Idaho students might have been killed in 'burglary gone wrong'
Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were all found dead in the house they shared in Moscow, Idaho, on Sunday.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Idaho students might have been killed in 'burglary gone wrong'
Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were all found dead in the house they shared in Moscow, Idaho, on Sunday.
Four University of Idaho students might have been killed in 'crime of passion' OR a 'burglary gone wrong' between 3am and 4am
By Vanessa Serna For Dailymail.Com13:06 15 Nov 2022, updated 14:28 15 Nov 2022
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- The four University of Idaho students who were found dead in off-campus housing Sunday afternoon have been identified
- They are 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves
- Police are treating the case as a homicide and the mayor of Moscow, Idaho called the deaths a 'crime of passion'
- It remains unclear how they died, but Moscow police are considering their deaths a homicide
- One of the victim's family members has spoken out and insisted they won't stop fighting for the truth
Police discovered the students' bodies just before noon Sunday as they responded to a report of an unconscious person at a home steps away from the Moscow, Idaho, campus. The victims were identified as Ethan Chapin, a 20-year-old from Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, a 21-year-old from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, from Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, from Rathdrum, Idaho.
The four University of Idaho students who were found dead in off-campus housing were identified on Monday as Madison Mogen, 21, top left, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, bottom left, Ethan Chapin, 20, center, and Xana Kernodle, 20, right. They are pictured just hours before their untimely deaths
Mogen and Kernodle were in the same sorority. Goncalves was a member of a different sorority. Chapin was a fraternity member, according to University of Idaho President Scott Green.
Investigators think an edged weapon was used in the deaths of four University of Idaho students, police said Tuesday. Officials said all four students, who were found dead inside a home near campus on Sunday, are considered victims in the case.
No weapons have been located thus far, police said, but based on preliminary information, "investigators believe that an edged weapon such as a knife was used," Moscow Police Captain Anthony Dahlinger said in a statement. There are no suspects in custody
"Details are limited in this investigation," the Moscow Police Department (MPD) said in a Monday afternoon statement. "Currently, there is no one in custody."
University of Idaho victims Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle. (Instagram: @ethanchapin4
The four victims appeared to be friends based on their social media interactions and posted a photo with two other friends just hours before they were found dead on Sunday.
The Moscow Police Department has labeled the deaths as "homicides" but maintains there is not an active risk to the community.
Art Bettge, mayor of Moscow, called the deaths a 'crime of passion' and 'senseless acts of violence,' but also said they may have been killed in a 'burglary gone wrong'.
Police are still trying to narrow down exactly what happened, he said.
'It’s one of any of a plenitude of possibilities, including burglary gone wrong, robbery gone wrong… any of those is a possibility and not one to the exclusion of others,' he told Fox News.
University of Idaho president Scott Green said the students were all "killed" under tragic circumstances, and Moscow Mayor Art Bettge said all four of the students were considered victims in the investigation. Moscow Police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger told the Idaho Statesman Monday night that none of the deceased students are believed to be responsible for the deaths.
The students likely died between 3 and 4 a.m., but they weren't discovered for hours, Bettge said.
"The police got there at noon, nothing happened in the interim and nothing happened afterward, so it seemed to be a unique occurrence that was not apt to be repeated," said Bettge. That timeline helped authorities determine that there was not an active risk, he said.
Dahlinger declined to confirm or deny Bettge's description of the timeline.
Still, the lack of information about the cause of deaths - and the fact that police have said there is no one in custody - had many parents worried about campus safety and some students leaving for Thanksgiving break early.
Brian Nickerson, the fire chief of the Moscow Volunteer Fire and EMS Department, said police were the first to arrive at the home. The first responders from the fire and EMS department didn't go inside or transport anyone from the scene, Nickerson said.
The city of Moscow is a close-knit college town nestled in the rolling hills of north-central Idaho, about 80 miles southeast of Spokane, Washington.
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