Idaho police investigating quadruple murders asked about similarities to 2021 unsolved Oregon stabbing attack

Moscow Police Department Chief James Frye, whose department is leading the investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students, said during a press conference on Wednesday that investigators received a tip about another stabbing last year in Salem, Oregon. 

In the Oregon case, Travis and Jamilyn Juetten were awakened from their sleep around 3:00 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2021, to an unknown assailant attacking them with a knife. Travis fought off the attacker, but was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Jamilyn suffered 19 stab wounds and other injuries, but was transported to a hospital and survived. Police do not have a suspect in that attack.

A reporter asked Chief Frye on Wednesday if investigators are looking into any possible connection between the quadruple homicide in Idaho and the Salem attack, noting that both cases involve an unknown assailant breaking into a home around 3:00 a.m. and attacking sleeping victims with a knife. 

“We’re looking at every avenue and we have other agencies reaching out to us with other cases, stuff that we are going to follow up on,” Frye answered, noting that he was aware of the Oregon case and had received a tip about it. No official connection has been drawn between the two cases. 

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO MURDERS: THREAT STILL POSSIBLE WITHOUT ANY SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY, POLICE SAY

In June 2022, ten months after Travis Juetten was murdered, his family offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his killer. 

A detective from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon assigned to the 2021 investigation did not respond to questions on Wednesday evening. 

In Moscow, Idaho, more than 100 law enforcement officers from the FBI, Idaho State Police, and Moscow Police Department are still combing through evidence ten days after Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves were murdered.

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO STUDENTS KILLED: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS

The four friends returned home around 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 13 and were attacked while they slept some time between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m., according to police. 

All four victims were stabbed multiple times and some of them had defensive wounds, a medical examiner determined. 

Police have not identified a suspect and do not have a murder weapon, but are looking for a “fixed-blade knife.”