, a distinguished scholar of forensics at Jacksonville State University, told Fox News that it is likely the perpetrator is a predator who did not know the victims personally.
“From a blood evidence standpoint, this is a profoundly bloody scene,” Mr Morgan added.
“It’s going to be a very complicated case when you go through blood evidence, when you go to do DNA typing. It’s a major challenge.”
Mr Morgan said that he believed this is the type of case that is solved by “the public’s participation and tips,” because the DNA evidence collected at the scene could be from somebody who is not on a law enforcement database.
Xana Kernodle’s father calls tragedy his “worst nightmare”
Thursday 24 November 2022 21:46 , Andrea Blanco
Xana, her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, and roommates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, were stabbed to death inside a home in the small college town of Moscow at around midday on Sunday.
No arrests have been made in the investigation and authorities have released very few details about the murders.
Jeffrey Kornodle called the tragedy his “worst nightmare.”
“How can you protect your kid? You keep them at home and don’t let [them] go to college? They’re not gonna stay at home like that,” Mr Kornodle told The Independent last week.
“So, it’s really mind-boggling. It’s just completely unthinkable and it’s the worst nightmare.”
Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website
