Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle: Police unable to explain FIVE-HOUR gap in tragic pair's movements
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently
MOSCOW, IDAHO: Authorities are still clueless about a five-hour gap in the reported whereabouts of University of Idaho victims Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin the night before they and two other students were viciously stabbed to death.
Moscow police are working tirelessly to solve the murders of Chapin, 20, Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, who were found stabbed to death on November 13 on the second and third floors of an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. The quadruple homicide is believed to have been committed using a "fixed-blade knife" as the students were asleep. Their roommates -- Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke -- were reportedly in the house at the time of the slayings but were unharmed. They are said to have woken up hours later and called 911 after discovering the bodies. Idaho police confirmed that Mortensen and Funke are not considered suspects.
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Investigators determined that Chapin and Kernodle were last seen at a party at the Sigma Chi fraternity house on the University of Idaho Campus at 735 Nez Perce Drive at around 9 pm local time. At approximately 1.45 am, the couple is believed to have returned to the residence at 1122 King Road. NewsNation's Brian Entin reported that the frat house where they partied is walking distance from the home and would not take more than 15 minutes to reach. Furthermore, there is no reported information from any Sigma Chi members who may have been at the party and seen Chapin and Kernodle.
"We do want to figure out what occurred between 9 pm and 1.45 am, who [Chapin and Kernodle] were with, and what was going on with them," Moscow police told Entin. "Maybe any routes or passes they took to go home. Those types of things, potentially, are critical to the investigation." Authorities are hoping that as students come back to campus, they will be able to help with more information about the duo's whereabouts. "We want to talk to those people. That's important for us," the police said.
The murdered students were reportedly found on the second and third floor of the residence, while the two roommates living on the ground floor — Funke and Mortensen — were spared. Authorities are trying to determine why they were spared and whether they slept through the attacks. Investigators said that each of the victims was stabbed multiple times and that the attacker used a "fixed-blade knife" to carry out the bloodbath. However, police are yet to identify a suspect as of Tuesday night, November 29.
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While authorities are trying to find out who is responsible, they have ruled out a number of potential suspects -- including Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend Jack DeCoeur, the man seen behind Goncalves and Mogen at the food truck, the person who drove the girls home, surviving roommates Mortensen and Funke, as well as the friends called to the house by the surviving roommates on the morning of November 13. While law enforcement officials believe the attack was "targeted," they have asked the Moscow community to remain vigilant. Meanwhile, University of Idaho administrators have ramped up security around campus for the remainder of the semester.