Idaho students probably slain in sleep, coroner says
SPOKANE, Wash. — Four University of Idaho students who were found dead in a rental house Sunday were stabbed to death in their beds and were probably asleep, a county coroner told a cable news channel.
Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt also told NewsNation on Thursday that each victim suffered multiple stab wounds from a “pretty large knife.”
“It has to be somebody pretty angry in order to stab four people to death,” Mabbutt told NewsNation. The victims were stabbed in the chest and upper body, the coroner said.
Efforts to reach Mabbutt by telephone Friday were diverted to an Idaho State Police spokesperson, who did not immediately return messages.
Mabbutt’s comments expanded on the autopsy reports released Thursday, which concluded the four students were stabbed to death.
The killings have shaken Moscow, an Idaho Panhandle town of 25,000 residents that last saw a homicide about five years ago. The leafy college town is about 80 miles south of Spokane, Wash.
Officers have not identified a suspect or found a weapon, Moscow Police Chief James Fry has said.
All four victims were members of fraternities and sororities: seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Wash. The women were roommates. The bodies were found around noon Sunday.
The Moscow Police Department released a map Friday showing a rough timeline of events leading up to the deaths and asked the public to provide tips.
The map showed that Chapin and Kernodle attended a party at the Sigma Chi fraternity house between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday. The map said the two had returned to Kernodle’s rental house by 1:45 a.m. Sunday.
Meanwhile, Goncalves and Mogen went to the Corner Club, a popular bar in downtown Moscow, from 10 p.m. Saturday to 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Then they visited a food truck on Main Street and were back at the house by 1:45 a.m.
Surveillance video from the food truck shows Mogen and Goncalves ordering at the window, taking photos on their phones and chatting with friends in about a 10-minute segment.
The map did not say how police knew all four victims were home by 1:45 a.m.
Police have said evidence at the scene leads them to believe the students were targeted, though they haven’t given details. Investigators say nothing appears to have been stolen from the victims or the home.
After initially saying there was no ongoing danger, police reversed on Wednesday.
“We cannot say that there is no threat to the community,” Fry said. “We still believe it’s a targeted attack. But the reality is there still is a person out there who committed four very horrible, horrible crimes.”
Two other people were found unharmed in the sprawling house. Fry declined to say whether they provided an account of the killings or specified who called 911. There was no sign of forced entry, according to the chief, and a door was found open by the first police officers to arrive.