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IT'S IN THE BLOOD: Ex-medical examiner slams coroner's dismissal of toxicology reports in Idaho murders

Dr Michael Baden said toxicology reports could hold important clues to the case after Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt dismissed the tests as irrelevant to the killings

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MOSCOW, IDAHO: A forensic pathologist and former medical examiner has said toxicology reports for the four murdered University of Idaho students could hold important clues to the case that remains unsolved several weeks later. In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in an off-campus three-story rented home. Law enforcement is yet to identify the suspect(s) in the case. Authorities have said that the gory scene where the students were killed was the “worst they’ve ever seen." 

"From the toxicology, you could learn a great deal about where the decedents were during the hours before their death, what, if any, drugs they were taking, their state of mind," Dr Michael Baden said, according to Fox News Digital. Baden's comments come after Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt dismissed the tests last week as irrelevant to the killings. "They can be related to cause or manner of death, but they are not in this case," Mabbutt told Fox News.

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The tests have yet to come back from the lab. Meanwhile, the Moscow Police Department refused to comment on whether toxicology reports are still pending. 

Meanwhile, a local shop owner recently claimed that Goncalves would beg her friends to walk closely behind all the time as she was "terrified" of a stalker who was reportedly following her around. Following her and her three friends' brutal murder, several reports claimed that Goncalves had a stalker. However, Moscow police have denied having any knowledge of it.

A newly-unearthed surveillance footage believed to be taken early on November 13, 2022, shows murdered University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen walking in downtown Moscow, accompanied by a man, just hours before they were brutally murdered. Meanwhile, the case remains unsolved with no weapons or suspect even after a month of the brutal slaying.