MOSCOW, Idaho — Authorities in the investigation into the deaths of four University of Idaho students still don’t have a suspect in custody, but they believe that several people are not suspects, including the person who made the first 911 call and the man whom two of the slain women called but who did not answer, Moscow police officials said Sunday.
At a news conference, Chief James Fry also declined to say which victims were on which floors of the three-story rental house where they died. Two of the four students were on the second floor and two on the third, police said.
The news conference was the second time authorities addressed the public in person since the four students were fatally stabbed in an off-campus home a week earlier.
Others whom Moscow police Capt. Roger Lanier said are not suspects include the surviving two roommates at the house, a hooded man seen on video with two of the victims and a person who gave them a ride home.
A few new details were released Saturday night.
Police cleared another person while investigating the homicides, and said the 911 call reporting an unconscious person came from inside the residence from the mobile phone of one of the two surviving roommates in the six-bedroom rental house.
The four victims in the killings early Nov. 13 were University of Idaho seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Detectives investigated the “third-party driver” who dropped off Mogen and Goncalves just before 2 a.m. last Sunday and “do not believe he is involved in this crime,” said a Facebook post Saturday from Moscow police.
Police also indicated that the victims’ bodies were found on the second and third floors of the six-bedroom home. And they confirmed information from one of Goncalves’ sisters about several phone calls Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves made to a male friend after 2 a.m. that the friend, who was sleeping, did not answer.
The two surviving roommates were not involved in the crime, according to police. Saturday’s news release said they had been out in Moscow separately on the night of Nov. 12 and returned home by about 1 a.m. the next day. They then slept late, authorities said.
Investigators said they are seeking more surveillance from homes and businesses “within the geographical area” of West Taylor Avenue (north boundary), West Palouse River Driver (south), U.S. 95-2700 block (east) and Arboretum and Botanical Garden (west). The target time is 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Nov. 13.
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