MOSCOW, Idaho — Even as details remain scant while a homicide investigation continues to unfold, Moscow police on Monday evening told the Idaho Statesman that they are actively searching for a suspect after finding four University of Idaho students dead at a home just off campus Sunday afternoon.
Moscow police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger declined to say whether he would characterize the deaths as violent, but reaffirmed that each of the deceased students is considered a victim. None of the four students are believed responsible for the deaths that have torn a sudden hole in the college-focused North Idaho city, he said.
“All I can say is the deaths are ruled a homicide at this point, and homicide and murder are synonymous,” Moscow police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger told the Statesman by phone. “We certainly have a crime here, so we are looking for a suspect.”
Moscow Mayor Art Bettge revealed in a phone interview with the Statesman that the crime happened early Sunday morning, between 3 and 4 a.m. Pacific time. Police said they did not receive an initial report of an unconscious person in the 1100 block of King Road until almost noon that day.
Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington, was one of the victims. His mother, Stacy Chapin, told the Statesman in a Facebook message that a friend found the bodies. The other three victims were identified Monday as Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; and Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls. Police and the university separately confirmed all four were students at the U of I.
The New York Times reported Monday that a local official described the homicides as a “crime of passion.” In a later conversation, Bettge told the Idaho Statesman that when he used that descriptor to The New York Times, he was suggesting a “crime of passion” as one potential scenario.
“It could be any of a number of things,” Bettge said Monday evening. “The police don’t know yet. I haven’t been told.”
A university spokesperson told the Statesman late Monday night that the U of I doesn’t have any information on the motive or relationships of the victims in this case.
Bettge said police have indicated to him that there is no active threat to the community. Law enforcement’s conclusion that there is no threat derives “from what (police) know about the crime scene itself” and the way the crime scene appeared, the mayor said.
“They have ascertained that there’s no other threat to the community,” Bettge said. “I would say it was just a crime focused on this one location.”
At around 4:30 p.m. Monday, a pair of police cruisers sat parked outside the location of the four students’ deaths, while two uniformed officers stood watch over the property. Yellow police tape was wrapped around the trunk of the front yard’s only tree and ran from the front door of the single-family home down to the end of the driveway, warning passers-by not to enter.
Several neighbors in the vicinity of the home and within several clustered apartment units nearby declined to answer questions from a Statesman reporter who knocked on doors Monday evening. Most said they didn’t know the victims, and didn’t feel comfortable commenting.
Jackson LaBaugh was out for an evening walk. He said he lives in an apartment complex off Queen Road right next to the home where the four students died, but that he doesn’t attend the U of I. A police officer previously knocked on LaBaugh’s door to see whether he heard anything the morning of the deadly incident now making national headlines, he said.
LaBaugh was at home early Sunday morning, but told the Statesman the same thing he told police: He didn’t. He felt for his neighbors and his community regardless.
“Nothing in life is promised,” LaBaugh said. “It sucks that four people died.”
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