Idaho student murders latest: Victim’s father says Moscow police believe only one of four students killed was ‘target’

Heartbreaking TikTok videos have revealed how the victims were enjoying college life together before they were murdered in a brutal knife attack.

Just weeks before the 13 November killings, videos posted online show roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and their two other surviving roommates joking around together inside the house that would soon become a crime scene.

In one video, the five roommates are seen doing jokey impressions of each other.

In another video, Goncalves is seen dancing with her pet dog Murphy – who was left unharmed in the attack.

The community has shrunk since the murders; UI senior Dylan Bartels couldn’t believe how quickly his campus emptied out when he went to class two days after the murders.

“Normally, I have to drive around five minutes trying to find a parking spot; I pulled in and one of the closest spots is open,” he told The Independent’s Sheila Flynn on the ground in Moscow this week.

“I mean, literally, the student population going to class declined by 50 per cent. Overnight.”

A 6’2”, 240-pound former member of the UI football team, the Colorado native says he’s one of the few staying on campus – and he, too, is nervous.

“I’m here til Christmas; I don’t have the option to go home,” he said.

“And for me, it’s concerning … we have no idea if this was a student or was not. And it puts me on edge, the fact that I need to go sit in a classroom and I could be sitting next to someone that unstable. Whoever that is that did this, you know, that’s a very unstable person who even had the reasoning to be able to take this on.”

Mr Bartels, 22, says he’s not a big partier but would sometimes “go down to one of the local bars and grab a couple of drinks on a Friday night.

“I haven’t done that since this happened, and I won’t,” he said.

The safe, small college town of Moscow has not seen a murder since seven years ago – and the town has only seen a handful of others in living memory.

The town’s most famous murder, up until last week, was the December 1969 killing of 18-year-old waitress Janice Foiles.

The waitress was bludgeoned to death at what was then the Tip Top Cafe.

That case also remains unsolved.

Moscow police have been unable to confirm or deny widely-circulated claims that murder victim Kaylee Goncalves had a stalker.

Goncalves, 21, was found brutally stabbed to death on 13 November along with her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Xana’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.

Since the killings, it has emerged that Goncalves had complained to friends about a stalker.

On Wednesday, Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier said that investigators had been “looking extensively” into the claims but were unable to confirm the existence of a stalker – but were also unable to rule it out.

“We obtained information through some of our interviews that Kaylee had made some comments about having a stalker, so that’s where that came from,” he said.

“So far we have not been able to corroborate that, but we are not done looking at that piece of information.”

The grieving mother of a 26-year-old man murdered in Oregon last year has revealed that she has had no contact from police about a potential tie to the murders of four University of Idaho students in Moscow – only learning a link was being mulled in the press conference like everyone else.

Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home in Oregon, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.

Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.

This week, similarities were drawn between the knife attack on the young couple and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.

He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.

“We’re looking at every avenue and we have other agencies reaching out to us with other cases and stuff that we are going to follow up on,” he said, adding that authorities are “looking into any possible connection”.

“I actually had a tip come in on that case and I forwarded it,” he added.

Myra Juetten told The Independent on Thursday that she was caught off guard when she heard police tying the case to the killing of her son.

She revealed that she hadn’t been contacted by investigators in Moscow or by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office there in Oregon about the possible development in her son’s case and said that watching the press conference was the first time she knew officials were exploring a link.

“I heard it on the news conference the other day that they were exploring it or that they were aware of it – that was the first I knew,” she said.

The Independent‘s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Moscow police have shared photos of a cake sent by local residents to investigators on the quadruple murders case as they worked through Thanksgiving to try to solve the crime.

The department posted images on their social media page on Thursday, saying that local “residents have shown up in force with signs of support”.

“As of 9:00 p.m. this evening, there were still several members of our law enforcement investigative team working. Many of our detectives from partnering agencies are from out of state, missing time with their families this Thanksgiving,” the department said.

“Our Moscow residents have shown up in force with signs of support and delivered an amazing feast of food (photos are just a few of the fixings), giving these detectives a sense of home away from home. Thank you!

“Please keep Ethan, Madison, Xana, and Kaylee in your thoughts. Knowing that their families are missing a loved one today drives us to work even harder to find the answers they deserve… it’s what our community deserves. #MoscowStrong”

This comes as police have faced criticism over their handling of the case, with no suspects named and no arrests made 12 days on.

One of the housemates who survived the horror quadruple murders in Moscow, Idaho, has revealed that she has gotten a new tattoo paying tribute to her slain friends.

Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in an off-campus home that the three women shared in Moscow back on 13 November.

Two other roommates were home at the time of the murders but were left unharmed.

Police said they were in the first floor of the house and are believed to have slept through the attack. The housemates, two other female University of Idaho students, have been ruled out as suspects.

One of the surviving housemate shared a photo of a new tattoo on her arm on her VCSO account this week.

The tattoo features anglel wings and the initials of her four murdered friends: “MKXE”.

The arm of a second person is also in the photo with the same tattoo.

Eleven days into the investigation, no arrests have been made and no suspects named.

However, police have ruled out several people as suspects in the grisly murders. They are:

– The two surviving housemates who were in the home at the time of the killings.

– The other friends who were in the home when the 911 call was made.

– The man who was caught on camera with Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a food truck in the downtown area before they headed home.

– The person who gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck.

– Goncalves’ former long-term boyfriend, with whom she shares a dog.

Parents are ordering deadbolts, teens are asking for guns and the streets are empty in Moscow.

There is a killer – or killers – on the loose, ten days after four college students were murdered in their beds.

Locals reveal how fear is deepening as time goes by without any arrests and with little information from police.

The Independent’s Sheila Flynn reveals all in this special report from on the ground in Moscow, Idaho:

Theories are now swirling that the murders of the four University of Idaho students could be tied to a third unsolved stabbing case.

This week, similarities were drawn between a 2021 knife attack on a young couple in Oregon and the 13 November stabbing murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, 400 miles away in Moscow.

Back on 13 August 2021, Travis Juetten, 26, and his wife Jamilyn Juetten, then 24, were woken at around 3am when a masked assailant broke into their home, entered their bedroom and stabbed them both multiple times with a knife.

Travis tried to fight off the attacker but was stabbed to death. Ms Juetten was stabbed 19 times but miraculously survived, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Despite Travis’ family putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer, 15 months on, the case remains unsolved.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry was asked about a potential link between the two cases.

He confirmed that the Oregon killing is on their radar in Idaho and that investigators are probing a possible tie.

Now, a local outlet has pointed to similarities to a third unsolved stabbing murder.

The Idaho Tribune reported that Sandra Ladd, 71, was found stabbed to death in her home in Washougal, Washington, on 14 June 2020.

She had also suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso. No suspects have been identified.

Investigators in Moscow have not said that they are exploring a link between this case and the other two.