The ex-boyfriend of one of the four slain University of Idaho students has been left devastated by the loss of “the love of his life” and the subsequent harassment he has experienced from online sleuths, a family member said.
Six weeks on from the brutal murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on 13 November, police in the college town of Moscow seem no closer to finding the perpetrator.
The lack of substantial updates, often decried by grieving family members, has fueled overwhelming conspiracy theories from sleuths trying to crack the case. In some of those theories, Jack DuCoeur, Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend and a fellow University of Idaho student, has been baselessly accused of participating in the crime.
Speaking to the New York Post on Friday, Mr DuCoeur’s aunt Brooke Miller said the rampant speculation has deeply affected the 22-year-old, who is already experiencing a great deal of loss. Mr DuCoeur was cleared as a person of interest by Moscow Police early on in the investigation.
“They’re just the most ridiculous conspiracies ... He’s not only lost the love of his life, and what we all thought and he probably thought as well, would be his future wife — you know, get married and have kids and all of that,” Ms Miller said.
Ms Miller said that although her nephew and Goncalves had broken up recently, they remained close. Now, she said, “half of America” thinks he could be involved the horrific stabbings.
“Obviously he was sad, but they were still friends,” Ms Miller said.
In the aftermath of the murders, Ms Miller created a GiveSendGo page to raise money in the event that the Goncalves, who have voiced their frustration with the Moscow police probe, decide to hire a private investigator.
“The very last thing that this family wants to happen is for it to become a cold case,” she told the Post last week.
In an interview with Fox News two weeks ago, Goncalves’ mother Kristi Goncalves called Ms Miller a family friend and supported the fundraiser.
“The money raised will go directly to getting us answers as well as helping to pay for Kaylee’s final arrangements and her celebration of life on December 30,” she said at the time.
Mr DuCoeur’s name began circulating in online forums discussing the murders after it was revealed that Goncalves and Mogen, whose bodies were found on the third floor of their off-campus rental home, called him at least ten times shortly before 3am on the day of the murders.
Goncalves and Mogen visited a bar in the Moscow downtown area before ordering pasta at a food truck that night. They got a lift home from a “private party” and returned around 1.56am.
Moscow Police believe the slayings took place sometime between 3am and 4am.
Goncalves’ family have repeatedly voiced their support for Mr DuCoeur, saying their split was amicable and they had stayed friends. They added that the numerous calls were not unusual for Goncalves and that she could have potentially been trying to invite Mr DuCoeur over.
“Kaylee had no shame in that kind of power calling, it fits Kaylee,” Goncalves’ sister Alivea Goncalves told NewsNation a week after the murders.
In another interview nearly two weeks later, Ms Goncalves mentioned that they felt some of the people who were in contact with the victims in the hours leading to their deaths had been cleared by police too soon, but that was not the case for Mr DuCoeur.
“We’ve fought for Jack, Kaylee’s boyfriend, and we still stand that way. So I did just want to clear that up,” Ms Goncalves told NewsNation at the time. “While we’re talking through this ambiguity, that this is not what we’re honing on.”
Mr DuCoeur and Goncalves also shared Murphy, a one-year-old golden pooch that was found at the scene of the crimes and was eventually returned to him.
Their split came three weeks before the murders, as Goncalves had a job lined up in Texas after graduation.
Sunday marked the six-week anniversary of the murders.
Investigators are still on the hunt for the occupant or occupants of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra seen “in the immediate area” of the crime scene in the early hours of 13 November.
Police have identified around 22,000 vehicles that fit the description of the car and are combing through the information for clues.
