New details have been released regarding the shocking and harrowing murders of four University of Idaho students who were found dead inside an off-campus house over the weekend.
On Monday, the University of Idaho identified the four slain students as 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, and 21-year-old Madison Mogen. The Moscow Police Department said on Monday afternoon that each student had been killed in what was likely a “targeted” knife attack.
According to Boise-based NBC affiliate KTVB, the Idaho State Police on Friday released information about each of the victims’ last steps as a frantic search for the homicidal stabbing suspect continues.
Chapin and Kernodle were at a Sigma Chi fraternity party between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on the night of Nov. 12, 2022, the ISP said. Goncalves and Mogen were at bar in downtown Moscow called the Corner Club between 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. that night.
At around 1:40 a.m., Goncalves and Mogen went to a mac and cheese food truck called Grub Truck, the ISP said, citing a Twitch stream showing both young women there, ordering food and in good spirits.
State police also took note of a man in a cap, dark jacket and light hoodie in the video of Goncalves and Mogen at the food truck.
In that footage, the man arrives right when they arrive, waits behind them while they order, walks with them, stands with them as they wait for their food, and speaks with other people at the truck. When the two women leave, however, he goes off in a different direction.
That man has since been identified and is not considered a suspect or person of interest in the investigation at this time, police told KTVB.
By roughly 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022, all four students were back at the three-story home they shared with two other roommates.
A map outlines the basic contours of their final night, before the students made their way back to the 1122 King Rd. residence where they were murdered:
Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt also spoke with the TV station, saying the students were each killed during the early morning hours – though it was difficult to tell exactly when because the 911 call about the grisly discovery was made around noon on Sunday.
Mabbutt said some of the students were killed in their beds and some were “likely” asleep when they died – but could not specify which of the four those conditions applied to. She declined to say whether any of the students had any defensive wounds. She did confirm that they were all four killed with some kind of knife or knives.
“It was definitely a knife,” the coroner told the TV station, “It would seem like if there was more than one it was very similar, if not just the same one for all of them.”
The two other roommates at the longtime boarding house for University of Idaho students were home at the time of the attack but they were unharmed, MPD Chief James Fry previously said.
Law enforcement have spoken with those other two roommates, who were there when police initially arrived in response to the unconscious person report, and they are not considered witnesses to the murders at this time. The roommates are cooperating with the investigation, the ISP said.
Police are actively soliciting the public’s help with the investigation:
[image via screengrab/KTVB]
