Press Conference
20th November
Chief - Good afternoon, and welcome. This incident has shaken our community, has continued to shake our community and we continue to mourn for the victims. We will continue to vigorously pursue the investigation and pursue justice in this case. It is a complex and terrible crime and it will take some time to resolve.
Today, we want to clarify what we know and where we're at in this investigation. Our primary goal is public safety and to get a completion of this case and bring someone to justice. We continue to dedicate all the resources to this investigation. We've had 646 tips received and all have been processed, vetted, investigated and cleared. We've done over 90 interviews in this case, so far. And the Moscow Police Department is utilising the assistance from the Idaho State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Latah County Sheriff's Office. The personnel that has been assigned to this, from the Moscow Police Department, is 4 detectives, 24 officers and 5 support staff. Federal Bureau of Investigators - We have 22 investigators in Moscow, 20 additional assigned and located in the Treasure Valley, Salt Lake City, Utah and West Virginia. We have two behaviour analysis individuals from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. With the Idaho State Police, we have 20 investigators, a Public Information Officer, ISP forensic services and a crime scene team. We have 15 uniformed troopers to assist our community, to help provide the additional resources for our patrols.
Detectives are looking to develop any context content that would help us in this event. Anyone who has observed any notable behaviour or has any video surveillance or can provide relevant information about these murders, please call our tip line at 208-883-7180 or you can email the tip line at
tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.
Captain Linear - Good afternoon. My name is Roger Linear, I'm a Captain over the Operations Division for the Moscow Police Department. I just want to first state that this tragic murder has shaken the community. It's been very hard for members of the community and it's been equally difficult for our officers and for the investigators. We will continue to put all of our resources towards investigating and bringing this to a resolution.
Here's what we've determined so far: On the evening of November 12th., Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were at a local bar and were later at a food truck in downtown Moscow. They arrived home at approximately 1:45 AM on the morning of November 13th. Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were at the Sigma Chi house before also arriving home at approximately 1:45 AM. Two surviving roommates were also out in the community and they returned home at approximately 1:00 AM and did not wake up until later that morning. On the morning of November 13th at 11:58 AM, a 911 call was placed to the (??) Dispatch Centre reporting an unconscious person. The call originated from inside the residence and was made from the phone of one of the surviving roommates. Moscow Police Department officers responded and located four victims, two on the second floor and two on the third floor.
The Layah County coroners' conducted autopsies and detectives have been provided with the results of those autopsies. We know that the autopsies confirmed the identity of the four victims. Determined the cause and manner of death as homicide by stabbing and determined that it was likely all four victims were asleep during the attack. Some of the victims had defensive wounds and each victim was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault.
Investigators have determined the two areas of interest within the city and have provided maps which are on our Facebook page and on our website and these are areas that they have canvassed for additional surveillance video and tips and have contacted several residents in the areas. The areas are generally South of Taylor Ave. to Palouse River Dr. and West of Hwy 95. Detectives have also canvassed several other neighbourhoods looking for evidence, looking for additional surveillance video and contacting residents and speaking to them to see if they may have heard or seen something.
I want to address several areas of speculation, conjecture and misinformation that has circulated on social media platforms and otherwise. We do not believe the following individuals are involved in this crime: The two surviving roommates. A male seen at the GRUB truck food vendor downtown, specifically wearing a white hoodie. A private party who provided rides home to Kaylee and Madison in the early morning hour of November 13th. Additionally, the identity of the 911 caller and the 911 call have not been released, so any information out there is speculation about that. Investigators are aware that multiple phone calls from Madison and Kaylee's phone were made to a male subject. Any online reports stating that the victims had been tied and gagged are not accurate.
Detectives seized the contents of three dumpsters on King Rd. and searched those dumpsters, in an effort to find additional evidence but nothing of note was discovered. Early in the investigation local businesses were canvassed in an effort to see if any fixed blade type knives may have recently been purchased. And currently there are no suspects in custody and we have not located a weapon.
I want to assure you that every investigator involved will continue to put all of their resources and all of our partner agencies resources into continuing this investigation. We do appreciate the community's support. We understand how stressful it is and we will continue to work through this situation.
