BOISE, Idaho (AP) — In a normal year, students at the University of Idaho would bustle between class and the library, preparing for the pre-finals period known as “ dead week”.
On Wednesday, however, just under half of the students appeared to have left, choosing to stay home and take online classes rather than return to the city where the murders of four classmates remain unsolved, said Blaine Eckles, the dean of students at the university. Some students who attended relied on university-hired security guards to drive them to class because they did not want to walk across campus alone.
The Moscow Police Department has yet to name a person of interest in the stabbing death of Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. The three women lived together in a rental house across from campus, and Chapin was there that night.
A county coroner said they were likely asleep when attacked. Two weeks later, investigators have yet to find a murder weapon – believed to be a military-style knife – or explain why they believe the killings were “targeted”.
The murders left the university and the small farming community that contains it reeling.
“When we lose students, especially in these circumstances, my heart is absolutely broken,” Eckles said. “It kinda shakes you up knowing that in this community, which is incredibly safe in general, something this horrible can happen.”
Now, as students and faculty members try to navigate a quagmire of grief and fear, government agencies and community members are searching for answers and trying to help mitigate the damage.
Governor Brad Little announced last week that he was allocating up to $1 million in state emergency funds for the investigation. The FBI has assigned 44 people to the case – half of them stationed in Moscow – and the Idaho State Police has 15 soldiers assisting community patrols and 20 other investigators working on the case. .
Some community members have launched online fundraising campaigns to support family members and friends of slain students. A former college student has started fundraising to equip women on campus with portable personal security alarms. Last week, Kerry Uhlorn had brought in more than $18,000, ordered more than 700 alarms and planned to buy another 900, Boise KTVB reported.
Thousands of people were expected to join the mourning college community on Wednesday evening, with several concurrent candlelight vigils planned across the state. School districts in Boise and Meridian have announced plans to light their sports fields at the same time in solidarity.
Yet the question for faculty and students remains: how do they focus on learning with four friends gone and a killer on the loose? Staff members talk directly to students regarding how to complete the challenge, Eckles said.
“That’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it?” It’s hard to do,” Eckles said. “Our faculty also really understand that it will be difficult for students to focus and concentrate at this time. They are therefore very patient and lead with great grace. And frankly, I think our students do it with our employees too.
Local law enforcement has seen an increase in calls reporting suspicious behavior.
“We understand that there is a sense of fear in our community,” the Moscow Police Department wrote on November 27. Since the murders, the number of people requesting welfare checks, in which an officer is sent to check on a person’s well-being, has doubled.
The university has also seen an increase in people calling its “Vandal Care” hotline to report they are struggling or fear someone else may be dealing with a problem, Eckles said.
“While I am personally very confident that the police will solve (the murders), until that happens no one will rest easy,” he said. “There’s someone out there who took the lives of four of our Vandals, and we don’t know who they are. We don’t know where they are.
Eckes added that he hopes the vigils will offer some temporary comfort, but that the community “ultimately cannot heal until someone is brought to justice for this crime.”
Some of the victims’ family members were expected to attend the wakes.
Rebecca Boone, Associated Press
