4 University Of Idaho Students Found Dead
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The University of Idaho issued a warning about a “knife threat” on the Moscow campus just weeks before four students were stabbed to death in a violent attack in the early hours of Sunday morning.
On September 12, the college alerted students and staff after a group of students were threatened by a man dressed in all black who was carrying a knife.
Two months on, Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were found dead in an off-campus home, killed with an “edged weapon such as a knife”.
Police have said there is no indication that the two incidents are connected.
However, four days on from the slayings, no suspects have been identified and no arrests made.
On Wednesday, officials appeared to walk back their claims that the public is not in danger, admitting “there is a threat out there still”.
Investigators are still working to piece together the timeline of what happened, with footage surfacing of Mogen and Goncalves at a food truck at around 1.41am on Sunday morning. The victims are believed to have died around 3 or 4am.
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University of Idaho issued ‘knife threat’ warning weeks before four students stabbed to death
A group of University of Idaho students was allegedly threatened with a knife by a man dressed in all black, just weeks before four fellow students were stabbed to death in a grisly murder that has rocked the small college town of Moscow.
The university’s security issued a “Vandal Alert” to students and staff back on 12 September warning them about an assailant armed with a knife.
The warning, described as a “Threat with Knife”, reported that a group of students had been walking through the campus when the man threatened them with a knife.
“The Moscow Police Department received a report that a group of students was walking between the Steam Plant parking lot (Lot #14) and the Student Recreation Center on Paradise Path and were threatened by a person with a knife,” it read.
The assailant was described as a white male aged 18 to 22 years old, who was dressed in all black.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Rachel Sharp17 November 2022 11:20
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Police reportedly searching for iconic military knife
Police are searching for a military-style combat knife that has been widely used by US troops, according to local media.
Scott Jutte, the manager of a home supply shop in Moscow, Idaho, told The Idaho Statesman that officers have visited his business multiple times to ask whether it had sold anyone a KA-BAR knife.
KA-BARS are a brand of military knife that achieved iconic status among weapons aficionado after being issued to the US Marine Corps during the Second World War. They continued to be used by US troops throughout the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War.
Mr Jutte described the weapon as “similar to the knife Rambo has”, adding: “[It’s] more of a combat knife. It’s not really something that we specialize in.”
He said the shop does not carry KA-BARS, since most of its knives are built for hunting. Moscow Police declined to comment.
Io Dodds17 November 2022 11:00
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ICYMI: Eerie food truck live stream shows victims before murder
Police are probing a Twitch live stream from a local food truck that shows Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves buying macaroni cheese just hours before their murder.
The video shows numerous other people hanging around near the truck while Ms Mogen and Ms Goncalves buy food, most of them in small groups or pairs.
Some Twitter users zeroed in on a lone man wearing a baseball cap and a grey jacket over a white hoodie, who lingers behind the two women without entering the food truck queue, follows them when they leave, and at one point pulls his hoodie up over his head.
However, he also appears to enter with the women and stands very close to them while they wait for their food, suggesting that he may be a companion or part of their group.
Io Dodds17 November 2022 09:40
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Ex-students claim unlocked doors are common
Several Reddit users who claim to be former Moscow residents or University of Iowa students have said it is common for people to leave their doors unlocked in the area where the victims lived.
“I used to go to this school on the weekends to visit friends during college,” said one. “Literally no one locks the doors, there’s no reason to. That street specifically is where all the parties are, so it’s normal for friends to just walk into your house whenever and say whattup.”
Another said: “I was there for about five years. My dad was shocked when he came to visit and saw I never locked my door. He was even more shocked when I told him I have no Idea where the key is, I never used it. Ever.”
That might explain why, as Moscow police said on Wednesday, there was no sign of a forced entry.
Io Dodds17 November 2022 08:21
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Timeline: What we know so far about the murder of four students
Officials in the small town of Moscow, Idaho, have been a little cryptic about what happened to four University of Idaho students who were murdered last weekend.
Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves were found dead at a house near the University of Idaho campus on Sunday, mere hours after posting smiling photographs on Instagram.
So far, the suspect or the murder weapon have not been traced and the police have cautioned the small town of 25,000 people to stay vigilant.
So what exactly happened in the hours before and after the students’ bodies were discovered? Here’s the best timeline we currently have.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar17 November 2022 07:42
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Idaho murder victim’s sister calls for students to flee town
The sister of one of the four students fatally stabbed in Idaho has urged students to leave the town of Moscow as the killer still remained at large, with the police confirming a threat to the community.
“No one is in custody therefore no one is safe,” Autumn Goncalves, the younger sister of Kaylee Goncalves, said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“If you have friends, family or loved ones in Moscow our family encourages you to get them home,” the sister added.
She continued: “Whoever did this to my sisters (Maddie and Kaylee), Xana and Ethan is still out there and if he is sick enough to murder four sweet, innocent humans so brutally, he is sick enough to do it to anyone else.”
“This person is dangerous and he is not in custody. How police say ‘no threat’ MAKES NO SENSE.”
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar17 November 2022 07:38
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Police cautions ‘there is a threat out there’
Moscow police department backtracked on their previous statement, cautioning that the community could be under threat.
Moscow police chief James Fry on Wednesday said: “There is a threat out there still, possibly”.
“We cannot say there’s no threat to the community and as we have stated, please stay vigilant, report any suspicious activity and be aware of your surroundings at all times.”
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar17 November 2022 07:23
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Flood of donations for victims’ families
Online fundraisers have now been set up for four of the victims, and are seeing a flood of donations.
Ethan Chapin’s college fraternity Sigma Chi has set up a GoFundMe for his family here. A close friend of Xana Kernodle’s created another GoFundMe here. And you’ll find a fundraiser for the families of Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves here.
At the time of writing, all of them were either close to or well past their fundraising goals, with some donors giving as much as $1,000 or even $3,000.
Io Dodds17 November 2022 07:10
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‘There was no one giving off bad vibes’
The food truck employee who served Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves what may have been their last meal says he did not see anything unusual that night.
“There was nothing out of the ordinary,” Joseph Woodall told DailyMail.com. “They were definitely having a good time, but I don’t remember anybody standing out… there was no one giving off bad vibes or standing around.”
He said the two women were “slightly intoxicated” but did not appear much different from the other people he served.
The truck’s owner John Fletcher also said he had not received any requests for camera footage from law enforcement, although it’s not clear when that was.
Io Dodds17 November 2022 05:58
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‘Gruesome. I’ve never seen anything like this’
Investigators have described the crime scene as extremely bloody and among the worst they’ve ever encountered, according to reports.
County coroner Cathy Mabbutt, who is examining the four bodies, told KHQ-TV: “Gruesome. I’ve never seen anything like this in the 16 years I’ve been in this position.”
Police sources also told DailyMail.com that here was “blood everywhere” and that the victims were left to bleed to death following the attack.
“We have investigators who have been on the job for 20, even 30, years, and they say they have never seen anything like this,” said one.
Indeed, a photograph showed blood dripping down the cement base of the wall from underneath the exterior wooden slats.
The Mail reported that Ethan Chapin, one of the victims, was found on the second storey of the three-level house. Police have not said whether all the victims were found in the same part of the building.
Io Dodds17 November 2022 04:52