Idaho police chief SLAMS rumors swirling over death of four students

Idaho state police have slammed the rumors being spread about the deaths of four university students who were found brutally murdered in their off-campus house earlier this month, as the investigation into their deaths enters a second consecutive week without any suspects.

Aaron Snell, the communications director for the Idaho State Police, said the rampant speculation about the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Maddie Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 on November 13 does a ‘disservice to the families and to the community because it puts out additional information that hasn’t been vetted.’

‘Ultimately, detectives on scene have the information,’ he told FOX News Digital over the weekend, adding: ‘The people that are working this case from all three agencies… they’re the best and the brightest and they have the most up-to-date resources.’

But residents in the college town of Moscow, Idaho remain on edge as no new information about the students’ deaths have been released, and authorities have admitted they do not yet have a suspect and have not even retrieved a murder weapon.

Law enforcement officials now say they are withholding details in an effort to catch the killer.

They say that they are not releasing a profile of the suspect because it could lead to more fear and suspicion in the college town, as students at the University of Idaho are already looking to stay home or take online classes while the case remains unsolved.

‘It will potentially put more fear, more suspicion on a wide variety of people versus if we use that to really refine where we’re at in our investigation,’ Idaho State Police communications director Aaron Snell told FOX News’ Lawrence Jones Saturday night. ‘I think that will be more pertinent.’

‘And so if we just provide information to the public, I just don’t think that that’s going to be a wise choice.’

Idaho State Police communications director Aaron Snell told FOX News’ Lawrence Jones how they are not releasing a profile of the suspect to prevent further hysteria in the college town

Still, Snell said, police have been able to disprove some theories that have been circulating about the students’ deaths and were able to rule out some suspects.

‘At one point, we heard the victims were bound and gagged,’ he told FOX Digital. ‘Well we were able to successfully say “No that’s not indeed accurate,” and so we’re trying to put out that information.’

An autopsy on the students’ bodies found that they had multiple stab wounds, and ‘some’ had defensive wounds. 

But there was no evidence they were bound and gagged before Goncalves and Mogen were found dead on the top floor of their Moscow home in their beds while college lovers Chapin and Kernodle were found in a second floor bedroom.

Snell also shot down the possibility that the quadruple murder was tied to other knife stabbings in Idaho, Washington and Oregon — despite announcing last week that they were probing a possible link between the students’ deaths and a similar case in Oregon, where a husband and wife were stabbed in their beds by a crazed lunatic last year.

‘We don’t believe at this time … these murders are actually linked to two other knife murders that have occurred both in Pullman, [Washington] as well as Oregon,’ Snell said, noting that police are ‘aware of these various reports’ and ‘looked into them.’

‘Again, that’s part of the investigation,’ he said. ‘We have excellent investigators on this case. So … we get critiqued by people that don’t have knowledge of this specific case.’

And Snell denied that a dog found skinned from head to tail on October 21 is unrelated to the student murders, as are other animal-related deaths.

Goncalves and Mogen, right, were found stabbed to death on top of their beds on the top floor of the house they shared in Moscow, Idaho. College sweethearts Chapin and Kernodle were found in a second floor bedroom

The murder house in Moscow, Idaho is pictured here. It remains unclear how a suspect may have gotten inside, while survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were sleeping on the ground floor

Moscow Police have also ruled out the girls’ other two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, 19, as suspects after another friend used one of their cellphones to call 911 that morning.

Police said they received a call about an ‘unconscious person’ jut before noon that day, when a friend thought at least one of the victims had passed out and would not wake up.  

They are now refusing to release that 911 call, in which the dispatcher spoke to ‘multiple’ people and have said they found no evidence that Kaylee had a stalker — despite her telling her friends as much in the weeks before she died.

In total, FOX Digital reports, the Moscow Police Department have ruled out: the victims’ two surviving roommates, a male who appears in video footage showing Goncalves and Mogen ordering food from a food truck hours before their deaths, a driver who transported them home in the early morning hours of November 13 and a man Goncalves and Mogen called multiple times just before they were murdered.

Steve Goncalves, the father of 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, told FOX News’ Lawrence Jones Saturday night how he has not heard any new information about his daughter’s death from law enforcement since Wednesday at 5pm

Goncalves admitted he is ‘frustrated’ by the lack of information into his daughter’s murder as the investigation enters its second consecutive week without a suspect

But the lack of concrete information is ‘frustrating’ Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, who revealed Saturday night that he has not heard anything from law enforcement since Wednesday at 5pm.

‘They’re kind of just telling me that they can’t tell me much, which is frustrating to me because I’ve been very trustworthy,’ Steve said of the investigators in an interview with FOX’s Lawrence Jones, revealing: ‘I do know things, I haven’t shared things.’

He said he does not want to talk badly about law enforcement because they are ‘hardworking individuals,’ but said he is ‘concerned’ that Moscow police have not told him anything in days.

Until then, Goncalves said: ‘We’re holding our tongue, we’re waiting patiently, but we’re definitely concerned.’

He asked anyone with information about his daughter’s whereabouts the night of November 12 and into November 13 to come forward and speak to law enforcement officials, saying they may provide the missing key to helping unravel the mystery.

Goncalves and Mogen had spent much of the night before their deaths at the Corner Club — a Moscow dive bar popular with University of Idaho students

His daughter had spent much of the night before her death at the Corner Club — a Moscow dive bar popular with students — with Mogen, with whom she had been friends in high school before they went to college together.

At approximately 1.30am, the pair were caught on camera purchasing a portion of carbonara pasta from Grub Wandering Kitchen – a food truck that offers late night eats on weekends.

Parked up close to the Moscow branch of insurers State Farm and outdoor store Hyperspud Sports, Madison and Kaylee were last glimpsed walking away towards what police have called ‘a private party driver’ for their final ride home.

The route, seen in exclusive DailyMail.com video, takes less than five minutes to complete and cuts through the University of Idaho campus and passes the Sigma Chi house on the right where Xana and Ethan spent their last night before taking a left up King Road towards their home.

Poignantly, the drive also goes past the Moscow Police Department headquarters which can be seen on the left just as the route turns right onto the campus.

According to police, the pair arrived home at 1.45am – at the same time as Ethan and Xana and 45 minutes after their other roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, 19, who both miraculously survived the attack.

Less than two hours later, Madison, Kaylee, Xana and Ethan were dead – butchered as they slept by a knife-wielding villain.

Autopsy results showed all four died from stab wounds to the chest, with police saying the murder weapon was a large military-style knife which still hasn’t been found.

Kaylee’s dog Murphy survived the attack unscathed and didn’t make a sound, while the first Dylan and Bethany knew of their roommates’ fate came after 11am when they woke up and went upstairs to find them dead.

Dylan Mortensen (left) and Bethany Funke (middle) lived in the modest Moscow rental house with fellow University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle (second from left) Kaylee Goncalves (second from right) and Madison Mogen (right)  but survived the attack. They have been ruled out as suspects

Police have asked for video from neighborhoods backing on to the property – suggesting they believe the killer entered and exited at the back of the house before escaping up a hill.

But in a twist that adds to the mystery of what happened to Madison and her friends, neighbors living in the homes backing onto the home and whose property would have been part of any escape route on foot said they heard and seen nothing.

Cynthia Mika, 70, told DailyMail.com that police had been to her home to ask for video but said all was quiet on the night the students died.

She said: ‘We didn’t hear a thing. Our neighbors have a dog who barks and he would have woken us up if he saw anything. He didn’t bark.’

The rumors surrounding the mysterious deaths of four University of Idaho students 

The victims were bound and gagged: FALSE  

Moscow police have denied reports that the victims were bound and gagged when they were stabbed to death on November 13. An autopsy found no such signs of bondage.

Two other roommates survived the attack: TRUE

Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen lived in the house with the three female victims but miraculously survived the attack, only to find their friends dead the next morning.

Both girls had been out of town separately on Saturday night and returned home by around 1am – before the other four victims came home from a night out.

It took nine hours to call 911 about their deaths: TRUE

Police received a call at noon on November 13, and concluded that the four had been stabbed to death up to nine hours before, with the killing occurring between 3am to 4am that morning and there were no signs of forced entry.

Veteran Moscow police have described the scene as among the most gruesome and harrowing they have ever seen, with the victims left to bleed to death inside the house.

Officials arrived and discovered the additional victims and confirmed that anyone in the house when the 911 call was placed was not involved with the crime.

The incident is related to recent animal deaths in the area: FALSE 

 Moscow police say there is no reason to believe the deaths of the four college students is related to recent animal deaths in the area or to a dog found skinned from head to tail on October 21.  

The incident is related to similar unsolved stabbings nearby: FALSE 

Investigators have ruled that the quadruple murder is not tied to other knife stabbings in Idaho, Washington and Oregon — despite announcing last week that they were probing a possible link between the students’ deaths and a similar case in Oregon, where a husband and wife were stabbed in their beds by a crazed lunatic last year.

‘We don’t believe at this time … these murders are actually linked to two other knife murders that have occurred both in Pullman, [Washington] as well as Oregon,’ Idaho Police communication director Aaron Snell said, noting that police are ‘aware of these various reports’ and ‘looked into them.’

Ex-boyfriend Jack DeCoeur, 26, was a suspect: FALSE

Moscow Police have ruled out murder victim Kaylee Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend, Jack DeCoeur, 26, as a suspect in her murder and the deaths of Maddie Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

Goncalves’ parents, Steve and Kristi, said they stood by Jack ‘100 percent’ after it was revealed that Kaylee and Mogen had called him at least seven times before their deaths 

Kristi told Jones that she believes her daughter and Jack ‘would have eventually been married.’

‘They would have eventually had children,’ she said, explaining that the pair had dated for years and were on track to reconcile after spending some time apart.

‘We are supporting him, and we know in our hearts and our minds and our souls and the depths of our soul, Jack is hurting,’ she said.

Murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, 21, (right) and her ex-boyfriend Jack DuCoeur, 26, (left). Kaylee and her friend Maddie called Jack at least seven times in the hours before they were killed

The man seen talking to them at a food truck was a suspect: FALSE

Authorities have also ruled out a man who was seen speaking to Kaylee and Maddie at a food truck, which is where they were caught on surveillance footage for the last time alive. 

Officials say there may be multiple perpetrators responsible for the crime.