Latest on Idaho murders: College students’ autopsies released as surviving roommates may be ‘key’ to solving case

The boyfriend of one of the murdered University of Idaho students has had his world “turned upside down” by her brutal slaying – which came just days before the young couple planned to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday together.

Madison Mogen, 21, had been in a relationship with fellow Idaho university student Jake Schriger for around a year.

His mother Stacy Schriger described the young couple as being like “peanut butter and jelly” and the pair often posted loving photos of each other on their social media accounts.

On Sunday, Mogen was brutally stabbed to death along with three friends inside her college home, in an attack that officials are describing as “personal”.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt confirmed that there was no sign of sexual assault on any of the victims of the brutal knife attack.

Some of the victims did have defensive wounds and the injuries were all “pretty extensive”, she said, adding that it caused the victims to bleed out into the home.

She added that it was not possible to determine from the injuries the order in which the four victims were attacked but officials are using “other text messages and other technology” to try to build up a timeline, she said.

She told local outlet Idaho News that the autopsies did reveal one thing: “It’s personal.”

One of the University of Idaho students murdered in her college home fought her killer to the very end in a brutal knife attack that officials are describing as “personal”.

Autopsy findings, released on Thursday, revealed that Xana Kernodle, 20, Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were all stabbed multiple times with a large knife – sustaining injuries that caused them to bleed out inside the home.

The deaths have been ruled homicides with the killer or killers still at large five days on from the slayings that have sent shockwaves across the small college town of Moscow, Idaho.

Kernodle’s devastated father Jeffrey Kernodle said that his daughter’s injuries showed how she  desperately tried to fight off the person who killed her, her boyfriend and two friends in the horror attack.

“Bruises, torn by the knife. She’s a tough kid. Whatever she wanted to do, she could do it,” he told CBS5.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

The boyfriend of one of the murdered University of Idaho students has had his world “turned upside down” following her brutal slaying – which came just days before the young couple planned to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday together.

Madison Mogen, 21, had been in a relationship with fellow Idaho university student Jake Schriger for around a year and the pair often posted loving photos of each other on their social media pages.

His mother Stacy Schriger told The New York Post that the young couple were like “peanut butter and jelly”. Now the grieving boyfriend’s “world has been turned upside down,” she said.

Mogen and Mr Schriger were planning to go to Ms Schriger’s home for Thanksgiving later this month, she added.

“We were expecting her for Thanksgiving,” she said. “Whenever we talked on the phone, she always said, ‘I love you.’”

A neighbour of the college students found slain in their six-bedroom home in Moscow, Idaho, has revealed that they didn’t hear any commotion from the home on the night of the murders.

Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, lived together with two other students in the rental property close to the univeristy campus.

Dakota Sparks, 21, who lives on the same road, told The New York Post that she and her boyfriend were up late on Saturday night and into Sunday morning but noticed nothing out of the ordinary coming from the home.

“I didn’t go to bed until 2 or 3 and I didn’t hear anything,” she said. She added that she left the house at 11.45am the next day – minutes before the 911 call was placed – and again noticed nothing suspicious.

“For us, it was shock. We wondered if we had just turned our heads and looked, could we have helped?” she said.

The autopsies for the four University of Idaho students murdered in their college home have revealed that the killings were “personal”, according to the coroner.

Autopsy findings were released on Thursday, officially ruling the victims’ deaths homicides by stabbing.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt told local outlet Idaho News that the findings revealed: “It’s personal.”

From the start of the investigation, police have said the attack was “targeted” – but have not made any arrests or identified any suspects in the case.

The grieving sister of one of the University of Idaho victims stabbed to death in a brutal knife attack has begged other students to “leave” the college town, telling them that “your grades are severely less important than your lives”.

Kaylee Goncalves’s sister Aubrie Goncalves issued an impassioned plea on her Instagram page, warning students in the small town of Moscow, Idaho, that they are not safe while her sibling’s “sicko” killer remains at large.

“To the students of the University of Idaho that are still staying around campus, leave,” she wrote.

“Your grades are severely less important than your lives. I wish all the students of U of I safety and peace. You guys are not safe until this sicko is found.”

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

The father of one of the University of Idaho students murdered in her college home has said that his daughter fought her killer to the very end.

Jeffrey Kernodle told CBS5 that the autopsy findings showed that Xana Kernodle, 20, tried to fight off the person who killed her, her boyfriend and two friends.

“Bruises, torn by the knife. She’s a tough kid. Whatever she wanted to do, she could do it,” he said.

Mr Kernodle described his daughter as a “tough kid” who “didn’t really worry about the drama and stuff that much”.

“She was never into that. She just liked having fun. Never about materialistic things,” he said.

“She was, all the time, always with her friends.”

The four victims killed in Sunday’s horror attack were stabbed multiple times with a “large knife”, according to authorities.

The murder weapon used in the brutal slayings was not found on the scene and is yet to be recovered five days on.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt said that – based on the extent of the victims’ wounds – the autopsies determined “a bigger knife” was used in the attack.

Investigators are hunting for a military-style knife thought to be the murder weapon and are now exploring the possibility that more than one killer is responsible for the killings.

Over the last few days, police officers have come knocking at a local home improvement store to inquire about potential sales of a Ka-Bar knife – as they continue to try to locate the murder weapon.

Scott Jutte, the general manager of Moscow Building Supply, revealed to the Idaho Statesman that officers have turned up multiple times but that he has been unable to help as the store does not stock those knives.

Ka-Bar knives typically have a six inch-long blade with a smooth edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other. They became popular with the US military after first being adopted by the US Marines during the Second World War. Today, they are popular tactical-style knives for outdoor enthusiasts. While Ka-Bar is actually the name for the brand Ka-Bar Knives Inc, the name is now used to describe any knife of a similar blade pattern.

Mr Jutte described the blades as being “similar to the knife Rambo has” – referring to the Sylvester Stallone character – describing it as “more of a combat knife” whereas the store stocks mainly hunting knives.

Officials are still trying to piece together the timeline for what exactly happened inside the home when four students were stabbed to death in a violent attack.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt told NBC News that it was not possible to determine from the autopsies the order in which the four victims were attacked but officials are using “other text messages and other technology” to try to build up a timeline.

The autopsies confirmed that the victims were killed “early in the morning, sometime after 2 am, but still during the night,” she said.

On the night of Saturday 12 November, Chapin and Kernodle had been at a campus party while Mogen and Goncalves spent the night at a bar in town.

They are all believed to have returned to the property sometime after 1.45am.

Officials previously said the victims were stabbed to death with an “edged weapon such as a knife” at around 3 or 4am on Sunday morning.

Twitch footage, seen by The Independent, captured Mogen and Goncalves stopping by a local food truck for a late-night bit to eat – not long before the murders unfolded.

The footage shows the two best friends arriving at the food truck at around 1.41am, where they stayed for around 10 minutes ordering food, laughing, and chatting casually to other students at the food truck.

An unidentified man appears to arrive at the truck with them but Mogen and Goncalves leave the area alone.

The two best friends leave together, walking off at around 1.51am.

It is not clear if they got a taxi or walked home after this or if they went to another location. The truck was just over a mile walk from the victims’ home. If Mogen and Goncalves had walked, it would have taken around 20 to 25 minutes.

The unidentified man, who was chatting to another student at the time, was seen in the footage gesturing at the two women as they walk off, before he turns and walks off in the opposite direction to the two women.

Police confirmed that they are looking to speak to the other people in the footage. Neither the man nor anyone else in the footage has not been identified as a suspect or person of interest in the case.