The mystery surrounding the four killings of students in Idaho a month ago
Four students killed in the same house, zero suspects: Exactly one month after these unexplained murders on a small college campus in Idaho, the police are on ice skates, thousands of Internet users are playing amateur detectives, and the mystery thickens.
At 11:58 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13, emergency services received a call from students at 1122 King Road in Moscow, in the middle of the hills of this rural state in the American Northwest. The police find four dead bodies on the spot: two on the first floor, two on the second floor. Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen – both 21 – Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin – each 20 and a couple – covered in stab wounds. No evidence of a sexual crime was found, but some of the victims had defensive wounds.
According to the initial elements of the investigation, these unusual students were killed in their sleep without waking up their two other roommates in this three-story white house with small windows. The time of the crime? The time of the last calls to Kaylee Goncalves’ phone between 2:52 a.m. and the late morning call for help. Everyone had fun the night before, a typical student Saturday night.
Fear
Soon, hundreds of investigators from the local police, the state and the FBI are mobilized. They collect 113 seals, 4,000 photographs and more than 5,000 pieces of evidence. But “No suspects, arrests or weapons found at this time”summarizes the police on its website.
The list of those cleared of all suspicion is longer: two roommates who survived; A hooded man seen leaving a bar around 1:30 a.m. near Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, buying food from a “food truck”; which led them now to the accursed house; friends called in the morning by surviving roommates; a man who would follow Kylie a few months ago.
“It’s not a cold situation.”
Police say they have an army of experts providing tips all weekend.
My final report today from Moscow, Idaho: pic.twitter.com/djOXmpMWnF— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin)
December 12, 2022
The news is raising fears on the University of Idaho campus. Many students are sheltering with their parents, continuing their studies far away from the snow-covered city, away from police patrols and heightened security around schools. A concern stemming from the fluctuating discourse of authorities as greedy for information.
This “crime of passion”, the Moscow mayor said the day after the murders, before going back on his words. The next day, the police were reassured by claiming to be there
“no danger”is an attack “isolated and targeted”, then turns back and becomes more evasive. On Saturday, four weeks later, he called the public again “move in groups”.
And then, investigators are careful not to reveal a number of details to the public: where exactly were the victims found? What are their wounds? What traces, fingerprints, DNA samples were collected? What is the content of a first aid call?
rumor machine
These unanswered questions have created rumors on the Internet. In an offshoot of the giant Reddit forum, thousands of student investigators come up with all sorts of hypotheses, examine video surveillance footage in their own way, and even log into the site.
He is the man in the hood next to the two girls by the food truck, despite some claims that his gait is suspicious, the police have removed him from the suspect list. He’s a serial killer, a professional, that’s certainly what others claim. Pools request funds to hire a private investigator for a family.
And what about this white Hyundai wanted by the police? In a Facebook group dedicated to the case with more than 75,000 members, a netizen linked it to the theft a few days ago and called the police, 996 comments poured in. Faced with an influx of calls about the vehicle, authorities had to contact a federal call center. Police now devote most of their press releases to denying the unusual speculation.
