Idaho murders: Moscow police chief defends investigation as victim's family say they're 'over their head'
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently
MOSCOW, IDAHO: The Moscow Police Department has defended their investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students on November 13. The department’s chief James Fry spoke with NewsNation on Thursday, December 22, during which he also contrastingly declared that the authorities are still clueless about the killer(s).
Over a month has passed since the lives of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle were snatched in the early hours of November 13. Since then, a probe into the case has been continuing but many, including the victims’ families, have alleged that the cops failed to act appropriately during the first crucial 48 hours in the investigation.
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However, Fry did not think so as he told Brian Entin, “I do think they were handled properly,” before explaining, “We secured the scene quickly, we called in the state police, we did our due diligence in getting the things that we needed to do to have this be a solid case all the way through. We called in the state lab to collect evidence and I believe it was the initial stuff that we started and how we did things that will help bring this to a conclusion.”
As per reports, the Moscow police department is working with 48 FBI agents and 28 Idaho State Police personnel in the quadruple murder case, which has gripped the whole nation. Fry also went on to clear the doubts people have why so many investigative agencies are involved. He reportedly said, “I think there's some misconception out there with how we operate here in Moscow. We've called in ATF in the past, we've called in the FBI in the past on many of these big cases because they have resources that we don't, and we want to have the best investigators there.”
He also noted, “We've always done these investigations with the help of our federal and state partners. We're continuing the investigation. We're continuing to push on. Like I said from the very beginning I'm very confident we will have a conclusion to this timeline as things develop and we're following up on all those things.”
Fry then added, “We're conducting a lot of interviews and we're putting the puzzle together. There's a lot of things we don't know. We're not sure where the individual [responsible] is. Every tip helps.”
This comes after Shannon Gray, an attorney for Kaylee Goncalves’ family, reportedly blamed police for the slow probe. The lawyer said, “We want to let them know that we are holding them accountable for their decisions. And if they are in over their heads, then acknowledge that and turn the investigation over to someone who is more versed in handling these types of matters. I'm not sure they're capable of handling a quadruple murder.”