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Idaho murders: Retired cop says 'DNA is going to be tough' as crime scene was party house with many guests

The Moscow Police Department said on its website that forensic evidence collected from the crime scene is still being processed

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MOSCOW, IDAHO: As law enforcements try to ascertain the main perpetrator(s) behind the grisly murders of four University of Idaho students, experts claim that DNA evidence in the case may be arduous for investigators. Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in their beds in a house near the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13.

Besides the victims, two other roommates who also lived in the same house escaped unharmed as they slept through the attack and are not believed to be involved in the crime. The slayings have left the community tense and on alert as the police are yet to identify a murder suspect or locate a murder weapon. The Moscow Police Department said on its website that forensic evidence collected from the crime scene is still being processed. 

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According to the authorities, more than 100 pieces of physical evidence were collected and taken to the Idaho State Police crime lab. Experts say that retrieving DNA evidence may be difficult for investigators due to the nature and location of the crime. "It's five young women that occupy that space regularly and then you have one who has a boyfriend that that was there, obviously, and is one of the victims," Joseph Scott Morgan, a distinguished scholar of applied forensics at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, told Newsweek. "You're going to have their common DNA in that house just as a result of occupancy."

Neighbors have told reporters that parties and gatherings were frequently held at the house while police have said the surviving roommates summoned friends to the residence before the 911 call requesting aid was made at 11.58 am. Responding officers located the victims on the second and third floors of the house. Morgan says those people likely left crucial evidence of their presence such as skin cells and hair too. "All of that has to be taken into account," he said. "If any of these occupants had other romantic partners, perhaps that would be there with more frequency than others, then there might be a robust DNA signature left behind by those individuals... it's a big obstacle for the investigators to overcome."

"DNA is going to be tough, because of the fact that you have a college house, lots of kids in there," said Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York police sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, to the outlet, adding, "God knows how clean it was, or how much DNA you're going to find from several different donors. Any DNA that they find from an unknown subject is going to take a while to come through."

Giacalone requested the public to be patient as investigators work the case. "They're going to have to wait for these DNA tests, toxicology reports to come back," he said. "So if they have collected hair fibres, blood samples, all that stuff takes time." He added that there is "no guarantee" that even if a suspect's DNA is isolated, it would match anyone in the national CODIS database. "Then that presents a whole other problem, because now you have to look at the familial DNA aspects of it and that takes even longer," he said. "So I think that you have to give the police department a little bit of breathing room. These kinds of cases are exhausting."