I’m more optical than literal about the knife. What I mean:
I think LE is asking about this knife type because ME sees evidence in postmortem bone injury, and Idaho cops, who are more often by environment and culture post-military and permitted hunters (certainly way more than my local New Jersey cops, who trend more toward the cybersecurity and white collar crime experiences) may have spotted this at the crime scene itself, even before autopsy. I suspect that a 1-on-4 killing involved some disabling of the victims. That is my opinion and not a documented fact.
I think the offender (or offenders, I lean offender, multiple people are exponentially bad at keeping secrets) probably did carry that type of knife.
I know branches of the Marine Corps have historically carried and trained on that knife. I suspect that other detachments of other military branches have done same. This offender, whomever it may be, may well have been trained on use of this knife, and I’d be looking for people in the area who might fall in this category.
Just as likely, in my opinion, is some incel who never went military but has been reading about knife types across the internet, and likes the allusion that using one conjures, i.e. military man, Rambo. Maybe he wasn’t formally trained but he hunted. Maybe he didn’t hunt, but he fantasy-practiced. Remember Adam Lanza with his Sig Sauers in his bedroom. Disenfranchised men acting out of a belief system, a set of social and egoistic optics.
I don’t know what this is yet but I love the idea that dozens if not hundreds of Idaho and Washington LE and scientific experts are devoting tonight, and future nights, if need be, to figuring that out.
