Live U of I updates: Victim’s sister talks about phone calls, investigation in TV interview

Shortly before noon Sunday, the Moscow Police Department responded to a call about an unconscious individual at a house near the University of Idaho campus. Upon arrival, police found four bodies.

Police and the university identified the deceased as Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.

Authorities are slowly releasing information about the event. Here is the latest.

Friday, Nov. 18

2 p.m.

Alivea Goncalves, sister of Kaylee Goncalves, went on the TV show “Inside Edition” to talk about what she called her own investigation into the killings.

“We are not getting any answers and we are not going to settle for that,” she said in an interview.

Goncalves said her sister called a contact named Jack in her phone several times before she died.

“At 2:26 a.m., Kaylee starts to call Jack,” she said. “Kaylee calls Jack six times between 2:26 a.m. and 2:44 a.m. From 2:44 to 2:52 Maddie calls Jack three times, then Kaylee makes a final call to him at 2:52 a.m.”

Mogen, who is Maddie, and Kaylee Goncalves were out together in Moscow on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“I found neighbors’ camera Ring footage so that I can verify that the Uber driver took her home,” Alivea said about her sister.

Moscow police released a new map and timeline of the whereabouts of the students, indicating all four victims were last seen at their residence just before 2 a.m.

11:30 a.m.

The University of Idaho announced on Twitter that tips can now be emailed to the Moscow Police Department at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.

9:30 a.m.

Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell — who became in charge of media relations Wednesday afternoon — told the Idaho Statesman that the female victims’ two additional roommates were home at the time of the attack and are cooperating with police.

Snell said in a late Thursday email that there were no suspects or people of interest, and that no one has been cleared by police.

“We continue working towards the goal of developing a suspect and excluding individuals,” Snell said.

Snell also addressed a question regarding a VandalAlert that was issued Sept. 12. It told students to keep their doors locked and stay inside after Moscow police received a report of a man with a knife threatening a group of students on Paradise Path. The man was later identified and cooperated with police.

Snell said he can’t say “for sure” that the incidents aren’t related, but “it is not believed to be related to this event.”

Thursday, Nov. 17

8:13 p.m.

Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell told the Statesman by email that autopsies were complete but that “contents of the reports will be reviewed by detectives and not released to the public.”

3:45 p.m.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt confirmed that the cause of death for the students was stabbing.

Mabbutt told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News that it would have had to have been “a large knife.” She also added that there was a “fair amount of blood.”

Mabbutt confirmed that the stabbing happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, and that DNA samples from clothing, bedding and nail clippings still needed to be tested at a forensics lab.

A report on the autopsies posted to Facebook listed “Homicide — Murder” as the cause of death.

3 p.m.

Aubrie Goncalves, sister of victim Kaylee, posted on Instagram Wednesday that all four students “were murdered” and sent a message urging to University of Idaho students to leave town.

“To the students of the University of Idaho that are still staying around campus, leave,” Aubrie said in the post. “Your grades are severely less important than your lives. I wish all the students of U of I safety and peace.”

“I am no longer living for just myself, I am living for you guys as well,” she wrote. “And to all four victims, Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan, I may be young, but I promise each and every one of you, I will do everything in my power to help find and put your murderer in prison to rot for the rest of their life.”

Students already have been leaving town in bunches, while others who remained say they are anxious, according to previous Statesman reporting. One local coffee shop, Cafe Artista, posted on Instragram that it is closing daily at 3 p.m. for the foreseeable future so staff can go home in daylight.

2 p.m.

Boise State University is having a candlelight vigil at 5:30 p.m. on campus. This previously was scheduled to take place Wednesday.

12:45 p.m.

Idaho State Police is increasing its presence near Moscow schools on Thursday and Friday, according to a Facebook post from the Moscow School District.

Superintendent Greg Bailey told the Idaho Statesman that ISP officers had replaced Moscow Police Department officers patrolling the area to free up the Moscow police to work on the investigation. Each school in the district has doors that automatically lock, and visitors must be buzzed in, he said.

“We’re holding school as usual,” Bailey said by phone. “We always have our security systems up.”

Wednesday, Nov. 16

4:45 p.m.

After telling the Moscow and University of Idaho communities for days that there was no ongoing danger following the killing of four students early Sunday morning, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, “We cannot say that there is no threat to the community.”

Fry spoke first at what was the first press conference held by authorities — three full days after the slayings.

“We do not have a suspect at this time, and that individual is still out there,” Fry said.

He repeated that evidence and analysis at the scene indicated that it was “an isolated, targeted” attack, but also urged people to “stay vigilant” and “be aware of your surroundings at all times.”

Fry also said that the four victims were stabbed with a knife and that there was no sign of forced entry at the house where they were found. Autopsies were being conducted Wednesday.

The press conference also included comments from University of Idaho President C. Scott Green, who teared up while paying tribute to the victims, and Col. Kedrick Wills of the Idaho State Police, which is helping with the investigation.

“The loss of these young lives is just simply beyond comprehension. ... While our small community is certainly not immune to such things, it’s not a situation our close-knit campus is used to dealing with,” Green said.

Fry was peppered with questions about previous comments on there being no public threat, on the pace of the investigation and about the fact there had been no media briefing prior to Wednesday, with little information released.

“The reality is there’s still someone out there who committed four horrible, horrible crimes. ... So there is a threat out there still, possibly,” he said, while acknowledging that he should have had a press conference prior to Wednesday.

“We have a lot of information coming in ... and the reality is I probably should have been standing here a day or so ago,” Fry said.

Fry also said there were two other people home at the time of the attacks; he said they were not injured. After a question, he said it was the two other roommates who shared the home with three of the victims, and he went out of his way to not refer to them as witnesses.

Police also would not reveal who made the 911 call at around noon Sunday, at least 9 hours after the fatal attacks.

1 p.m.

Associated Students of Boise State University, the student government body at Boise State, announced that it is holding a candlelit vigil for the four victims.

A candlelit vigil will also be held in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Pacific time. The vigil will take place at 105 Northwest Blvd, according to a social media post.

12:15 p.m.

The University of Idaho is offering free admission to students, faculty and the public to Wednesday night’s Vandals men’s home basketball game, and Thursday night’s women’s home volleyball game, the university announced Tuesday.

“In a time of difficulty for our community, coming together collectively can help,” the U of I said in a statement. “A moment of silence honoring the four UI student victims will take place prior to the national anthem in both games.”

The men’s basketball teams hosts Cal State Bakersfield at 6 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. The women’s volleyball team hosts Northern Arizona at 6 p.m. Pacific time Thursday at the Memorial Gym, on the U of I campus.

Fans who already bought single-game tickets to either event will receive a full refund, the U of I said.

11:35 a.m.

The Moscow Police Department announced a 3:30 p.m. Pacific time news conference in the department’s training room, off Southview Avenue in Moscow. The Idaho Statesman will have a reporter attending.

The University of Idaho will also join the police investigation press conference. U of I President Scott Green will deliver remarks, and university leaders are scheduled to answer questions.

The press conference will be livestreamed by the Idaho Statesman here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article268845717.html

10:52 a.m.

Moscow police still had yet to name a suspect — or suspects — in the slaying of four University of Idaho students on early Sunday morning, nor had they announced any arrests.

Police have continued to ask for patience and understanding from the greater community over the lack of details in the information they’ve released.

“At this time, we have shared every piece of information that we can without compromising the ongoing investigation,” Moscow police Chief James Fry Jr. said in a Tuesday evening news release.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt did not returned multiple requests on Monday and Tuesday from the Idaho Statesman for more information. On Wednesday morning, a legal assistant to Mabbutt, who is an attorney with her own law firm in Moscow, told a Statesman reporter that she was in Spokane to oversee the autopsies of the four students’ bodies. Spokane’s KREM TV reported Tuesday that the Latah County Coroner’s Office contracts autopsies out to the Spokane County Medical Examiner.

Mabbutt, Latah County’s coroner the past 16 years, told Spokane’s KXLY TV that her preliminary investigation showed the four U of I students were stabbed to death. Stacy Chapin, mother of 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who was one of the victims, told the Statesman Tuesday in a Facebook message that Moscow police phoned her earlier that morning and shared the same information.

