A small Idaho college community — and now, the entire nation — continues to question how and why four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in their off-campus house Nov. 13.
Moscow Police have confirmed the four students were likely murdered in their home on King Road, which is adjacent to the school’s row of fraternity and sorority houses, between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., after spending the night out. Police have not identified any suspects.
“The coroner stated that the four victims were likely asleep, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault,” the Moscow Police Department (MPD) said in a press release Friday.
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Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were identified as the victims. The four students were close friends and members of Greek life at the university.
While authorities have steadily answered questions relating to their investigation throughout the week, the public remains baffled by several key questions that have gone unanswered.
Officers initially responded to a 911 call reporting an unconscious person just before noon Nov. 13. The community is asking why an estimated eight hours elapsed between when police suspect the victims were killed and the 911 call.
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MPD has declined public records requests for any 911 calls from the victims’ home on King Road between Saturday and Sunday due to its ongoing investigation. The department has also not publicly announced who called police and what that caller reported seeing inside the home.
Two of the victims’ surviving roommates were home when the attack happened, so why didn’t anyone hear anything?
If the victims were asleep and in shock upon facing the perpetrator, they may not have made much noise if they were focused on fighting for their lives, former Los Angeles Police Department Det. Mark Fuhrman told Fox News Digital.
“People aren’t talking when they are focused on not dying. That doesn’t disturb me too much. It’s not TV,” Fuhrman said when asked his thoughts on why no one heard enough noise to call 911 immediately. “You might say something at first, but then you’re focused on stopping the attack.”
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There could have also been other noise factors at the house to explain why no one heard enough noise to call police, according to former New York City Police Department Det. Herman Weisberg.
“Defense wounds — that usually indicates a lot of noise,” he said. “Then again … there could have been music on in the house.”
Fox News Digital previously spoke with the property manager of the house, Merida McClanahan, who said there is about 20 feet of space between the rooms on each floor. The single-family home has two bedrooms on each floor with bathrooms and hallways in between them. On the second floor, the rooms are separated by a living room and kitchen area.
Police have yet to name any suspects or persons of interest in the case but have not ruled out the possibility of multiple perpetrators involved in the attack.
The last homicide in Moscow occurred in 2015, which indicates the MPD does not often handle murder cases and may have been somewhat unprepared upon its initial arrival to the house, Fuhrman noted.
The department has since called in the Idaho State Police and federal officials to assist with the case.
Local, state and federal officials are involved in the investigation and are processing nearly 500 tips. They have also conducted 38 interviews “with individuals who may have information about the murders.”
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MPD has assigned four detectives, 24 patrol officers and five support staff employees to the case. The FBI has 22 investigators in Moscow, 20 agents in other areas of the United States and two Behavioral Analysis Unit agents working on the case. The Idaho State Police has deployed 20 investigators, 15 state troopers, a public information officer and a forensic services team to the scene, as well as 15 uniformed troopers to assist with other patrols.
A “private party” drove Mogen and Goncalves home just hours before they were murdered in their beds, police said Friday.
Police initially said in a press release Friday that the two close friends took an Uber ride home from downtown and arrived to their home on King Road near campus at 1:40 a.m. They later changed their statement to say a “private party” drove them home, but it is unclear if the driver was someone the victims knew.
MPD said Wednesday there were no signs of forced entry into the victims’ home.
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A friend of some of the victims revealed to Fox News that the main entry door to their home was not frequently code-locked and that many guests came and went freely.
McClanahan, the property manager, said the house has a total of three doors — one on the first floor basement level, which meets the driveway on Queen Road; one on the second floor, which is also on the ground level because the rear of the house was built on a hill; and a third that is attached to a bedroom on the third floor and is only accessible from that room.
Officers stationed near the scene of the crime told Fox News Digital earlier this week that the inside of the home was bloody, prompting questions about how the attacker or attackers exited without anyone noticing.
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Officials will likely be testing blood samples, looking at shoe prints and examining bedsheets that may hold DNA from the suspect’s contact with victims, Fuhrman said.
Investigators were seen collecting samples from and taking photos of windows on the outside of the house Friday afternoon.
But the former LAPD detective questioned how the suspect or suspects — assuming that person or people were bloodied during the attack — exited the home without being seen or heard in the early morning hours of Sunday when some nearby residents may have still been awake after a late night of partying.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to call 208-883-7180 or tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.
