Law&Crime Sidebar - Idaho Student Murders: Top Discoveries So Far

Episode Date: December 26, 2022

Nearly six weeks after four University of Idaho students were murdered in their college home, known facts about the investigation are clouded by internet rumors and speculation. The Law&Crime Network's Jesse Weber breaks down the top discoveries in this case so far.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.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry 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. We're going to continue to work this case. We're going to continue to work into the completion. We have a lot of resources that we're utilizing. But we still ask for your help. We ask for any tips that you might have. have anything that you might be able to give us. We're going to take a look at those. We go over some of the biggest discoveries

in the continuing investigation into the University of Idaho quadruple murder case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Maddie has such a bright future as all these kids did. The world is a darker place without them, but the light of their. the light of their love and memories will always guide us all.

At the time of this recording, we still have no arrests, no identifiable suspect, and no recovered murder weapon in the University of Idaho quadruple murder case. This is the killings of 21-year-old Kaylee Gonzalez, 21-year-old Madison Mogan, 20-year-old Zaner Kurnodal, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. This is all happening back on November 13th. Their bodies were found in their off-campus rental home. And while we don't have these major brenton, these major brental. breakthroughs that we're all hoping for, there have been some significant discoveries in this

case that we want to talk about. And the first one, one of the major discoveries is the house itself, because we learned where the victim's bodies were found and presumably killed. I'm talking about the third and second floors. But that's not all, because we also learned that the four victims were not the only ones in that house. That's right. Two roommates were on the ground floor that very night, and they were not harmed in any way. So that brings up some very interesting questions. For example, why weren't they attacked? Where did the killer or the killers enter from? What was the order of the killings? How did the killer or killers escape the house? And how did these roommates not hear anything? Well, we don't know

where they entered. We don't know if they entered through the front door or the second story slider that goes into the kitchen. Just from law enforcement reports and video, they're spending a lot of time at the sliding glass door. Looks like they're throwing some fingerprint dust on there, maybe some some other chemicals on there to see if they can find any kind of evidence of blood or fingerprints. But I didn't really see them spending a whole lot of time on that front door so they could have entered up to the backside where there's a tree line. But right now, there's no reports on which way they did enter. There's a ladder on the side of the house people have been talking about. We don't know if that ladder was there before, if it was used to

gain entry somewhere else. It's unknown at this time. It's all speculation. Now, the roommates have been ruled out as suspects. But what we also know is that there was this 911 phone call that was placed by either one or both of the roommates the next day, it's possible there were other people there as well. That 911 phone call hasn't been released. So we don't know what the contents of it are. We don't know what was said. It's definitely going to provide a lot more details for us to understand. But it should be noted that when we talk about communication, the authorities have had a mess with communication. They were back and forth on whether the students were the target of this attack or the house was the target. And that was between the

prosecutor's office and the Moscow. police department. But speaking of communication, another big discovery or revelation in this case was how these people die. And that is that they were stabbed to death, which if anyone knows is very different from shootings. Stabbings are up close. They are intimate. And many times, and as we've seen it here on the long crime network, it's arguably personal. Now, I'm not entertaining any speculation at that point, but this is what we have to think about with this kind of attack. And what's also been reported that some have had defensive wounds indicating that they may have fought off the attacker or the attackers, which creates a number of different questions in terms of forensics and DNA and what

was left behind at the crime scene or on the attack or attackers. As I mentioned, no murder weapon has been recovered, but it has been indicated that this was a sharp, fixed blade weapon, presumably of knife. There was even reporting that it was possibly a K-bar-style 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. I should tell you that the general manager of a building supply store in Moscow told the media

that the police had asked him whether he sold anyone. Kbar brand knives, but police indicated that they aren't solely looking for that type of knife. Now, things took a very interesting turn when it was reported by the coroner, Kathy Mabbitt, that she spoke with the Gonzalez family about these autopsy findings. And that's when we heard from Stephen Gonzalez, Kaylee's father, that the wounds were different than Maddie's, that Kaylee's wounds were different from Maddie's, perhaps more excessive. And if that is true, it again makes you wonder whether Kaylee was the target. But this created drama as well. The coroner describing the gruesome details became a particular point of issue with the Gonzávez family attorney.

