BOISE, Idaho — It’s been one month since four students from the University of Idaho were killed on Nov. 13. Moscow Police Capt. Roger Lanier remembers exactly where he was when he heard the news.
“I got called at home. It was on a Sunday afternoon,” Lanier said in a video posted on the police department’s Facebook page. “And it took me a second. I really had to think about what I had just heard. Four murders in Moscow, Idaho, was so out of character.”
By the time Lanier arrived at the students’ home on King Road, word had already spread about the deaths. There were students were standing outside the house crying. Friends of the victims were trying to find out who exactly was inside the home.
“The scene wasn’t chaos … but it was very, very somber,” Lanier said.
The stabbing attack took the lives of U of I seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, who were close friends; and junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington, who were dating.
A coroner’s report said they were killed by a large military-grade knife. Police have yet to name a suspect or find the weapon used in the attacks.
Officers had a difficult time processing the scene. The city has not had a murder in seven years, and this was the first time many younger officers had seen a “real major crime scene,” according to Lanier.
“Emotionally, it was a very, very draining day,” Lanier said.
The captain said he knew right away that he was going to need more resources than the Moscow Police Department was capable of providing. The Idaho State Police helped process the crime scene on the first day. The FBI was quickly brought in and set up a command post in the Moscow police station’s parking lot. Other law enforcement agencies from northern and southern Idaho contributed resources.
“The team effort has been amazing,” Lanier said. “It’s been overwhelming at times, but there are so many people with so much expertise. Somebody always steps up and takes the role that needs to be filled.”
Over the last month, the “most frustrating part” for Lanier has been the rumors and speculation surrounding the case. The rumors have led to death threats and may be retraumatizing the victims’ loved ones, Lanier said. Social media users have latched onto small pieces of information that they then use to speculate.
“We find ourselves not only tracking those rumors down and trying to quell them, but also we see our tips that come in are geared more toward the rumor and not the facts that had been put out,” Lanier said.
Despite weeks without a suspect and rampant false tips, Lanier said helpful information is still coming in. He does not believe the case has gone cold.
“Every single day we get a good amount of viable tips, and those tips help us do everything from clear people, who maybe there was some speculation about, to further some of the theories that we’re working on,” Lanier said. “So the next is just to continue on what we’re doing, eliminate the information that we know is not going to be relevant to the investigation, and take all the new information. And eventually, we see this coming. Eventually we’re going to narrow in on exactly what happened and who did it.”
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