Idaho murders live: ‘More than one’ suspect may be at large in ‘rambo knife’ university stabbings

Chapin, one of four University of Idaho students stabbed to death last weekend, was a triplet.

His brother and sister also attend the University of Idaho. Before the murders, Ethan attended a dance hosted by his sister’s sorority.

“He was our daughter Maizie’s date, and his brother was Maizie’s roommates date,” Chapin’s mother, Stacy Chapin, told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

“They all spent their last day together, all dressed up, and had a great time. We’re all thankful that they spent that time together.”

As the mystery deepened, Moscow residents and students began to post on social media about their dissatisfaction with the explanations coming from local officials.

Following Mayor Bettge’s “crime of passion” remarks, he told the Statesman that he was simply suggesting this as one potential motive, saying: “It could be any of a number of things. The police don’t know yet. I haven’t been told.”

He added: “They have ascertained that there’s no other threat to the community. I would say it was just a crime focused on this one location.”

The same day, Annie Reneau, who said she was the mother of a University of Idaho senior, wrote a lengthy Twitter thread that summed up the community’s fears.

“I’m not sure if people who aren’t directly tied to the University of Idaho in some way understand how little information students, parents and community members have gotten about the murder of 4 students in an off-campus apt two days ago,” Ms Reneau said.

“Police believe it was an isolated, targeted attack. Okay, but somebody who was crazy/angry/drugged up/whatever enough to stab four people to death, even if targeted, is out there somewhere. I’m not generally paranoid, but that doesn’t sit well, does it?”

On Monday, the Moscow Police Department named the four students, but officials gave confusing accounts of their fate.

Mr Bettge told The New York Times that he believed the killing was a “crime of passion”, and later admitted to another outlet: “We don’t really know what it was.”

Moscow Police Chief Fry said that a murder-suicide had been ruled out and that a suspect was wanted for the slayings.

Police continued to insist that there was no ongoing threat to the public before saying on Wednesday that the community should be cautious as the suspect is still at large.

Autopsies have been completed but the results have not been released to the public. It is believed that the victims were stabbed with an “edged weapon such as a knife.”

Authorities were called to the home on King Road at 11.58am on Sunday after a 911 call came in alerting them to “an unconscious individual”.

When they arrived on the scene, they discovered the four victims dead from a knife attack.

Officials are remaining tightlipped about who placed the 911 call and why they would have said it was an “unconscious individual” given the bloody nature of the crime scene.

Police have not confirmed whether that person was on the scene when they arrived, or whether they are a potential suspect.

The two roommates were still in the home when police arrived.

The Independent has the full story:

Moscow Police revealed on Tuesday that two individuals who lived with the victims were in the home at the time of the murders.

However, authorities said that they were not held hostage or harmed during the attack.

They are not necessarily considered witnesses, police said, but are fully cooperating with the investigation.

Authorities believe the victims were killed in the early morning hours of Sunday morning.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were stabbed to death with an “edged weapon such as a knife.”

The murder weapon has not been found. There was no sign of forced entry, the door appeared to be unlocked and nothing seems to have been taken.

The two other roommates were home at the time of the attack but were unharmed. Police said that they were not necessarily witnesses to the incident and have been cooperating with investigators, officials said.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Maddison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were seen stopping by a local food truck for a late-night bit to eat.

Twitch footage, seen by The Independent, captured the two best friends arriving at the food truck at around 1.41am.

An unidentified man appears to be walking with them, before he steps back as they approach the truck.

Over the next 10 minutes, the group of young people and students are seen laughing and chatting away as they wait for their orders.

The man is seen chatting and laughing with another man in the line, while Mogen and Goncalves appear to laugh and joke with each other and take photos.

When their food is ready, Mogen and Goncalves leave together, walking away from the truck and turning left.

The man, who was chatting to another student at the time appears to notice them walk off and gestures at them, before he turns and walks away from the truck, turning right – the opposite direction to the two women.

All four of the victims are believed to have returned to the home sometime after 1.45am.

Io Dodds and Rachel Sharp have the full story:

On Saturday, Goncalves posted a picture of herself and all three other slain students standing together arm-in-arm on the porch of a house.

“One lucky girl to be surrounded by these people everyday,” she wrote in her caption.

Two other women are also shown in the photo, which was taken in daylight and hours before the murders.

That night, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle went to a party together on the university campus, while Maddison Mogen and Goncalves went to a bar in Moscow.

The four students were killed after they arrived home that night.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner carried out all four autopsies on the bodies of the students killed on Sunday.

The results and details have been handed to the Latah County Coroner’s Office but have not been released the findings to the public.

Police have said the victims were stabbed to death with an “edged weapon such as a knife” but the autopsies will confirm the official cause and manner of deaths.

Speaking to KTVB7, Stacy and Jim Chapin said that rumours spread in the aftermath of their son’s death were completely false.

“The things that are being said are 100% not true,” Ms Chapin told the station. “There [were] not drugs involved, there is not some weird love triangle. He had stayed the night at his girlfriend’s house, who was one of five girls who lived in the home.”

The parents remembered Ethan as an accomplished athlete, and a kind young man who was always looking forward to trying new things.

“We just watched a thing from the university, he was a spike ball champion, a volleyball champion. I mean, he just literally would play and do anything,” Ms Chapin added.