U of I homicides remain unsolved. What to know about the Moscow police investigating

“Home to the University of Idaho.”

Those are the words written above the badge of every officer within the Moscow Police Department. The 36-person police force oversees the buzzing college town of Moscow — which rhymes with ”Costco” — and, now, a quadruple homicide case that remains unsolved.

On Nov. 13, the North Idaho university town was thrown in the national spotlight when four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in an off-campus home. The four victims — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — were found dead in a King Road home just behind new Greek row.

Moscow Police Chief James Fry and his department are investigating one of the largest homicide cases in the city’s recent history. More than 100 law enforcement personnel are assisting the local force, including the Idaho State Police, the FBI and the Latah County Sheriff’s Office.

Who makes up the Moscow Police Department?

At full capacity, the Moscow Police Department has 36 sworn officer positions, which range from chief to officer and everything in between. But agency spokesperson Rachel Doniger told the Statesman by email Friday that the force had five vacant positions.

The Moscow Police Department has assigned at least four detectives, 24 patrol officers, and five support staff personnel for the homicide, according to multiple news releases. That total encompasses over 80% of the department’s staff, including sworn and non-sworn employees.

The mid-sized department polices a city with a population of about 26,000, plus nearly another 12,000 college students who live in the community nine months out of the year.

Fry, a 27-year veteran of the force, took over as police chief in April 2016, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported. He replaced former Chief David Duke, who joined the department in 1999 and headed the agency for five years.

Before Fry’s appointment, was captain of the agency’s campus division, which oversees the University of Idaho’s police force. That division is now run by 25-year department veteran Capt. Tyson Berrett.

A Vandal alumnus, Fry graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s in curriculum and instruction, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported.

“We care about this community, I care about this community,” Fry told reporters during a Nov. 16 news conference. “I’ve worked here for 27 years, I want this community to be the safest community around.”

Members of the Moscow Police Department’s Investigation Unit and other officers are assisting with the homicide case, Doniger told the Statesman by email. The unit is overseen by Sgt. John Lawrence, who joined the department in 1997 and handles most of the department’s major crimes.

The five additional officers that have been assigned to the homicide investigation include: nearly 17-year veteran Detective Danette Vargas; 14-year veteran Cpl. Justin Deane; four-year veteran Detective Cpl. Brett Payne; 22-year veteran Admin Sgt. Dustin Blaker; and Detective Lawrence Mowery, a forensic computer detective who has been with the department since 2018.

Capt. Anthony Dahlinger previously worked at the Latah County Sheriff’s Office, is nearly an 11-year veteran of the Moscow Police Department and last year was promoted to captain of the services division, which oversees the Investigation Unit. The services division also oversees records, code and parking enforcement, reception, school resource officers, evidence, property and licensing.

Dahlinger declined to comment on how many officers have been trained to investigate a homicide and what the training entailed.

Former Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney, who now consults for other law enforcement agencies, said typically an agency like Moscow has sent one or two of its detectives to training on homicide investigations and crime scenes. Raney also said that while trainings are key, there is a important difference between training and investigating a real homicide — which is why smaller departments rely on outside agencies.

The Idaho State Police and FBI have brought in resources, such as behavior analysis unit investigators and the state police mobile crime scene team, to assist with the case. Raney said agencies like Moscow are “heavily dependent on outside agencies for resources.” Idaho State Police also has experienced detectives and forensics, as well as more manpower to help with patrolling through the community, Raney said.

“I don’t know that any (agency) could independently investigate a crime of this magnitude,” Raney told the Statesman.

The Moscow Police Department’s budget totals about 35% of the city’s general fund in this fiscal year, which began in October, and has steadily increased in recent years, according to the city budget. Out of the city’s $20.3 million budget, $7.2 million will go toward the police department this year.

A little less than half of the police budget covers salaries and wages for the department. Fry is paid $58 an hour, according to Moscow police, which amounts to an annual salary of nearly $121,000 a year.

Moscow homicides remain rare

Homicides are still exceedingly rare in Moscow, with a total of five reported murders occurring in the college town since 2011, according to data from Idaho State Police’s Crime in Idaho reports. The last reported homicide was seven years ago in 2015, the data showed.

In all those cases — except for the 2011 murder of 22-year-old graduate student Katy Benoit — the Moscow Police Department was able to arrest a suspect, who was then prosecuted. Benoit was shot 11 times by a 31-year-old University of Idaho professor whom she previously had a romantic relationship with. The professor died by suicide after he killed Benoit.

In 2016, John Lee was sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 shooting spree that left three people dead. Lee was arrested by police just hours after the shooting.

The 2010 disappearance and subsequent murder of Rachael Anderson wasn’t solved for close to three years until authorities arrested, and later convicted, Anderson’s soon-to-be ex-husband of her murder.

Over the last five years, the most common crimes handled by the Moscow Police Department were simple assault, theft, destruction of property and drug violations, according to data from state police.

The Moscow Police Department cleared about one-fourth of its cases last year, according to Idaho State Police crime reports. Comparatively, the state reported the Lewiston Police Department, which polices a community of roughly 33,000, had a clearance rate of about 44%.

The Moscow Police Department’s clearance rate took a dip in 2020 down to 25.1%, after having a rate of 31% in 2019, according to the state police reports.