Idaho murders latest update: Moscow investigators still waiting for results from university stabbings crime scene

Investigators have ruled out a University of Idaho professor as a suspect in the quadruple murder of four students after she filed a lawsuit against a TikToker who baselessly accused her of being involved in the brutal crime.

On Tuesday, Moscow Police released an update where they acknowledged the legal battle between the professor and the internet sleuth and confirmed that the academic is not connected to the unsolved killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

“At this time in the investigation, detectives do not believe the female associate professor and chair of the history department at the University of Idaho suing a TikTok user for defamation is involved in this crime,” police said in an update on Tuesday.

“The Moscow Police Department will not provide a statement about the ongoing civil process.”

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the story:

Not a single arrest has been made. No suspects have been identified. And the murder weapon is nowhere to be found.

With each day that passes, fears grow that the investigation is going cold and that the mass murderer who violently stabbed Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin to death will continue to walk free.

According to FBI data, just 54 per cent of homicides were cleared through arresting and charging the suspected killers in 2020 – marking the lowest murder clearance rate on record.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp and Josh Marcus explore a troubling trend in America’s homicide clearance rates – and what happens to the families and communities left without answers

He said that Goncalves and Mogen would always come together with two other girls. The last time the group was at the store, he said, he had asked them if they were travelling together in an attempt to stay safe.

“One of them more or less openly says, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve had one of our friends be stalked before so that is why we travel in a group like this,” the man said, adding that Mogen was who voiced the concerns while she motioned to Goncalves.

“You could tell they were all obviously trying to keep Kaylee safe and be there for her as good friends.”

Moscow Police said weeks ago that they had looked extensively at reports that Goncalves had a stalker, but were unable to link that line of investigation to the murders. The criminal probe entered its second month this week with the killer still at large.

Amid growing tension between the victims’ loved ones about the lack of information being released and doubts raised on whether the local department has the resources and experience to handle the probe, the chief of police said he will keep lead oversight of the investigation.

“There have been numerous questions about leadership in this investigation. Let me be clear, this is the Moscow Police Department’s investigation, and I am the Chief of Police,” Moscow Police Department Chief James Fry said in a video statement last week.

He continued: “The decisions are mine and mine alone. I have an excellent Command Staff, with over 94 years of combined experience, overseeing the investigation’s daily operation, and I select who runs the investigative teams.”

The mother of a woman who survived a triple murder in Moscow back in 2015 has spoken out as the investigation into the quadruple murder of four Idaho students rumbles on.

Before the 13 November murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, Moscow had not recorded a murder since 2015.

That murder involved a gunman going on a shooting rampage inside a local Arby’s restaurant.

Three victims were killed in the attack.

Angela Davidson told NewsNation that her daughter Sydney Jones worked at the restaurant and survived the shooting that day.

She said that Ms Jones hasn’t been the same since the murders as she said her heart goes out to the families and the two surviving roommates of the 13 November attack.

“I can’t imagine the family now. And the survivors, especially what they’re going through here, not knowing who did it, and possibly having that person still out there,” she said.

Of the two surviving roommates, she urged their families to “love them, listen to them, be there for them”.

“Seek out the professional help. They may say they don’t want it, but they need it. And they are going to process it in so many different ways,” she said.

“It’s nice to have a professional on your side and the support of a mental health professional to get through this time because it’s not a quick thing. There’s a forever scar. And it’s going to be there forever.”

The University of Idaho will increase its security next semester after four of its students were killed in a nearby off-campus home.

Six weeks after the fatal stabbings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow on 13 November, the killer remains at large. Police in the town of just 25,000 are still receiving tips about a Hyundai Elantra seen near the scene of the crime around the time of the slayings.

It has now been revealed that the University of Idaho plans to offer self-defence, stalking awareness, and vigilance courses to students during the upcoming spring semester. The college will also work “with fraternity and sorority chapters to bring external experts in to assess chapter facility safety and security.”

The university will allow students who do not wish to return to the Moscow campus to take online courses or attend classes at the Boise, Idaho Falls, and Coeur d’Alene campuses. Meanwhile, students who stay in Moscow will see more law enforcement and security personnel.

Steve Goncalves spoke to CNN about his determination to keep faith in the investigation as more than five weeks have passed since the 13 November murders with no arrests made and no suspects identified.

When asked if he believes that police will find his daughter’s killer, he responded: “Yes, I have to, I have to. I couldn’t sleep if I thought…”

He added that the family is “trying to do everything to help and we’re trying to collaborate with” law enforcement as – with the case dragging on – relations have become increasingly fraught.

A University of Idaho professor has filed a lawsuit against a woman who baselessly linked her to the brutal murders of four students in a TikTok video.

On Tuesday, Moscow police addressed the incident.

“At this time in the investigation, detectives do not believe the female associate professor and chair of the history department at the University of Idaho suing a TikTok user for defamation is involved in this crime,” a statement by the department read.

“The Moscow Police Department will not provide a statement about the ongoing civil process.”

A new leaked image has surfaced online appearing to show two of the slain University of Idaho students just hours before they were brutally murdered in an off-campus home in Moscow.

The surveillance image, posted on Reddit on Tuesday, shows what appears to be Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen inside the Corner Club bar in downtown Moscow in the early hours of 13 November.

In the image, which places the time at 1.32am, the two best friends appear to be mingling with others inside the bar.

Close by stands a man matching the appearance of the man dubbed “hoodie guy” who was captured on surveillance footage walking through town with the two women after leaving the club and then on footage at a late-night food truck. He has been ruled out as a suspect in the killings, with Goncalves and Mogen parting ways with him at the food truck and taking a private taxi back to their home.

Police previously revealed that Goncalves and Mogen were at the bar from around 10.30pm to 1.30am that night before visiting the food truck.

They arrived home just before 2am. Xana Kernodle and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin arrived home around the same time.

All four were then stabbed to death in their beds at around 3am or 4am.

Sunday marked the six-week anniversary of the brutal stabbings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on 13 November. Moscow police have not named any suspects or made arrests in the criminal investigation.

Mogen’s father, Ben Mogen, told the Spokesman-Review that he still has many questions about his daughter’s murder, but noted that authorities have worked tirelessly to keep his family informed about developments in the probe.

The Independent has the story: