The four victims were between the ages of 20 and 21.
The murder of four students from the University of Idaho (northwestern USA), found dead on November 13, remains unknown to the authorities.
So far, there are no suspects and no arrests have been made.
The four students – Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20 years old, and Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, 21 years old – were found dead in a house outside the Moscow City campus around noon on Sunday, November 13, following that the police received a 911 call regarding an unconscious person.
The victims had been stabbed multiple times and some had defensive wounds.
A reconstructed preliminary timeline of the hours leading up to the crime suggested that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Chapin and Kernodle had spent the night at a campus party, while Mogen and Goncalves were in a bar and then ordered food from a street stall shortly before 01:45 local time.
Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, and Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, 21.
The four students are believed to have returned home without incident around 2:00 a.m. Two other people – who survived the attack – arrived regarding an hour earlier.
In a statement, police said the two survivors had called their friends to the house “because they believed that one of the victims found on the second floor had passed out and would not wake up.” Investigators do not believe they were involved in the murders.
Details of what occurred at the house in the early hours of that day remain scant, though the police have indicated that there were no signs of forced entry or damage to the property.
The murder weapon, believed to be a fixed blade knife, has not been recovered. In the early days of the investigation, businesses in the area were contacted to see if similar knives had been sold recently.
The atmosphere in a city like Moscow – with barely 25,000 inhabitants and which had not registered a murder for five years – is tense.
The house where four University of Idaho students were murdered in Moscow, Idaho.
confusing connections
Research has also been full of contradictory information and rumors.
On November 15, for example, Moscow police issued a statement saying they believed the attack was “isolated” and “targeted.” They then reported that investigators believed there was no “imminent” or “ongoing” threat to the public.
However, an update published on November 30 called that statement a “communication error” and asked citizens to be “vigilant.”
“Detectives do not know at this time if the residence or any of its occupants were specifically targeted, but are continuing to investigate,” the Nov. 30 statement said. Adding to the confusion, the Moscow Police website continues to claim that although the attack is believed to have been targeted, it has not “concluded whether the target was the residence or its occupants.”
Students from the University of Idaho held a vigil. The murder of his colleagues has shaken the city of Moscow, Idaho.
Authorities have also been forced to repeatedly address unverified rumors or details of the investigation – some of them spread online by an army of web detectives – including connections to a 1999 stabbing in Washington and another from 2021 in Oregon.
Speculation regarding a possible link to a September altercation between local residents and a knife-wielding cyclist led to misdemeanor charges, even though police have said that incident was not linked to the killings.
Separately, police dispelled suggestions from Kaylee Goncalves’ friends and family that she had a stalker.
“Information received that Kaylee had a stalker has been investigated,” Moscow police said in a statement. “They have pursued hundreds of information related to this topic but They have not verified or identified a stalker.”
A neighbor of the students, Jeremy Reagan, was also forced to defend himself once morest “ruthless” social media users who speculated that he might have been involved in the murders.
“I didn’t do it,” he told NewsNation. “I’m willing to give the DNA, the fingerprints, whatever they need.”
As the investigation continues with the help of state police and the FBI, authorities are urging the public to come forward if they have any information and to avoid spreading unsubstantiated rumors.
“There is speculation, without factual support, that fuels the fears of the community and spreads false facts,” said the most recent police statement. “We encourage you to refer to the official announcements for accurate information and updated progress.”
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