Law&Crime Sidebar - Idaho Student Murders: Everything We Know Nearly One Month Later

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

It's been almost one month since four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered in their college home with no killer identified. The Law&Crime Network's Sierra Gillespie breaks down everything we know so far about the investigation.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wonderly Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. It's the unsolved case taking the nation by storm. Who is behind the quadruple murder of four University of Idaho students? Could the off-campus home itself have been a target? What's next in the investigation? We're bringing you the latest details in the high-profile case nearly one month removed from the horrific stabbings. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and Crime.

I'm Sierra Gillespie. And I want you to see just behind me, you know, the house here. There's still security around the clock, still crime scene tape around this house. More questions than answers in the unsolved quadruple University of Idaho murders. Did victim Kaylee Gonzalez have a stalker? How could the surviving roommates have heard nothing? And did a white car have anything to do with a crime? Nearly one month after the brutal murders that shocked the nation were breaking down what we know so far about the unsolved case. The story begins on November 13th when victims 21-year-old Kaylee Gonzalez, 21-year-old Madison Mogan, 20-year-old Zana Carnodal, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin arrived to an off-campus home,

at about 1.45 a.m. Gonzalez and Mogan had visited a bar in downtown Moscow that night and later a food truck where they were caught on camera. Carnotal and Chapin were at a Sigma Chi fraternity on campus. Now it wasn't until later that morning at 1158 a.m. A. A surviving roommate called 911 to report an unconscious person. Officials arrived to find the victims stabbed to death on the second and third floor of the home. Investigators announced the two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funk were not suspects at the time they were on the first floor of the home. Well, first, we don't know if they didn't hear anything. Remember, this is a college off-campus house that has a lot of visitors. You have roommates that come and go at all

hours of the night. It's a Saturday night into a Sunday morning, which is a party night on most college campuses. So if you're, if you come home and you're one of those roommates that survive and you're downstairs and you've had a few drinks and you're going to basically pass out on your bed, you might hear somebody stumbling around upstairs and it could be a normal occurrence. You could hear your roommates coming in at two, three, four in the morning. The surviving roommates broke their silence weeks after the murders in a letter read at the victim's memorial. To my four best friends who deserve to live a long happy life, my life was greatly impacted to have known these four beautiful people.

I know somewhere Zana and Ethan are together keeping each other company, watching us and telling us it's okay and that we have each other. I know it will be hard to not have the four of them in our lives, but I know Zana, Ethan, Maddy, and Kaylee would want us to live life and be happy, and they would want us to celebrate their lives. But nearly one month later, investigators still have not made any arrest, announced any suspects, or found a murder weapon. Homicide Detective Phil Waters told sidebar co-host Jesse Weber, the weapon used was likely a military knife. So from the beginning of this, they've talked about the weapon, right? And what I have seen on television, they keep saying it's a Rambo-type knife. Well, that's absolutely incorrect. It's not a Rambo-type knife.

In fact, I have read where they have identified the type of knife. And the type of knife that they're talking about is the United States Marine Corps K-bar. So when I saw this, my thought was is that is this person prior military? So the specific weapon, if they're talking about a K-bar, which is what this is, then there's a possibility that they need to look into military background of some kind. This week, we learned victim Kaylee Gonzalez had more severe stab wounds than fellow victim, Maddie Mogan. This comes after news broke that Gonzalez may have had a stalker. Her father spoke about the situation on Good Morning America. I mean, does she ever talk to you about a potential stalker or somebody that made her uncomfortable?

She did. Sidebar co-host, Anjanette Levy, was in Idaho all week. She says police are investigating that stalker claim. And the police said they looked into that and that Kaylee had maybe mentioned that to family and friends. They went back and found that this is what the police are saying on their Facebook update, that there was a man who maybe wanted to approach her. He was there at a store or a restaurant with another man. And he had, these guys were there looking to meet women, right?

And so they were saying that this guy kind of was hanging around. He was near her and maybe wanted to approach her, you know, to initiate some type of conversation. The police said they've interviewed those two people and do not believe they're involved in this, in this homicide. So they're wondering if that is what Kaylee was referring to when she mentioned something about a stalker. But it sounds like they're still looking for more information about that claim and they want to vet that a little more and explore that a little more. because in these crimes, it's all about ruling things out. You know, you rule things in, but you also rule them out. And ruling them out can help you, you know, get a little closer to the answers you're looking for.

Also new this week, Moscow officials headed back inside the active crime scene to retrieve personal items for the victim's families. And it's important to me. It's important for us as a department to go in and take care of the families and get the items for them so that, they can have some of those back and some of those memories back that are fond memories. And I'm a dad. I understand. I understand the, you know, the meaning behind some of those things. It may be something that, you know, we gave one of our children or something. And we're just trying to bring some of that healing. As for the college home itself, forensic death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan says that many people traveling inside and outside of the home could make narrowing down a suspect with DNA even more difficult. You know, when you think about it, you know, you think, well, wow, we've got this evidence-rich environment.

We're going to be able to get this thing shut down really quick, you know, come to a conclusion. And it's amazing many times the more data you have, the more complex a case becomes. Most people in their day-to-day lives don't think about just touching surfaces and going through the motions and that sort of thing. But every time you touch something, you leave a trace behind. And in this particular case, if you have people coming and going, they're leaving these kind of slough skin cells everywhere. That's where we get touched DNA. And then we think about the victims in this particular case and the DNA that was left behind as a result of blood. But you have to think about something else.

If you had any of the individuals within the structure that lived there that had intimate relationships with anybody else, that could provide, you know, an evidence-rich source as well. But perhaps the biggest piece of news we've received in weeks, police ask for more information about a white vehicle scene near the crime scene the morning of the murders. Well, this came out late Wednesday. They put out an update after they cleared the belongings of the three victims out of their home. The police put out an update on Facebook. And really, this is the most specific call for information that we've really received other than them asking for information about Ethan and Zana's whereabouts. on Saturday, November 12th. They released some stock photos of a Honda-A-Lontra between the years,

they believe, of 2011 and 2013. They don't have a license plate number for the vehicle, but they are asking people if they have that vehicle, if they own that vehicle, if they know somebody with that vehicle to call in, because the police say that this vehicle was in the immediate area of the King Road home the morning of the homicides. reports about that Alantra are now being routed to the FBI call center so that they can all be organized. Investigators have also now released body camera footage taken the morning of the murders in hopes that it will assist with the investigation. Hey, is that beer? Is that beer in your hand? Yeah, I'm 21. You got your idea on you?

I don't. I'll take it back to my apartment if you need. Okay. I'm sorry. You have a driver's license? I don't have it. No, in general. What stays it through? I don't. I don't. Okay. I'm just going to check if everything's good.

Since they're not open, I'll let you hang on to them. Okay. So I'll get charged with anything? No, no. Okay. But it's just enough for me to stop. Check. Make sure you're 21 walking around through the public.

All right. Moscow 77. Check one with that? Am I going to take off? No, let me run this through dispatch. Make sure you're actually 21 and give me a fake birthday or anything. Well, yeah. All right.

It's funny Yeah, I think that's the first one I've seen Yeah One So if that comes back good Yeah, you're free to go Are these, you're your boys? No, I don't know that

Okay You guys taking off on me? Yeah, we thought you were talking You all three turned around And I put my flashudge You said, hey, come here You guys all turned around and walked away I thought it was just like

A fake person, honestly Yeah How many fake people are out here That you've experienced? How's your night going? Pretty good. That's good. It's trying to stay warm.

Is that y'all's car right there? Yeah, so they downgraded us from patrol cars. They gave us hybrids to save on fuel. There you go. Smart move. Much let me know that that actually exists. I'll catch you this, all right? No, always.

Why don't you guys all have to drink tonight? A couple beers. Beer's? Yeah. Any hard liquor or anything like that? No, no. Come on, guys. All right, if you guys all want to stand somewhere in this area.

Sidebar co-host, Anjanette Levy was in Moscow, Idaho, all week. And she told us the incident is still fresh. And for many there, there's still fear. It's interesting because I was talking to some students last night. We were out on the streets, trying to get a feel for how the students are feeling. And really, a lot of people were terrified when this happened. Understandably so. They were given the option to go home and take classes virtually. And we actually met up with some people who are taking their classes virtually while they're here in Moscow, Idaho. So they are not going out. They are not going to class. I was told last night by one of the students, he believes in some of his classes, they're either half full,

maybe a third full, because so many people have opted not to return to campus after this happened and after the Thanksgiving break. So there are people who are still fearful, but there were people walking around last night, and it was dark out. So they feel that the school, the University of Idaho, has done a good job with ramping up security. There are some people, though, who just simply didn't want to talk to us. And a lot of the female students I approached didn't want to talk on camera with us. And I think there are still some fear here. But some of the students said to me, well, this was targeted or isolated or things like that.

So I think it's wise that everybody still remain vigilant because there's been a lot of back and forth about whether this was targeted or not. So I think there's still some fear here, but some people say they feel that there's been a good job done on getting that security in place. Some people, though, are still kind of saddened and freaked out by this, understandably so, because there hasn't been an arrest. And it could take some time for an arrest. There's a lot to go through. You're going to have to get that DNA testing back, the analysis. You're going to have to see if there's mixtures in there.

Do interviews. They've been conducting hundreds of interviews. So there will also be, I think, a lot of digital evidence in this case. They're going to have to go through all of the victims, social media accounts and phones. So that's often now a big piece of these investigations, especially involving young people. You're going to be going through all of their digital data, looking at who they've been talking to, where they've been, and trying to piece together what's called victimology. Now, if anyone has more information about the murders, tips, suspicions, or really any information you believe is important, please reach out to the Moscow police at 2.4. 208-883-7-1-80, or you can email in all that information at tipline at

c.moscow.id.org. Thanks, everyone. You can watch and listen to Longcrime Sidebar Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen. I'll see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.