Investigators have ruled out any connection between a damaged car found abandoned in Oregon and the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students 500 miles away in Moscow.
For two weeks, police have been searching for a white Hyundai Elantra, which was spotted in the “immediate area” of the student home on King Road at the time of the murders on 13 November.
On Tuesday, police confirmed that a vehicle matching the description of the mystery car had been reported to police in Eugene, Oregon, on 17 December.
Eugene Police Department told The Independent in a statement that they received a 911 call at around 5.19am reporting a person sleeping inside the vehicle which had heavy damage to its front end.
Officers responded to the scene and no further report was made about the incident. However, the department confirmed that it had passed the information on to police investigating the quadruple murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow.
A spokesperson for Moscow Police confirmed to The Independent that were “aware” of the vehicle and were “working on” determining whether or not it was the same car they were searching for.
But, hopes of a final break in the case came to an end just hours later when police announced that the vehicle was not connected to the unsolved killings.
Moscow Police said that they had tracked down the owner of the abandoned vehicle and learned that it had been involved in a collision and subsequently impounded.
“The vehicle is registered out of Colorado and the female owner is not believed to have any relation to any property in Moscow, Idaho or the ongoing murder investigations,” police said.
Members of the public were told to stop contacting the vehicle owner.
The announcement comes as a blow to the case which has now rumbled on for more than five weeks with no arrests made and no suspects identified.
For the last two weeks, the investigation has zeroed in on the search for the occupant or occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the scene of the murders in the early hours of 13 November.
Investigators believe that the individual or individuals in the car – which is a model from 2011 to 2013 and has an unknown licence plate – may have “critical information to share regarding this case” and are asking for the public’s help in tracking them down.
Border agents along the US’s border with Canada have been notified to be on the lookout for the car and tips have been pouring in from the public.
So far, police have identified around 22,000 vehicles that fit the description of the vehicle and are combing through the information for clues.
With the killer still at large six weeks into the investigation, law enforcement officials are coming under increasing scrutiny and tensions are boiling over between police and some of the victims’ families.
On Tuesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry released a statement hitting back at criticism over the experience of some of his team.
“There have been numerous questions about leadership in this investigation. Let me be clear, this is the Moscow Police Department’s investigation, and I am the Chief of Police,” he said in a video statement.
“The decisions are mine and mine alone. I have an excellent Command Staff, with over 94 years of combined experience, overseeing the investigation’s daily operation, and I select who runs the investigative teams.”
His comments came after Shannon Gray, an attorney retained by the Goncalves family, said the family was concerned that one of the lead investigators was a “rookie” officer with two years’ experience on the force.
The police chief defended his team and said they are supported by “highly trained and experienced personnel from the Idaho State Police and the FBI”.
Dozens of law enforcement officials from multiple agencies have been assigned to the case but are yet to track down the assailant who stabbed the four victims to death in their beds.
Police said the victims were attacked with a fixed-blade knife at around 3am or 4am on 13 November. There was no sign of sexual assault.
Two of the victims were found on the second floor of the home and two on the third floor.
On the night of 12 November, Kernodle and Chapin were at a sorority party at Sigma Chi house together from 8pm to 9pm and arrived back at the home at around 1.45am. It is unclear where they were in the five-hour time gap.
Goncalves and Mogen arrived back at the property at around 1.56am.
Two surviving roommates were also out that night and arrived home at around 1am, police said. The two women, who lived in rooms on the first floor of the home, are believed to have slept through the brutal killings and were unharmed.
The horrific crime scene went unnoticed for several more hours, with police receiving a 911 call at 11.58am on Sunday, reporting an “unconscious individual” at the home.
The two other roommates had first called friends to the home because they believed one of the second floor victims was unconscious and would not wake up. When the friends arrived, a 911 call was made from one of the roommates’ phones.
Police arrived on the scene to find the four victims dead from multiple stab wounds.