ISP Director - My name is Kedrick Wills and I serve as a Director of the Idaho State Police and I appreciate your attendance, this afternoon, as we talk about this horrific, horrific crime. The murders of Ethan, Xana, Madison and Kaylee are a tragic loss, to all of us. Nothing we can do will bring back these young lives. But we have an absolute commitment to working together to solve these senseless murders. And the way that we know how to do that is partnerships and our partnership with the Moscow Police Department, with the Idaho State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the University of Idaho, to bring this issue to a conclusion and bring this to justice is absolute.
We continue with the Idaho State Police resources here on the ground in Moscow and throughout Idaho. Whatever the needs are, that's what we want to do and the Chief spoke about the Idaho State Police resources that are here, and he spoke about patrol resources and we have those uniform troopers here in Moscow and on the campus of the University of Idaho to help people to feel safe and to provide that security to the people that are here, both in the student body, as well as in the community at large, and we will continue to do that as long as is necessary throughout this time. That's in addition to our forensics team that was here too, in addition to our investigative team and all the other state police resources.
We know that people want answers. We want answers too. As was already mentioned, this is really, really difficult for those investigators, those dedicated professionals, who are investigating this crime and a lot of people have expressed their desire to help. And the best thing that most people can do to help is to stop with any kind of rumours and just seek official information that comes out of the Moscow Police Department. Anything that we have that we can share from a law enforcement perspective, we will be sharing just as soon as we can, because that's how we think we can get this to conclusion. Please, please rely on official sources of information and please be patient. I understand that everybody wishes that this was solved already, but these things take time. It takes time to work through. You heard the stats. of all the tips and everything, the interviews and everything that's been done. This takes time for our investigators to work through, so please be patient as we work through this investigation. We owe this to these young kids, to these young adults. We owe it to them and we are absolutely dedicated to make sure that that happens. Thank you.
University President - Scott Green, President of the University of Idaho. First, we continue to extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims. As stated earlier, we want justice and appreciate the increased resources from the Idaho State Police and FBI that have been brought to bear on this crime. We fully appreciate and share the frustration of our students, employees, parents and community members, who continue to push for answers. While we wait for answers in the investigation, we've ramped up our security safety practices and are listening to students and supporting them in anyway possible.
The University of Idaho's primary focus now is on supporting our students and working to meet their very needs. The police continue to inform us that they believe this was a targeted attack, but we recognise this is not good enough for some of our students who will want to complete their semester remotely, until the person who committed the crime is in custody. We're also hearing that some students want to be back on campus and in Moscow, because they gain comfort from the structure of classes and being with their friends and Professors. All reactions and feelings are valid. We all process these tragedies differently. We're asking instructors to plan for both sets of students, as we finish the semester. We will be communicating decisions early this week so that families can discuss and plan their individual response over the Thanksgiving break.
We learned a lot during COVID and we have many course delivery options our faculty can deploy to meet student needs. Student and employee safety remain our priority. We have increased security patrols on campus since we were notified of this off campus incident. We've also benefited from increased Idaho State Police presence on our campus which, we are grateful for. They have been a very visible force and they will continue this dedicated presence on our campus into the foreseeable future. Importantly, they have also assigned resources to the community, since this crime occurred off campus. In addition to the campus wide precautions being taken, we offer the following safety and security features in our residence halls -
- We will continue our safe walk, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- All residence halls are locked 24 hours a day and only accessible by students that live in the building.
- All guests must be accompanied by a resident of the building.
- Each residential community has a dedicated resident assistant staff and a live in, full time, resident director, to help ensure a safe environment.
- Every evening there are resident assistants that are on duty to perform safety and security rounds in their area, including during fall break.
- Housing resident life always has at least two full time staff members that are on call to provide support in emergency response 24 hours a day, including, over the fall break.
- Our living and learning Centre Information desk is open 24 hours a day, and will be open all of fall break for our students needs.
While we certainly hope there is a swift closure with the arrest of whoever is responsible for this crime, we must also be prepared for all the possibilities, including, a lengthy investigation. We must balance safety concerns and the need to grieve, along with the long term needs of our students and our employees. We're making security our top priority. We are also planning for the very real possibility that some students aren't comfortable returning to campus. We will do our best to meet the needs of all students. Our faculties working hard over the break to consider alternative delivery methods. We will also continue making counselling services available for all our students and employees, as we process our grief. The care and concern for our Vandal family is our primary role and we take that very seriously. We are a Vandal family and nothing means more to us than family. And I'd also just like to thank all those, for the great outpouring of support we've received, from the nation. It's been an incredible time and all those who stand in solidarity with us, just know it means a great deal to us. Thank you.