I have issues with the coroner, number one, you know, expressing all of her opinions over the media at, I think, inappropriate times, number one. Number two, you know, making a personal phone Paul and describing graphic details of what she discovered and what she, to the family, I don't think was beneficial in any way. I don't think she did it out of a place of spite. I think she did it because she was, you know, trying to give them more details. But once you hear certain details, it's not helpful to the family. Another big discovery in this case was the release of body cam footage from the night of the murders. This became a very big topic of conversation amongst people online about what this video shows, or maybe I should say maybe shows. So in the body cam footage,

officers stop students for possible underage drinking. This is unrelated to what happened to the victims, but this stop is actually occurring near the house. And as the officers are writing up these students at around 312 a.m., you can see in the far right-hand corner by this little light, what appears to be people moving quickly away. Are they joggers? Are they running? Who are they? It's not clear.

Now, those online have speculated that these could be the killers, but again, pure speculation. But that is not all. Because then you hear this weird, high-pitched sound, and some have wondered if it was a scream. All right. get this problem back we don't know what that is we don't it could be a car it could be a voice we just don't know it is interesting because authorities believe that the murders happen sometime between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and why this is also important is because a neighbor of the victims came out and he said that he might have heard a scream on the night of the murders

So I heard, like, you know, a car shut, a door shut, and then, like, you know, an apartment door shut. Like, also, like, a scream. But, like, you know, that's like, that's like normal. Like, I always hear, like, screaming almost every Saturday night. So, like, I don't really, like, think of it. And so, but like, yeah, just looking back, I was like, I wonder, I wonder if, like, you know, that wasn't just like some drunk dude, like, screaming, like, it's actually like the murder. As we look back at some of the major discoveries in the Idaho murder.

investigation, we have to talk about some other footage. So let's do a little bit of a summary here first. We know that Ethan and Zana were at a party at the Sigma Kai fraternity house that night, which is actually not too far away from the house in question. They didn't get home until around 145 a.m. As far as Madison and Kaylee, they were reportedly went to a bar. Then they were seen on footage going to a food truck at around 140 a.m. And they got back home at around 156 a.m. but in released footage, you can hear Madison and Kaylee walking and talking down the street about this person named Adam. So Kaylee says, Maddie, what did you say to Adam? So Kaylee says, Maddie, what did you say to Adam?

To which Madison replies, I told Adam everything. Now, the Gonzalez family came out and said that they believed that this Adam is a bartender at a local pub and indicated that police ruled this person out. And also, the guy that they're walking with in that video, he's been ruled out as a suspect as well. So again, this doesn't appear to further the case, but either way, just how incredibly eerie and chilling to see these girls only a few hours before they were killed. But I think the most appropriate place to conclude is arguably with the biggest discovery in this case, and that is the white Hyundai Alantra. You see, the police have asked the public's help in identifying a 2011-2013 white Hyundai Alantra that they believe was near the crime scene at the time of the murders.

We have many tips that have come in on the 2011 to the 2013 Hyundai Alantra. But what we're asking is anybody else who still hasn't sent in a tip, if you own one or if you know somebody who was driving one the day before or the day after, to please send that tip in. Through our tips, through our leads, some of the evidence that came in, we start to identify patterns. And like we said earlier, we are confident that the occupant or occupants of that vehicle have information that's critical to this investigation.

We also understand that even though there's sometimes a fascination with a particular case, some people simply don't see the news and may not know that we're looking for it. So if we get the word out there, hey, maybe your neighbor has one in the garage that they don't drive very often. and maybe there's one that's just not on the registration database. Let us know. So far, we have a list of approximately 22,000 registered white Hyundai Alonteris that fit into our criteria that we're sorting through. That's an awful lot of information, but it may not be all of them.

Now, it was reported that a car matching that very description was found in Eugene, Oregon. It was abandoned on the side of the road. It sustained considerable damage, but after further investigation, it was discovered that the car was registered out of Colorado, and it was involved in a crash, and it is believed that neither the car nor the owner are connected to the murders. So as of now, the public is encouraged to still come forward if they have very pertinent and relevant information. In fact, anyone with information is asked to call the tip line at 208-8-8-8-3-7-180 or email, tip line at c. moscow. dot us and digital media

can be submitted at fbi.gov slash Moscow, Idaho. And that's all we have for you here on sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts,

Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to 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.