Idaho student murders: Police believe four killed in ‘targeted attack’
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Two University of Idaho students who were asleep when their flatmates were stabbed to death have made public statements for the first time about the quadruple homicide.
Dylan Mortenson and Bethany Funke were asleep on the first floor of their Moscow, Idaho, student rental house on the night of the murders.
Moscow Police have revealed for the first time that a sixth person may have also lived in the home where four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered in their beds.
“Detectives are aware of a sixth person listed on the lease at the residence but do not believe that individual was present during the incident,” the department said in an update on Thursday.
The shocking revelation comes after authorities previously said only five people were living at the property – victims Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, as well as the two surviving roommates.
Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin were all stabbed to death in the home in the early hours of 13 November.
Now, 20 days into the investigation, the killer is still at large and detectives are wrapping up their work at the crime scene.
Idaho police record surge in calls since college murders
Police in Moscow have been grappling with a surge in calls since four friends were found butchered in their rental home – as the community remains racked by fear and University of Idaho students are set to return to campus with the killer still at large.
No suspects have been identified, no arrests have been made and the murder weapon is still nowhere to be found, leaving the small and notoriously safe college town on edge
Two roommates who survived stabbing frenzy break their silence
Two University of Idaho students who were asleep when their flatmates were stabbed to death have made public statements for the first time about the quadruple homicide.
Dylan Mortenson and Bethany Funke were asleep on the first floor of their Moscow, Idaho, student rental house when their three roommates Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death on 13 November.
Dylan Mortenson and Bethany Funke were asleep in their Moscow, Idaho, student house when their flatmates were stabbed to death
Sightings of blood stains, knives and ‘suspicious men’ logged in 911 call records
“We understand there is a sense of fear within our community,” said the Moscow Police Department, revealing that it had received more calls about “unusual circumstances” and requests for welfare checks in the past two weeks than in the entire month of October.
The alarm and disquiet of Moscow residents has made itself known in a flood of reports about ‘suspicious’ noises or people
Police rule out ‘red Mustang’ Idaho murders conspiracy theory
In a statement, the Moscow police department said “there have been online reports of a red Mustang on S Deakin St being processed as part of the investigation” but “this case is not related” to the ongoing murder investigation”.
Maroosha Muzaffar reports.
After cops fail to identify a suspect or locate the murder weapon, speculations are rife on social media
Earlier: Families of Idaho murder victims beg for calm as conspiracists hijack case
Rampant rumours have dogged the investigation from early on with the victims’ families urging calm.
More than a week after University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were brutally murdered, their loved ones are trying to grieve - but rampant rumours are getting in the way. Sheila Flynn reports from Idaho
Authorities warn about speculation and false facts
Law enforcement officials in Moscow, Idaho, continue to firefight rumours spreading about the unsolved murders of the four University of Idaho students.
On Friday, the Moscow Police Department warned about “speculation, without factual backing, stoking community fears and spreading false facts” and stressed the need to rely only on official statements as only vetted information would be released to the public.
Kaylee was ‘strong and fair, fire and life’
“Even before her birth, Kaylee was fire and life,” it read.
Kaylee was studying to become an elementary school teacher, the obituary stated. She was weeks shy of graduation at the time of her death.
“She was born with black, thick curls, the cutest button nose, and a perfectly round porcelain face marked with a tiny scar on her forehead that even the doctors couldn’t quite explain. Much to her dismay later in life, her siblings would tease her that’s where her ‘horns’ tried to grow in.”
“She was strong. She was fair. She was tough. She was dedicated. She was beautiful. She was. She was and she is love.”
Her family had previously said that she had landed a job in Texas and was going to move to the state early next year.
Kaylee Goncalves
(Kaylee Goncalves IG )
Moment fake reporter questions police about Idaho murders
A woman has been exposed as falsy posing as a journalist to question police about the killing of four University of Idaho students.
This footage shows the moment the “fake reporter” identified herself as being with the student newspaper, The Pathfinder.
She proceeded to ask Moscow police about the murder weapon and the “possibility that the killer might be a female.”
In a Facebook statement, The Pathfinder said the woman was not affiliated with them, and they were “confused and concerned” by the incident on November 23.
'Fake' reporter asks questions to police about the Idaho quadruple murder case
What do we know about a potential motive?
The attack was targeted, police said.
However, it is unknown whether the perpetrator targeted one or more of the victims or the residence where they were killed.
It is not known if the killer personally knew one or more of the victims and whether the attack was carried out in a fit of jealousy or rage.
The autopsies revealed that the bodies did not show signs of sexual assault.
Police have distanced themselves from early characterisations of the crime as “personal.”
Guns, deadbolts and a mass student exodus
Parents are ordering deadbolts, teens are asking for guns and the streets are empty in Moscow, The Independent’s Sheila Flynn writes.
There is a killer - or killers - on the loose, nearly three after four college students were murdered in their beds.
“If you imagine that there’s two of us working, and then we’re going out and actually doing calls, and there’s 50 phone calls in one day ... we’re not getting them all done,” locksmith Casper Combs, 28, told The Independent last week, pointing out that it takes about an hour to install each deadbolt.
Read the full story:
Parents are ordering deadbolts, teens are asking for guns and the streets are empty in Moscow. There is a killer - or killers - on the loose, more than two weeks after four college students were murdered in their beds. Locals tell Sheila Flynn how fear is deepening as time goes by without any arrests and with little information from police