Chief - So, we're going to open it up at this time to about 10 questions. We ask that only one question is asked per person please.
Reporter - Y'all have said that these killings are targeted. Can you share with us, why you believe they are targeted killings? And do you know who, if any, of the victims were the actual targets of the killings?
Chief - As we stated earlier, in our previous press conference, we believe they're targeted because we take a totality of all the circumstances that we're looking at. Do we know any one person that it was targeted? We're not able to say at this point in time, due to our investigation, but we still believe that, but like I said, we take a totality of everything that we're looking at.
Reporter - Do you have the resources that you need?
Chief - We do have the resources. It is an incredible outpouring of what we've received from the Idaho State Police and from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Latah County. Anything we ask for is given so if at any time we need additional... all I have to do is call the Colonel and he will provide that. He's already guaranteed me that and I know the FBI has said the same thing.
Reporter - I know you've said you're not going to release who the 911 caller was, but was the killer the 911 caller?
Chief - I will tell you, no.
Reporter - Can you clarify - you said it was made from the roommates phone but you didn't think a roommate made the call, so did the roommate make the call on the other roommates phone? Or can you clarify that it was another individual who made the call?
Chief - So what I'll say to that is - it was made from the roommates phone and we're not going to divulge who made that call. It's part of our investigation still and when we get ready to release that, we will.
Reporter - The male subject whom the women called - Has he been ruled out as a suspect or person of interest?
Chief - Everything that we have taken from those calls we have followed up on, we've cleared and we believe that there's no connection there.
Reporter - Just following up on the 911 call, you said that you don't believe that's the killer. Can you conclusively rule out the person that called 911, from inside the home, as a suspect in this case?
Chief - Can you go ahead and ask that one more time please?
Reporter - The person that was inside the home that called 911 that was not one of the roommates. Can you conclusively rule that person out as a suspect at this point?
Chief - I don't think I said that it wasn't one of the roommates. I said that it was used with the roommates phone.
Reporter - I believe somebody asked if that was the killer and you said no.
Chief - That's correct.
Reporter - Was there someone there, other than the two roommates when police responded to the home?
Chief - Will you clarify that for me?
Reporter - You're not confirming a roommate called 911 but they used the roommates phone. So, was there someone else at the home other than those two roommates?
Chief - There was other friends that had arrived at the location.
Reporter - How many?
Chief - Honestly, I'm not quite sure at this time, to be quite honest.
Reporter - Do you guys have any idea if the killer's still within the community? Or are you looking outside the community for the killer, in terms of their physical location?
Chief - We are looking everywhere that evidence would lead us. I can't say if the person's here. I can't say what community the person's in. We're utilising every resource we can to make that location of that individual and part of that is - the safety of our community is paramount and that's why we brought in the resources that we brought in to keep our community as safe as we can.
Reporter - (
inaudible) close to the border. Does that kind of make it an automatically interstate investigation? Can you comment on that?
Chief - I cannot comment on that. I'm not even aware.
Reporter - Like, if you look in Washington at all, I guess?
Chief - We're looking everywhere. I'm going to take two more questions.
Reporter - Do you still believe this attack was done by one perpetrator? And if so, how does one individual kill four people at night and not wake up the other two roommates?
Chief - Our investigation will continue to look at all avenues of that investigation. I cannot disclose any of that information. I don't even know that information at this point in time and that's why we're continuing to investigate.
Reporter - You don't know how this happened without the other two roommates hearing, or waking up or...
Chief - We do not.
Reporter - In the press release yesterday, you confirmed that the victims were found on the second and third floors of the home. Can you say which of the victims were found where?
Chief - I'm not gonna go ahead and disclose that information. They were found on the second and third floor. That's as far as we're going to go with that part of the investigation too, because all those key pieces do come to play later.
So, we do thank you. We thank you for meeting with us. We thank you for helping get information out and I can assure you we will continue to work hard. We will continue to do everything we can to solve this. Thank you.
