Idaho university murders: Police release map in urgent plea for clues
Rachel Schilke
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Idaho police have released more details regarding the homicides of four University of Idaho students, mapping out their final hours as officials investigate the murders.
Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were murdered in their beds, with each stabbed in the chest and upper body with a large knife. Police arrived around noon on Sunday to find the students dead after receiving a 911 call reporting an unconscious person at the house.
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Police said they believe the students were killed between 3 and 4 a.m., Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told ABC News. Chapin didn’t live in the house where the four were killed, according to his mother Stacy Chapin, but was sleeping over with his girlfriend, Kernodle.
Two female roommates were home at the time of the deaths but were not harmed, according to Chief James Fry. Neither placed the 911 call, Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell has previously stated.
Police mapped out the students’ movements before they were murdered. Goncalves and Mogen were at Corner Club in downtown Moscow from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. At 1:40 a.m., they stopped at a food truck before coming home at 1:45 a.m.
Chapin and Kernodle were at the Sigma Chi house from 10 to 11 p.m. and then were unaccounted for until 1:45 a.m. when they arrived back at the women’s residence. All four students were in a fraternity or sorority.
Family members have been sharing heartfelt statements regarding their children to hometown stations and social media. Jazzmin Kernodle wrote in an Instagram tribute to her sister that she wanted people to know what kind of “amazing person” her sister was and that all Xana wanted to do was “live life to the fullest.”
“I know Xana never let an opportunity pass her by, and she was so happy whenever I saw her,” Jazzmin wrote. “Xana was the type of person that always lit up a room.”
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Autopsies of the victims ruled the deaths as homicides and confirmed all four died by stabbing, according to a report released Thursday by Moscow Police in coordination with Mabbutt’s assessment.
With no leads on a suspect, police are urging anyone who saw “suspicious behavior, has video surveillance, or can provide relevant information” to call the tip line at 208-883-7180 or email [email protected].