A month after the murder of four students at the University of Idaho left the country shocked, police are yet to name or arrest a suspect or find the murder weapon as students begin their final exams before their winter break.
The four slain students, Kaylee Gonclaves and Madison Mogen, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, both 20, were most likely sleeping when they were all stabbed to death on the morning of November 13. According to a coroner, some of them had defensive wounds.
The brutal killings, which the police are yet to solve, shook the town of Moscow, Idaho, which hadn’t had a murder case since 2015.
With authorities are keeping most details of the investigation from the public, many residents of the town and the family of victims are still on edge with a murderer on the loose.
The police argue that they want to protect the investigation’s integrity. The Captain of the Moscow Police Department, Roger Lanier, said in a video update on Monday that the department was still committed to solving the case, adding that they owe the victims and their families a conviction and not just an arrest.
Captain Lanier said that police analysts have spent a lot of time combing through and trying to find the most relevant tips for police to follow up on and reinterviewed people to seek clarification on the information given to them.
Last week, James Fry, the Moscow Police Chief, sought the public’s help regarding a 2011-2013 model of a White Hyundai Elantra believed to be in the surrounding area at the time of the murders.
Captain Lanier said investigators wanted to speak to whoever was inside the vehicle because they might have seen something that was relevant to the case.
The Captain reminded Moscow residents to avoid walking alone in dark areas and be aware of their surroundings. Despite the warning, he said that was not an indication of an elevated risk in the town but a reminder for people to be vigilant in their everyday lives.
Investigators asked the public to submit footage from their security cameras to the FBI, and they are reviewing more than 500 submissions from the night of the attack.
Police ruled out several people tied to the victims on the night of the murders, including two of their roommates who were in the house during the massacre but were not injured.
According to Idaho police, they received a 911 call from one of the surviving roommates around noon on November 13. The previous night, Goncalves and Mogen were at a bar and then stopped at a food truck at around 1:40 am before being driven home by a “private party driver.” Kernodle and Chapin got home at around the same time, and according to the police, all four victims were in the house by 2 am.
When police arrived at noon, they found two victims on the second floor while the other two were on the third floor, and the home did not have signs of forced entry.
The Idaho Governor allotted up to a million dollars to help with the investigation.
