How gruesome murder-mystery of four Idaho university students has gripped America

A quadruple murder. No suspect. No murder weapon. Nothing but questions.

This is the gruesome murder-mystery that has gripped a nation and terrified students of the University of Idaho in the northwestern U.S., where four housemates were brutally stabbed to death in the early hours of November 13.

Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20, were slain in their beds at their house in Moscow, Idaho, by a silent killer who seemingly vanished without a trace.

Cops discovered their blood-soaked bodies later that day just before noon after Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke – two housemates who survived – awoke around 11am to find their friends were dead.

The savage killing stunned the small college town of Moscow, Idaho, an agricultural centre surrounded by rolling wheat and bean fields that had not seen a murder since 2015. 

Officials have insisted the quadruple stabbing was a ‘targeted’ attack, but two and a half weeks on from the tragic incident police are still yet to identify a suspect, and despite claiming the murder weapon was likely a large military-style knife, have not turned up any leads. 

This prompted many of the university’s 11,000 students to flee the campus and a significant proportion of them will not return until the murderer is caught, with the university preparing to offer remote learning. 

For those who remain, candlelit vigil to honour the young lives lost takes place tonight – but this will provide little comfort to the families and friends of the victims whose killer remains in the wind. 

Pic shows: (L-R) Housemates Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke – four victims and two survivors of mysterious murders at their home near the Idaho University campus 

Goncalves and Mogen, pictured here, had spent much of the night before their deaths at the Corner Club — a Moscow dive bar popular with University of Idaho students

This July 2022 photo provided by Jazzmin Kernodle shows University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, right, and Ethan Chapin on a boat on Priest Lake, in Idaho. Both students were among four found stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home on Nov. 13

Blood still visible at the back of the house where four Idaho students where murdered as they slept.Moscow, Idaho, Monday, November 21, 2022

Police sources told DailyMail.com that the scene inside the home was ‘the worst they’ve ever seen’ with the victims left to bleed out following the brutal early morning attack 

According to investigators, Madison and Kaylee had been out at the Corner Club bar – a popular Moscow dive bar – hours before their deaths.

At approximately 1.30am, the pair were caught on camera purchasing a portion of carbonara pasta from Grub Wandering Kitchen – a food truck that offers late-night eats on weekends. 

A ride-share driver – who police say is not a suspect – drove the two students home just before 2am on Sunday, November 13.

Once home, Kaylee called her boyfriend Jack DuCoeur seven times between 2:26 and 2:52am, but he didn’t answer. Police have ruled out DuCoeur as a suspect. 

Couple Xana and Ethan meanwhile had been at a fraternity house, but returned home about the same time as Madison and Kaylee.

The two remaining housemates Dylan and Bethany were also out for the evening but got back to their house around 45 minutes earlier, just after 1am.

Goncalves and Mogen were found on the top floor in their beds. College lovers Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were found in a second floor bedroom while survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were sleeping on the first floor

This schematic of the house shows where Ethan, Xana, Kaylee and Madison were found dead

Hours later, one of the surviving housemates called 911 after waking up and discovering the horror scene at her house. 

Officers found the four students dead; two on the second story and two on the third. 

Post-mortem results showed all four died from stab wounds to the chest, with police saying the murder weapon was a large military-style knife which still hasn’t been found.

The bodies of Madison and Kaylee, who slept on the top floor of the house, were found still in their beds, cops maintaining the pair were almost certainly still asleep when the unknown assailant plunged a blade into them.

Xana and Ethan were found in their room on the second floor, with officers claiming some of the housemates sported defensive wounds – though they declined to specify which. 

All four of the students were said to have been murdered in their sleep on November 13

Madison and Kaylee had been out at the Corner Club bar – a popular Moscow dive bar – before returning home at about just before 2am on Sunday, November 13

It is believed the assailant may have gained access to the house via a sliding glass door that leads from an outdoor patio to the kitchen on the second floor because  Dylan and Bethany, who slept on the ground floor of the house, were untouched.

Thousands of tips have flooded in to both the police and the FBI from Moscow residents since the killings, police said, including hundreds which suggest Kaylee Goncalves may have had a stalker.

But detectives said they were unable to verify the information and haven’t been able to identify a stalker, the Moscow Police Department said last week.

A sea of forensic officers were deployed to comb the house and surrounding woods for clues, while the students’ vehicles were towed away for further examination yesterday. 