Despite widespread community speculation — fueled in part by the limited information police have released so far — there is no indication that substance use was involved in the deaths, Mabbutt told the TV station.

‘Not feeling safe,’ University of Idaho students are craving information, fleeing Moscow

Tuesday, Nov. 15

7:45 p.m.

The Moscow Police Department reiterated on Tuesday evening in a news release that it does not believe there is an ongoing threat to the community and that evidence points toward a targeted attack. The release appeared to be a response to the fact that no suspect has been named and no one is in custody, which has led to “concerns about public safety,” police acknowledged.

“We hear you, and we understand your fears,” the department said in the release.

The department also said that is has shared any information possible without “compromising the ongoing investigation,” and that it is working with Idaho State Police investigators and the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office, among other agencies.

“This incident highlighted that violence is possible in our own community and in every community,” police said in the release. “Until this case is completely resolved, we ask the community to continue to be vigilant, alert, report suspicious activity and help us to be the eyes and ears in our community.”

The release concluded with, “We hope to have more information tomorrow.”

Who were the four students killed at the University of Idaho? A look into their lives

5:45 p.m.

A vigil originally scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 16 was rescheduled to the week of Nov. 28, the University of Idaho announced in a tweet. Many students and Moscow residents have left the town early for Thanksgiving and other reasons, according to previous Statesman reporting.

4:30 p.m.

An FBI spokesperson told the Statesman the federal agency is assisting Moscow police with the homicide investigation.

“Although I can’t discuss specific efforts, the FBI often provides investigative, forensic, and technical assistance to local law enforcement agencies, if requested,” said Sandra Yi Barker, spokesperson for the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office, which covers Idaho.

2:45 p.m.

All three women lived in the house in which the victims were found, according to Maya Hippenstiel, who was a close friend of Kernodle. Hippenstiel also told the Statesman that two other women lived in the house.

The one man at the house, Chapin, was dating Kernodle and was staying over for the night, according to Chapin’s mother, Stacey Chapin.

12:45 p.m.

Latah County sheriff’s deputy Scott Mikolajczyk told the Statesman that he’s seen and heard of many community members leaving town as a result of the incident.

A community member who works at a local sporting goods store, Natasha Rodgers, said the lack of information from police and city officials has contributed to the sense of grief in the community.

“It’s just really surreal,” Rodgers said in an interview. “A lot of people are not feeling safe because of the lack of information they’ve been giving to the public. But we’re still going on. We’re grieving and we feel so incredibly sad for what’s happened to this little town, but there’s an unnerving sense of not feeling safe.”

11:15 a.m.

Ethan Chapin’s mother, Stacey Chapin, told the Statesman that the four students were stabbed. She rebutted speculation about the case, including a New York Times report that quoted a Moscow official calling it a “crime of passion.”

“They were stabbed. We got the call,” Chapin said. “I don’t want people to make assumptions about our kids. It wasn’t drugs and it was definitely not some passion thing between these kids. Someone entered the house.”

9:45 a.m.

Moscow police said investigators believe an “edged weapon such as a knife” was used in the attack. Based on the preliminary investigation, investigators believe that the attack was an isolated and targeted incident and that there is no imminent threat to the community, police said.

Police said they are following all leads and are identifying “persons of interest,” but no suspects are in custody. You can read more here.

Idaho State Police and state and federal law enforcement agencies are assisting the Moscow Police Department with the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police at 208-883-7054.

More coverage

You can read the Statesman’s complete coverage of the event by clicking on the stories below:

Who were the four students killed at the University of Idaho? A look into their lives

‘Not feeling safe,’ University of Idaho students are craving information, fleeing Moscow

‘Operating with heavy hearts’: Idaho football coach sees toll of tragic deaths again

Moscow police: ‘Edged weapon’ used in University of Idaho attack that killed 4 students

‘We certainly have a crime’: Police search for suspect in University of Idaho homicides

What we know about the 4 deaths at the University of Idaho as police investigate

Watch: University of Idaho student plays instrument near dorms to honor students who died

‘So hard not to panic’: University of Idaho community reacts online to student homicides

Moscow police identify 4 University of Idaho students found dead in reported homicide

Update: Four University of Idaho students found dead near campus after reported homicides