Idaho student murders latest: Victim’s father says Moscow police believe only one of four students killed was ‘target’

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the Daily Mail that Moscow Police have no viable suspects at this time.

“I have not heard anything to indicate that they have identified a viable suspect or heard any evidence that could implicate a suspect,” he said.

It can be very [a lengthy investigation] – I think that everything depends on the answer they can find.

‘If they’re lucky, they’ll find answers to who’s responsible for this and what happened quickly, or they might not get those answers quickly and have to dig.’

The university town of Moscow, Idaho, woke up on Monday with law enforcement everywhere, students are scarce and answers are still elusive in the frustrating – and terrifying – investigation into the brutal quadruple murder of four college kids.

The bodies of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were found around noon on Sunday, November 13.

All four had been brutally stabbed and found on the second and third floor of a house just two blocks from the University of Idaho campus.

Chapin, a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, was spending the night with his girlfriend, Kernodle; he and two other victims live with two female roommates in a three-story house on Raja Jalan.

The Independent‘s Sheila Flynn reports from the ground in Moscow:

The University of Idaho is preparing for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome on November 12, unaware of the dark clouds that will hover over the city of just 25,000 for the coming days, Sheila Flynn reports.

Sheila wrote: “Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen, both 21 and childhood friends, were heading to a bar downtown together. Xana Kernodle, 20, planned to hang out with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin.

About 12 hours later, they were all killed.

The Independent has a detailed account of the victim’s final hours:

The chances of catching a killer decrease as time passes, according to a new analysis The Washington Post.

The paper analyzes 8,000 homicide arrests in 25 major US cities since 2007.

The analysis found that, in half of all cases, arrests were made in 10 days or less. Two-thirds of arrests are made within a month and about 30 percent in the first 48 hours.

However, the figures reveal a chilling reality about identifying the killer more than a year after the murder. Only five percent of cases that remain unsolved after a year lead to arrests, the data show.

Almost two weeks into the investigation, no arrests have been made and no suspects have been named.

Moscow police have identified several people as suspects in the gruesome murder.

They have said that the two surviving housemates who were in the house at the time of the killings and other friends who were in the house when the 911 call was made are not considered suspects now.

A man who was caught on camera with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in a food truck in the city area before they were led home and the private party that gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck has also been ruled out.

Goncalves’ long-term ex-girlfriend, with whom he shared a dog, also had no connection to the crime, police said.

One of the murdered victim’s surviving roommates posted an ink drawing of him featuring angel wings and the victim’s initials – MKXE – on VSCO.

The Independent have 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 to the crime.

The Independent‘s Andrea Blanco has the story:

Moscow police believe that only one of the four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in an off-campus rental house was intended to be the “target” of the quadruple murders, according to the victim’s father Kaylee Goncalves.

Ever since law enforcement made the gruesome discovery on November 13, officials have described the attack as “targeted” but declined to reveal what led them to that conclusion.

“I’ve been told it’s one, but then again, there’s bigness like it’s purposely big,” Steve Goncalves told CNN.

“I hope so, but it confuses everybody, yeah, because nobody knows what that really means other than maybe somebody has a different attack footprint; so you know that… I feel like we just want a few more. We everyone wants to play a part in helping, and we can’t move if we don’t have real information.

It is unclear 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 investigate claims that Goncalves had a stalker – a claim they have not been able to verify or rule out.

Mr. Goncalves voicded frustration that the investigators “did not share much with me” and said that, when he asked about the stalker’s claim, he received little information.

“I mean, yesterday I asked a stalker question and they couldn’t confirm anything, and then today I heard that they’re contacting the community saying there’s a stalker involved, so I don’t know…” he said.

“It’s just vague and everything they say and then they like to slowly peel back the layers later until you like to find the real story. It all started with sharp edged weapons. What’s the point of telling people that sharp weapons are used.

Theories are now swirling that the murders of four University of Idaho students may be tied to a third unsolved stabbing case.

This week, parallels were drawn between the 2021 knife attack on a young couple in Oregon and the November 13 stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.

Back on August 13, 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, then 24, woke up around 3 a.m. when a masked assailant entered their home, entered their room and stabbed them twice with a knife.

Travis tried to fight 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.

Although Travis’ family offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months later, the case remains unsolved.

At a press conference Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential connection between the two cases.

He confirmed that the Oregon slayings are on their radar in Idaho and that investigators​​​​are listening for possible ties.

Now, a local store has pointed to the similarities with the third unsolved stabbing murder.

The Idaho Tribune reports that 71-year-old Sandra Ladd was found stabbed to death in her home in Washougal, Washington, on June 14, 2020.

He also suffered multiple stab wounds to his body. No suspect has been identified.

Investigators​​​​ in Moscow did not say they were exploring a connection between this case and the other two.

Moscow police could neither confirm nor deny claims being circulated that murder victim Kaylee Goncalves had a stalker.

Goncalves, 21, was found brutally stabbed to death on November 13 along with her roommate Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Xana’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.

From the killings, it has emerged that Goncalves had complained to a friend about a stalker.

On Wednesday, Moscow Police Capt. Roger Lanier said that investigators ​​​​​​​​​​ and “extensively looked” into the claims but could not confirm the stalker’s existence – but also could not rule it out.

“We got information from some interviews that Kaylee had made some comments about having a stalker, so that’s where it comes from,” he said.

“So far we haven’t been able to prove it, but we’re not done looking at that information.”

The community has shrunk since the murders; UI senior Dylan Bartels couldn’t believe how quickly his campus was emptied when he went to class two days after the murder.

“Normally, I have to drive about five minutes to find a parking spot; I pulled over and one of the closest spots was open,” he said. The Independent’s Sheila Flynn on the ground in Moscow this week.

“I mean, literally, the student population that went to class dropped by 50 percent. Overnight.”

A 6’2″, 240-pound former member of the UI football team, the Colorado native says he is one of the few still on campus – and he, too, is nervous.

“I’m here till Christmas; I have no choice to go home,” he said.

“And for me, it’s about … we don’t know if this is a student or not. And it drives me, the fact that I have to sit in class and I can sit next to someone who is unstable. Anyone who does this, you know , it is an unstable person who even has a reason to be able to take this.

Mr Bartels, 22, said he was not a big partier but sometimes “went down to one of the local bars and had a few drinks on a Friday night.

“I haven’t done that since this happened, and I won’t,” he said.