Police find no evidence slain University of Idaho student had stalker
Police officials have not been unable to confirm reports that one of the slain University of Idaho students, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, had a stalker.
“Investigators have looked extensively into information they received about Kaylee Goncalves having a stalker,” The Moscow Police Department said in an update on the investigation on Tuesday night. “They have pursued hundreds of pieces of information related to this topic and have not been able to verify or identify a stalker.”
Police made the announcement after law enforcement officials said earlier Tuesday that they were looking into reports that Goncalves had a stalker.
“We’re aware of these various reports and we’re investigating,” Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell told ABC News.
More than a week after Goncalves and three other students — Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21 — were stabbed to death while they were sleeping in their off-campus home, police have not arrested any suspects.
Snell said that he remained “optimistic” that detectives will make a break in the case soon — as the Moscow community lives in fear with the killer still on the loose.
“There is a piece of evidence out there somewhere that’s gonna help us solve this case,” he said.
“We continue to work hard and we want the community to know what we’re doing,” he added.
Kaylee’s parents, Steve and Kristi Goncalves, said police told them the killer was “sloppy” and left a mess of evidence. Police said it appears that the victims were targeted although the motive remains unclear.
“It was a complex and terrible crime and it will take some time to resolve,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry warned on Monday.
“We believe they’re targeted because we take a totality of all the circumstances we’re looking at. Do we know any one person that was targeted?” Fry also said. “We’re not able to say at this point in time due to our investigation, but we still believe that.”
Here’s the latest coverage on the brutal killings of four college friends:
Police have received over 600 tips and conducted scores of interviews as investigators from several different agencies have descended on the city of about 25,000.
Former FBI agent Brad Garrett told ABC News that the killer or killers may have been familiar with the layout of the three-story home, which neighbors described as a “party house.”
The four students were all killed between 3 and 4 in the morning while their two other surviving roommates were sleeping in another part of the house, police said.
“It tells me that someone came into the house with a comfort level — that they probably knew their way around the house,” Garrett said.
The roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, found their slain friends and called police just before noon on Nov 13. Police said it appears the roommates contacted other friends before dialing 911.
“Multiple people talked with the 911 dispatcher before a Moscow Police officer arrived at the location,” officials said. “Officers entered the residence and found the four victims on the second and third floors.”
Garrett told ABC investigators should expand their search beyond the victims’ immediate circle of friends and family.
“You’re going to have to start spreading out to people they had just a casual relationship with,” he said.
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