OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Moscow Police Department in Idaho has a suspect in custody in the case of four University of Idaho students being murdered nearly two months ago. Police are planning to hold a news conference on Friday afternoon to announce developments in the investigation.
“The police department’s announcement of the news conference at 1 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) 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 in the case of the four students slain in an off-campus home. No suspect, motive, or weapon has been identified,” CNN reported.
“The students, Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20; were likely asleep when they were each stabbed multiple times in the early hours of November 13, authorities have said. Some of the victims had defensive wounds, a coroner has said,” the outlet added.
BREAKING: College student in custody in murders of four Idaho students, law enforcement source sayshttps://t.co/VxRwAz12Kf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 30, 2022
“The mysterious killings initially baffled investigators and left the small college town of 25,000 deeply shaken. The four students were each stabbed multiple times in the torso and were likely ambushed in their sleep with a large fix-bladed knife between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., according to the coroner and police. Two surviving female roommates, who lived on the basement level, appeared to have slept through the gruesome attack,” Fox News reported.
“Shortly before noon, the roommates summoned friends to the house because they believed one of the victims on the second floor had passed out, authorities said. Police responded to a 911 call reporting an unconscious person at 11:58 a.m. that originated from one of the surviving roommates’ phones. The responding officers found the four butchered victims on the second and third floors. The Moscow Police Department released a detailed timeline of the victims’ movements in the hours before and after the massacre. Goncalves and Mogen went to a bar downtown, the Corner Club, before ordering food from the Grub Truck at around 1:40 a.m,” the outlet added.
Fox News continued:
The women used a “third-party” driver and were home by 1:56 a.m., according to police. Kernodle and her boyfriend, Chapin, went to a party at the Sigma Chi house on campus and returned to the King Road home at 1:45 a.m. The Moscow Police Department, which is working with the FBI and the Idaho State Police, has said that the attacks were “targeted.”
Investigators have focused on tracking down the occupants of a 2011 to 2013 white Hyundai Elantra that was spotted near the home at the time of the murders. Chapin was a freshman from Mount Vernon, Washington, and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He was studying recreation, sport, and tourism management, according to the school. Chapin’s girlfriend, Kernodle, who was from Avondale, Arizona, was a junior majoring in marketing and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Mogen was a senior from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, studying marketing and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, according to the university. Goncalves, who was from Rathdrum, Idaho, was a senior majoring in general studies and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
She had been set to graduate early in December and planned to move to Austin, Texas, where she had a marketing job lined up. She was also looking forward to an upcoming trip to Europe.
Idaho murders: Suspect in custody in killings of 4 university students, law enforcement source sayshttps://t.co/YKccuUZ35T
— Lawrence Jones III (@LawrenceBJones3) December 30, 2022
“NEW in the #idaho4 case: A high-ranking LE source tells Fox Digital someone is in custody re. the Idaho murder case. We’re told suspect is in mid-20s & was taken into custody in PA early Friday morning. Police not confirming anything until 1 p.m presser,” Fox News reporter Stephanie Pagones tweeted.
NEW in the #idaho4 case: A high-ranking LE source tells Fox Digital someone is in custody re. the Idaho murder case. We’re told suspect is in mid-20s & was taken into custody in PA early Friday morning. Police not confirming anything until 1 p.m presser. #Idaho4 #idahohomicide
— Stephanie Pagones (@steph_pagones) December 30, 2022
