Police don’t know who killed four students in Moscow, Idaho, with a knife, probably while they were sleeping. The mayor of the city calls the murders a “crime of passion”.
On Sunday night last weekend, four students went to bed at the University of Idaho in Moscow. A few hours later it was all found killed in the residence off campus itself, an area where many students live.
According to Washington Post a Latah County medical examiner determined that the murder victims were probably asleep when they were stabbed and that the preliminary autopsy also showed signs that some of the victims had tried to fend off the attacker. All of the victims are said to have suffered multiple stab wounds, and this is not supposed to be a so-called murder-suicide.
I had to enter a code
The small university town has been in mourning and living in uncertainty for a week. Police have received more than 500 reports and questioned more than 40 witnesses, but so far no one has been arrested or suspected in the killings.
Three of the murder victims shared a room. The door to this room was equipped with a lock that closed automatically. Also, you had to enter a code to enter.
– It doesn’t make sense, says Jeffrey Kernodle, the father of Xana Kernodle, who was killed.
– The killer is still out there
Over 40 FBI agents and local detectives are now working hard to solve the case. Police have, among other things, searched the containers of the murder knife, checked local stores for recent knife purchases and traced the person who called the 911 call about 12 hours after the murders, writes the Washington Post.
– The killer is still out there. Citizens should therefore be vigilant, a police spokesman said earlier this week.
The police also released a map showing the movements of the four students in the hours leading up to the murders, and at the same time asking the public for suspicious observations or video recordings from these areas during this period.
– The overall assessment is that it is a crime of passion. It is very difficult to top a crime of this magnitude, says Mayor Art Bettge in Moscow, according to the New York Times.
– We are afraid
Moscow is a university city with about 25,000 inhabitants. Over 10,000 students are affiliated with the university, which focuses on engineering and agriculture. Now four of them are gone: Madison Mogen (21), Kaylee Goncalves (21), Ethan Chapin (20) and Xana Kernodle (20).
Some students are worried and have chosen to leave the university.
– We are scared because of the circumstances, Paige Carter, who lives near the crime scene, told the New York Times.
– The police say it’s homicide, that they’re a hundred per cent sure it’s homicide – but that it’s not a threat. What does it mean? asks fellow student Bailey Biggs.
