Idaho murders latest: Police seize five cars from crime scene as college community to hold vigils for students

Police have seized five cars from the home where four University of Idaho students were brutally stabbed to death in a quadruple murder that has rocked the small college town of Moscow.

A tow truck removed the vehicles from outside the property on King Road on Tuesday – some of them believed to belong to the victims – and took them to “a more secure long-term storage location to continue processing evidence,” the Moscow Police Department said.

“Today, as part of the ongoing homicide investigation and original search warrant, there will be an increase in detective activity and tow trucks on-site as investigators move five vehicles from within the police perimeter to a more secure long-term storage location to continue processing evidence,” it said in a statement.

The vehices have reportedly already been searched by investigators, but will now undergo more detailed forensic analysis as the hunt for the killer continues.

The vehicles include two sedan cars, a Jeep Wrangler, and two SUVs that were parked outside the victims’ house on the night of the murders, according to Court TV.

A University of Idaho student has opened up about the fear gripping her peers in the wake of the murders two weeks ago.

“There’s so much tension, there’s so much fear,” Megan Stanley told NewsNation as students returned from Thanksgiving break.

“With a couple of weeks left in the semester and finals approaching, campus should be full of students and really lively. And I feel like I’m only seeing a handful of students walking around.”

An apparel design student, Ms Stanley said some but not all of her classes have been moved online, meaning she and many others can’t finish the semester at home.

She said she and her peers “don’t really talk about” the killings because it’s so painful.

“We all know this is going on, but we don’t really talk about it because for a lot of us, it’s an emotional subject,” she said. “I didn’t know the victims personally, but a lot of my classmates who are in the Greek system did, and it’s a really hard subject to broach.”

Ms Stanley added that she wishes that more was being done by the university to make students feel safe.

“Scott Green, our president and Dr. (Blaine) Eckles, the dean of students — I’ve seen them tear up in the press conferences and everything. They’re feeling the same pain that we are,” she said.

“But I don’t feel that enough is being really done to reassure us as students or even just as a community.”

The small college town of Moscow is preparing to hold a vigil on Wednesday in memory of the four victims murdered in a brutal knife attack on 13 November.

The University of Idaho will host the event at the Moscow campus at 5pm local time on 30 November followed by an event at the Boise campus at 6pm.

The university will “honor the memory of Ethan, Xana, Madison and Kaylee,” it says.

People will also be able to join the vigil remotely.

The vigil was originally slated to take place in the days after the murders but was postponed as the town emptied, with terrified students upping sticks and leaving as the killer or killers remain at large.

Several students returned to Moscow on Monday, after the Thanksgiving break.

Aneighbour of the four University of Idaho students murdered in an off-campus home on 13 November has hit out at Reddit sleuths who suggested that his media appearances were suspicious.

Jeremy Reagan, a third-year law student, said he went to bed early on the night of the murders, but Reddit commenters are finding his statements suspicious.

“[It’s] upsetting being compared to a murderer when I didn’t do anything,” Mr Reagan told Court TV.

The Independent’s analysis of Moscow Police call logs has revealed several chilling complaints in the two weeks since the murders of four students.

On Wednesday 23 November, just before 9am, the owner of a laundromat in Moscow reported something alarming: “A mark on [a] column inside that looks like blood.” Though a police officer responded, they did not file any report.

It is just one of many potentially worrying but seemingly unconnected sights and sounds reported in the town since the murders.

One person reported a “suspicious vehicle in the parking lot”, along with “a person out digging in the dirt”. Officers made contact with the person, yet filed no report.

Another report said there was a person “standing in the cul-de-sac, wearing a big jacket and wearing a black ski mask”. Officers were unable to locate them. A report on Sun 20 November described “a male on the side of the road carrying a knife in front of him, stretched out”. Officers made no report.

The Independent’s Io Dodds delves into the police call logs:

Police call logs reveal that several disturbing incidents have taken place and “suspicious” individuals have been sighted around Moscow in the two weeks since the murders.

On Wednesday 23 November, just before 9am, the owner of a laundromat in Moscow reported something alarming.

“A mark on [a] column inside that looks like blood,” the call log states.

Though a police officer responded, they did not file any report.

This is just one of many potentially worrying sightings reported in the town since 13 November.

Moscow Police revealed that 911 calls have surged in the aftermath of the murders as the killer or killers of four students remain at large.

Kaylee Goncalves’ father has said that he is trying to have faith in police investigating his daughter’s murder but cannot help being somewhat frustrated with the investigation so far.

Steve Goncalves told ABC News that he is feeling “a little defeated” and frustrated by the lack of information law enforcement are sharing with the family as the investigation rumbles into its third week.

“I have to assume and hope that this is all part of their plan and … they’ve got this all figured out,” he said.

“I know that there’s some really good, hard-working guys and girls that are on this case that I’ve met. And they looked me in the eyes and they told me straight-out that they’re working and they’re doing everything in their power.”

Knowing his daughter’s killer is still out there is the only feeling worse than the fact that she has died, he said.

“[The killer is] having a great life out there – and you’re just left in shambles,” he said.

“I have to have my justice. These families deserve that.

“We just have to come together as a community. Submit all those pieces of evidence … and get this guy off the streets.”

Two weeks have now passed since four University of Idaho students were brutally stabbed to death in the small college town of Moscow – with no suspects identified, no arrests made and the murder weapon nowhere to be found.

Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found murdered in the off-campus home that the three female students shared in the early hours of 13 November.

Despite multiple law enforcement agencies being drafted in to work on the case, police appear to be no closer to catching the killer, leaving students and residents of the notoriously safe town racked by fear and social media awash with speculation.

While officials are remaining tightlipped about key parts of the investigation including why they believe the murders were targeted, they have debunked several online rumours and ruled out potential ties to the killings.

This is what police have ruled out so far:

The four students killed in the knife attack all died quickly, according to the grieving father of victim Kaylee Goncalves.

Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed around 3am or 4am on 13 November, police said.

Their bodies were left undiscovered for several hours, with police receiving a 911 call at 11.58am to report an “unconscious individual” at the home.

Steve Goncalves told ABC News that he learned that it would have made no difference if the victims were found earlier as his daughter and her three friends had died quickly and so would not have been saved.

“Nobody suffered and nobody felt like that kind of pain,” he said.

Idaho officials have insisted that the crime scene was secured correctly and that they believe in the integrity of the investigation.

On Saturday, Idaho State Police communications director Aaron Snell told Fox News Digital that investigators working on the case “have the information” but are intentionally withholding it in order to try to catch the killer.

“Ultimately, detectives on the scene have the information,” he said.

“The people that are working this case from all three agencies… they’re the best and the brightest and they have the most up-to-date resources.”

He added that officials have more information than they are releasing but cannot share it in order to protect the integrity of the investigation.

“And so if we just provide information to the public, I just don’t think that that’s going to be a wise choice,” he said, adding that keeping information “from view is going to be critical [in] trying to develop” the investigation in the future.

This includes information around why they believe the murders were targeted and a profile of the killer which is being created by behavioural experts.