The Multiple Stabbings of Students Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin
Since the killings of the four students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 some community members have grown frustrated as investigators have yet to offer a thorough narrative of how the night unfolded. Authorities have released limited details, including the victims’ activities leading up to the attacks and people they have ruled out as suspects.
Additionally, police noted the students’ killings are not related to two other stabbing incidents in neighboring Washington and Oregon – in 1999 and 2021, respectively – which may “share similarities,” but “there does not appear to be any evidence to support the cases are related,” according to a news release earlier this month.
The November 13 killings in an off-campus home riveted the nation and shocked the small college town of Moscow, its first murder in seven years. The case prompted fear and anxiety in the community and student body, and questions mounted about the pace of the police investigation.
Many residents and victims’ loved ones are still on edge as authorities have kept many details from the public, saying they are protecting the integrity of the investigation.
We don’t want to compromise this investigation so we’re not releasing specific details. It’s what we must do. We owe that to the families and the victims. We want more than just an arrest, we want a conviction,” Lanier continued.
Lanier’s remarks come as hundreds of University of Idaho students are taking final exams this week before the fall semester ends and investigators comb through more than 6,000 tips they’ve received in the case.
Our analysts spent hours trying to identify the most relevant tips first for investigators to follow up on. They have reinterviewed some of the folks we’ve interviewed earlier in this investigation to clarify information,” Lanier said Monday.
Authorities asked the public for information about a car they believed was in the area around the time of the killings.
We think that one of the people may have seen something. They may not know they have seen something,” Lanier said Monday, noting investigators want to speak with whoever was in the car.
During the investigation, Lanier has pointed out to everyone in Moscow that it’s a good idea to walk in groups when possible and be aware of their surroundings.
Investigating the Moscow homicides: State of the Art and a Spotlight on the cases of two young people killed in a shared vehicle
“The FBI is prioritizing and vetting those tips for use in the investigation. The public is asked to continue to use the Tip Line to report any information about the vehicle,” police said in a news release.
The investigation into the homicides is being handled by dozens working around the clock across the local police department, the FBI and the Idaho State Police.
There are teams in various locations across the country, including in Salt Lake City and Virginia. And we’re prepared to do interviews and follow up on information at any point anywhere,” Lanier said.
And while the home remains a crime scene being monitored by a contracted private security company, authorities last week began returning some of the victims’ belongings to their family.
“It’s time for us to give those things back that really mean something to those families and hopefully to help with some of their healing,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said last week in a video statement. “I’m a dad, I understand the meaning behind some of those things.”
“Tracking down rumors and quelling rumors about specific individuals or specific events that may or may not have happened is a huge distraction for investigators and oftentimes is the result of social media propagation,” Lanier said. “It is very, very frustrating to investigators and hard to stay on track.”
Online reports that the victims were bound and gagged have been discredited by the police.
Police have also reassured the public that a September incident that involved an argument between a group of people walking on the University of Idaho bike path and a cyclist, who displayed a folding knife, is not connected to the students’ killings.
Additionally, police have released information eliminating some people as suspects, including a person listed on the lease of the residence where the killings happened.
They confirmed that they moved out before the school year started and were not there at the time of the incident. Moscow police said that they did not believe this person had anything to do with the murders.
Goncalves and Mogen, two of the victims, were driven home by someone after the pair purchased food from a truck hours before they were killed; authorities have ruled out the driver as a suspect.
A Moscow man charged in the killings of four University of Idaho students was arrested on Friday night at a university campus in the Pocono Mountains
A suspect was taken into custody in connection with the investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students, two federal law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN on Friday.
A federal law enforcement source confirmed to CNN that he was the man who was arrested and charged in Pennsylvania on Friday. The arraignment was in Monroe County, in the Pocono Mountains, a state official said.
CNN quoted a law enforcement source as saying the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police made the arrest in the fatal stabbing case.
The arrest comes a day after police said they have received about 20,000 tips through more than 9,025 emails, 4,575 phone calls, and 6,050 digital media submissions, while having conducted over 300 interviews.
Moscow police say they have worked with a property management services company to remove “potential biohazards and other harmful substances used to collect evidence,” the update said. The property management company will take possession of the home.
More context: State law limits what information authorities can release before Kohberger makes an initial appearance in Idaho court, Fry told reporters, and that could have to do with the lack of further details. The police chief appreciated the public’s patience and acknowledged that there were some people who didn’t like the pace of the updates.
Authorities carefully tracked the man charged in the killings of four Idaho college students as he drove across the country around Christmas and continued surveilling him for several days before finally arresting him Friday, sources tell CNN.
Washington State University confirmed that the PhD student is from there and that he lived minutes from the scene of the killings.
Genetic genealogy techniques were used to connect Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, another source with knowledge of the case tells CNN. The source said that he was the suspect because of the public database that was used to find potential family member matches.
According to a source, he got to his parents’ house in Pennsylvania around Christmas and drove his white car cross-country. The source said authorities were following him as he drove and surveilling his parents home.
An FBI surveillance team tracked him for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to obtain a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
There is an option for the suspect to waive their legal rights and come back to Idaho. If he doesn’t want to come, police in Moscow will have to go to court, which could take some time.
Thompson urged people to continue submitting tips, asking anyone with information about the suspect “to come forward, call the tip line, report anything you know about him to help the investigators.”
Investigating a Student Investigator at DeSales University During the 2022 Killings: An Investigation into How Emotions and Psychological Skills Affect Decision-Making
Pullman is about nine miles from the location of the killings. His apartment and office on the Washington State University’s Pullman campus were searched by law enforcement Friday morning, the university confirmed in a statement.
He finished graduate studies at DeSales University in June of 2022, as well as being an undergrad. He also got an associate degree from Northampton Community College in 2018, the college confirmed to CNN.
A student investigator named Bryan Kohberger who was associated with a DeSales University study sought participation in a research project to understand how emotions and psychological skills affect decision-making when committing a crime.
The post says the study aims to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings.
CNN reached one of the principal investigators of the study, a professor at DeSales University, but they declined to comment on the matter. The university has not responded to requests for comment.