We know the four students were killed shortly before the school went on break for Thanksgiving. It’s been close to a month since the crime, and authorities have not located a weapon (which they believe to be a knife) and have not publicly named a suspect. No arrests have been made at this time.
Latah County Cathy Mabbutt told CBS News that some of the victims had been found in their beds, but not all. Per a statement from police, the coroner declared the cause and manner of death for all four victims to be stabbing. The coroner has also stated each victim was stabbed more than once. They’ve also stated some of the victims had defensive wounds. They believe the victims were likely asleep. Police believe the victims were stabbed between 3 and 4 in the morning.
According to a report from NewsNation, Goncalves suffered “significantly more brutal” injuries than Mogen. The girls, who have been reported to be childhood best friends, were sharing a bed in Mogen’s bedroom at the time of the crime. It’s not known how their injuries compare to the victims on the second floor.
The house was the home of three of the roommates (Goncalves, Mogel, and Kernodle) and Chapin, who was in a relationship with Kernodle, was sleeping with her in her bedroom. Goncalves was in the process of moving out of the house, but according to her family, was in Moscow to visit and show her friends her new car. (If you’re really interested in the layout, NewsNation has a detailed report on it.)
Many folks have speculated that because Goncalves was not permanently living in the house (and was reportedly planning a move down to Austin, Texas, for a marketing job) that she may have been the target of the crime. However, that is speculation—police initially suggested this crime was targeted but have also suggested the residence was a target. Either way, police have not confirmed who they believe to be the target of this crime, if anyone.
As mentioned earlier, two surviving roommates reside on the bottom level of the house. The survivors, who are also students at the university, have been cleared by police and are not believed to have had any involvement.
It’s believed that while the crimes likely occurred in the very late (or very early) hours of the morning on Nov. 13, a call was not made to the police until the afternoon, when the surviving roommates were concerned about an unresponsive roommate. Police have not released the 911 call or the identity of who made the call. Police cleared everyone who was in the house when the call was made.
Per a statement from police, it’s believed the call was made in reference to a person on the second floor (where Xana’s bedroom was) who they believed had passed out and was not waking. It’s been widely speculated, but not officially released, what, if anything, the surviving roommates saw upon waking and leaving their bedrooms that afternoon.
How and why did two roommates survive? We—meaning, the public—truly don’t know. The house layout is unusual—it’s possible whoever committed this crime literally did not know there were bedrooms on the bottom floor, or that they were occupied at the time. It’s possible that, if there were a specific target, they weren’t included, for whatever reason.
This is perhaps the biggest question in online discourse, but the simple answer is we don’t have that information. But we do know police have said the surviving roommates are not suspects, and that they are real people who survived an extremely traumatic and terrifying loss.
The other big question is the timeline.
As covered by CNN, police have a timeline of what they believe the four victims were doing before they were killed. Investigators believe two (Goncalves and Mogen) were at a bar and food truck downtown while Kernodle and Chapin were at the Sigma Chi fraternity house. It’s believed all four were home by around 2 AM.
So, what happened that night? It seemed to be business as usual for students in a small college town—people going out to the bars and parties, grabbing some food, and heading home.
Thanks to Twitch live-stream footage from the food truck Goncalves and Mogel stopped at before getting home, we have some concrete ideas of where the girls were and what time they arrived home. (The individual the victims seemingly interact with in this video clip has been cleared by police.) It’s believed Goncalvez and Mogel were at the Corner Club from 10:00 PM to 1:30 AM and the food truck at around 1:40 AM. They arrived home by about 2:00 AM.
Kernodle and Chapin, according to police, are believed to have been at a fraternity party in the neighborhood at Sigma Chi, where Chapin was a member, from 9:00 pm to 1:45 AM.
It’s believed the two surviving roommates returned home by 1 AM and that they slept through the murders.
In this video from NewsNation, you can see the distance between the fraternity house to the house where the murders took place. (It’s very close.)
In an interview with Brian Entin for NewsNation, Sigma Chi President Reed Ofsthun stressed that the fraternity has been cooperating with the investigation and turned over all information to the FBI. Ofsthun noted the fraternity house does not have security cameras.
As of Dec. 7, per the BBC, police have received over 2,600 tips, more than 2,700 phone calls, and more than 1,800 submissions of digital media from the public. In addition to the Moscow PD, the Idaho State Police, Letah County Sheriff’s Office, and dozens of FBI agents are working on the case.
As reported by NBC News, police have removed some personal items belonging to the victims and returned them to their families. The house remains an active crime scene.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry gave a brief interview on the removal of those personal items.
If you’ve gotten this far, you’ll likely understand why rumors are truly flying with this case. It’s scary, it’s confusing. It’s inconceivable. But from behind our screens, it’s all too easy to think we see what law enforcement doesn’t or know what families and friends don’t. But these are real people, not movie or book characters, and the survivors are healing from the unimaginable. Police have asked folks not to get lost in the rumors.
“There is speculation,” police said in a Facebook post. “Without factual backing, stoking community fears and spreading false information. We encourage referencing official releases for accurate information and updated progress.”