Police reported that two of the victims likely fought back and suffered defensive wounds trying to ward off the slasher

From the back of the house, it appears to have only two stories. It is possible the killer might haven not have known about the  first floor if entrance was made from the rear via the sliding glass doors

This is the sliding door that one of the girls’ fathers believe may have been used by the killer to gain access to the home in the early hours of Sunday morning. All four victims were stabbed in their beds

‘We still believe it was a targeted attack based on the evidence at the scene and how everything developed, what we know. We believe that’s accurate,’ police spokesman Snell told DailyMail.com.

Still, he refused to say which of the victims police believe to be the target, describing it as a ‘delicate question’.

‘You can’t lay all your cards out at once. We’re trying to find the various potential participants,’ he said.

‘Is there somebody out there? Yes. Our goal is to find that person and bring them to justice.’

For Madison’s family – and those of the other murdered students – that day can’t come soon enough.

Students have started to return to the University of Idaho, where a memorial has been set up for the college students following a Thanksgiving break

A memorial has grown at the residence of the four students who were killed on November 13

The vehicles towed away from the residence belong to the four victims and the two survivors 

Scott Laramie, 52, who is married to Madison’s mother Cheryl, 45, said: ‘Now that the FBI is helping out, we’re confident that they’ll find out who did this. Because there are more resources, more expertise focused on it.’

Grandfather Michael added: ‘It’s just so unbelievable that she could be involved in something like this.

‘We’re still just trying to process the whole thing. And it’s painful watching this thing drag out with no answers.

‘If somebody dies in a car wreck or something, you don’t have all these other ongoing things to deal with.

‘How this could possibly happen? It’s the farthest thing from what I could ever imagine.’

The rumors surrounding the mysterious deaths of four University of Idaho students 

The victims were bound and gagged: FALSE  

Moscow police have denied reports that the victims were bound and gagged when they were stabbed to death on November 13. An autopsy found no such signs of bondage.

Two other roommates survived the attack: TRUE

Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen lived in the house with the three female victims but miraculously survived the attack, only to find their friends dead the next morning.

Both girls had been out of town separately on Saturday night and returned home by around 1am – before the other four victims came home from a night out.

It took nine hours to call 911 about their deaths: TRUE

Police received a call at noon on November 13, and concluded that the four had been stabbed to death up to nine hours before, with the killing occurring between 3am to 4am that morning and there were no signs of forced entry.

Veteran Moscow police have described the scene as among the most gruesome and harrowing they have ever seen, with the victims left to bleed to death inside the house.

Officials arrived and discovered the additional victims and confirmed that anyone in the house when the 911 call was placed was not involved with the crime.

The incident is related to recent animal deaths in the area: FALSE 

 Moscow police say there is no reason to believe the deaths of the four college students is related to recent animal deaths in the area or to a dog found skinned from head to tail on October 21.  

The incident is related to similar unsolved stabbings nearby: FALSE 

Investigators have ruled that the quadruple murder is not tied to other knife stabbings in Idaho, Washington and Oregon — despite announcing last week that they were probing a possible link between the students’ deaths and a similar case in Oregon, where a husband and wife were stabbed in their beds by a crazed lunatic last year.

‘We don’t believe at this time … these murders are actually linked to two other knife murders that have occurred both in Pullman, [Washington] as well as Oregon,’ Idaho Police communication director Aaron Snell said, noting that police are ‘aware of these various reports’ and ‘looked into them.’

Ex-boyfriend Jack DeCoeur, 26, was a suspect: FALSE

Moscow Police have ruled out murder victim Kaylee Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend, Jack DeCoeur, 26, as a suspect in her murder and the deaths of Maddie Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

Goncalves’ parents, Steve and Kristi, said they stood by Jack ‘100 percent’ after it was revealed that Kaylee and Mogen had called him at least seven times before their deaths 

Kristi told Jones that she believes her daughter and Jack ‘would have eventually been married.’

‘They would have eventually had children,’ she said, explaining that the pair had dated for years and were on track to reconcile after spending some time apart.

‘We are supporting him, and we know in our hearts and our minds and our souls and the depths of our soul, Jack is hurting,’ she said.

Murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, 21, (right) and her ex-boyfriend Jack DuCoeur, 26, (left). Kaylee and her friend Maddie called Jack at least seven times in the hours before they were killed

The man seen talking to them at a food truck was a suspect: FALSE

Authorities have also ruled out a man who was seen speaking to Kaylee and Maddie at a food truck, which is where they were caught on surveillance footage for the last time alive. 

Officials say there may be multiple perpetrators responsible for the crime.