Slain Idaho students' relatives and friends get death threats as investigation crawls into second month
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently.
MOSCOW, IDAHO: The families and friends of the four University of Idaho murder victims are in mourning, and police have been struggling to zero in on a suspect or a murder weapon for over 30 days. Things appear to have reached a breaking point as some friends and family members have also received death threats, according to reports.
The information was made public by Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier on Tuesday, December 13, one month after the murders of best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21 years old, and Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, who were all stabbed to death with a Rambo-style knife while they slept in an off-campus house on November 13. Captain Lanier stated the escalating rumors surrounding the killings have affected the victims' families and close friends, revealing some "have had death threats." Lanier's statements came in reaction to social media investigators who have been hurling criticism at the force.
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Captain Lanier stated, "It's been devastating in some ways — in many ways — it just re-victimizes folks who have already suffered this terrible trauma." He stated that it "wasn't chaos," but rather "somber" when questioned about the atmosphere when he arrived at the scene on the day of the killings.
Lanier disclosed that when he arrived, a large number of worried friends and family members were already there trying to determine whether any of their loved ones were inside the house. The captain claimed that on that day, word of the quadruple murders spread like wildfire.
Lanier said, "It was incredibly hard on the community but it was also really, really hard on our officers," adding that some of them were "very young" and it was their "first, real major crime scene." Police in Idaho are still deeply involved in the investigation. Over the past month, they have cleared a number of persons but have not named any suspects.
Law enforcement has even bagged the victims' hands in an effort to gather evidence as investigators vigorously look for answers to the two most important questions: who and why. Authorities are attempting to preserve any skin, hair, or other DNA evidence under the victims' fingernails that might connect them to the killer.
Meanwhile, the lack of progress in the probe has drawn significant criticism. Kaylee Goncalves' distraught father has referred to the local police as "cowards" and said they should be searching for a "sadistic male" instead.