The killer – or killers – who stabbed four University of Idaho students to death remain at large, prompting many students to leave the campus in the idyllic small town despite police assurances that there was no imminent risk to the community.
So many students had left the scenic tree-lined campus in Moscow, Idaho, by Tuesday that university officials said a candlelight vigil scheduled for the next day would instead be held after the Thanksgiving break.
The students, all close friends, were found dead in an off-campus rental home around noon on Sunday, and officials said they likely were killed several hours earlier. Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt told the Spokane, Washington-based television station KXLY that her preliminary investigation showed the students were stabbed to death. There is no indication that substance use was involved in the deaths, Mabbutt said.
The Moscow Police Department has not said whether investigators have identified any suspects, but maintained in a statement that the killings came in “an isolated, targeted attack and there is no imminent threat to the community at large. ” Police also said evidence from the scene indicates there is no broader risk, but provided no information about that evidence nor why they believe the victims were targeted.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said he understands that the police claims that the public isn’t at imminent risk seem contradictory to the facts that have been released so far about the killings.
“Obviously, there’s no way police can say that there’s no risk, but what they’re seeing indicates that there’s not a risk that this person will randomly attack people,” Thompson said, noting that it’s also not yet clear if it was one attacker or more.
“I don’t think they’re going to foreclose the possibility that it could be one or more people, but right now they don’t know who is responsible,” Thompson said.
The police department said investigators were working to establish a timeline of the victims’ activities before they were killed. That includes reviewing video from a Twitch livestream that showed two of the victims chatting and getting a late-night snack from a food truck in the hours before the slayings, said Thompson.
“They’re in the process of identifying the other people who were there,” at the food truck, Thompson said, “and what sort of contact did they have. ”
Autopsies scheduled for Wednesday could provide more information about the slayings.
Investigators were “following all leads and identifying persons of interest” in the case, the police statement said.
Police responding to a report of an unconscious person at the home Sunday discovered the students’ bodies.
The victims were identified as Ethan Chapin, a 20-year-old from Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, a 21-year-old from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, from Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, from Rathdrum, Idaho. Authorities have not described which of the victims lived in the home.
Kernodle’s sister, Jazzmin Kernodle, wrote in a text to the AP that her family was confused and anxiously waiting for updates from the investigation.
“Xana was so happy and loved, and it breaks my heart,” Jazzmin Kernodle wrote. The other students were also amazing people, she said, and her sister was lucky to have them in her life.
“She was so lighthearted, and always lifted up a room. She made me such a proud big sister, and I wish I could have had more time with her,” she wrote. “She had so much life left to live.
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In a Monday memo, University of Idaho President Scott Green urged university employees to be empathetic and flexible, and work with students who wanted to spend time with their families..
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