A neighbour of the University of Idaho students murdered in their off-campus rental home in Moscow last has revealed new details about the crime scene.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were killed between 3am and 4am on 13 November, Moscow Police have previously said.
The group had arrived home before 2am and were found dead by law enforcement around noon after a 911 call about an “unconscious person” was made from the phone of one of the surviving roommates nearly nine hours later.
Chapin and Kernodle’s bodies were found on the second floor while Mogen and Goncalves were found inside a room on the third floor. The two surviving roommates were on the first floor during the stabbings and are believed to have slept through it.
Now, a neighbour of the victims has come forward with information about the crime scene, telling Fox News Digital that they saw the victims’ front door, which opens to the first level of the house, wide open around 8.30am on the day of the attack.
Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, had previously said that he believed his daughter or Mogen were the targets as the third floor was out of the killer’s entry point through the middle floor
“So, to me, he doesn’t have to go upstairs. His entry and exit are available without having to go upstairs or downstairs,” he told Fox & Friends last week. “Looks like he probably may have not gone downstairs. We don’t know that for sure, but he obviously went upstairs. So I’m using logic that he chose to go up there when he didn’t have to.”
Moscow Police provided perhaps the most substantial update in the investigation on Wednesday, revealing that detectives are now searching for the occupant or occupants of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that was seen near the home at the time of the murders.
The vehicle was “in the immediate area” of the rental home on King Road in the early hours of 13 November. Its licence plate is unknown.
“If you know of or own a vehicle matching this description, or know of anyone who may have been driving this vehicle on the days preceding or the day of the murders, please forward that information to the Tip Line,” the department said in a statement.
The stabbings took place between 3am and 4am after the victims returned home.
Their bodies were found on the second and third floors by investigators dispatched to the scene after a 911 call was made from the cell phone of one of the two surviving roommates who were on the first floor at the time of the killings.
No arrests have been made, no suspects named and the murder weapon has not been recovered.
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 208-883-7180, email tips at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us, or submit digital media to the FBI at fbi.gov/moscowidaho.
