Idaho police have been criticized for ‘grave contradictions’ and a poor probe into the slaying that left four university students dead with no suspect yet arrested.
The Moscow Police Department has once again earned the ire of investigation insiders who have condemned the cops’ slow action and set backs.
A furious inside source told RadarOnline.com: ‘If the killer was apparently so sloppy, why haven’t cops found him?’
The source says cops have taken so long to make an arrest that the killer or killers may now have fled abroad, potentially hampering attempts to arrest them if the police do make any progress.
They told RadarOnline that it was clear police had bungled the investigation given that a suspect has yet to be identified.
‘In criminal investigations, it is widely known that if authorities do not have a lead, a suspect or an arrest within the first 48 hours, their chances of solving the case are cut in half,’ the source said.
‘Those initial critical hours are a race against time to solve the case. In Idaho, we know cops failed to protect the crime scene and protect the credibility of the investigation.’
Nearly two weeks after Moscow Police Department Chief James Fry assured reporters that the deadly Idaho stabbings that killed four was a targeted attack, cops backtracked on the theory
In a social media post Wednesday, police said that they are unsure if the attack was targeted, infuriating inside sources who say the department as bungled the investigation
Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Maddie Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 were found stabbed to death in an off-campus house on November 13. No suspect has been identified yet
Idaho police have been accused of repeatedly contradicting themselves and mishandling evidence as the investigation approaches its third week with little much revealed
On Wednesday night, detectives revealed they were not sure if the slain University of Idaho students were targeted by the killer, contradicting Chief James Fry who previously insisted they were.
‘We believe they’re targeted because we take a totality of all the circumstances we’re looking at,’ Fry had told reporters on November 20, a week after the murders. The statement was recently echoed by Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson.
But the department has since filed a correction, stating: ‘Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted but continue to investigate.’
Nearly three weeks after the grizzly murders, few answers have come out despite the father of one of the victims stating that the killer was ‘sloppy’ and left a ‘mess’ of evidence behind.
More than two weeks have passed since the gruesome slayings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20, inside their off-campus home in the small town of Moscow.
The source referenced allegations that Moscow Police moved to slowly in their investigation, and ‘allowed crucial evidence to be corrupted, by weather or other activity.’
The insider claimed that the snail’s-pace investigation not only risked the integrity of evidence, but may have also allowed the killer to flea the state or country.
‘If this was a targeted killing, and the perpetrator or perpetrators are not serial killers, their natural behavior would have been to flee the area,’ the source told RadarOnline. ‘This means they could be in another state, or worse, another country, by now.’
Before Steve Goncalves said Wednesday that his daughter Kaylee died in the same bed as Maddie, this is where it was believed the college students had died – however it is still not know which bedroom on the top floor they were in
Kaylee and Madison were found on the top floor of the Moscow, Idaho home. College lovers Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were found in a second-floor bedroom while survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were sleeping on the first floor
It is the latest criticism levied against the police department after a source close to the investigation told OK! magazine that cops likely destroyed evidence due their negligence, or allowed it to be compromised with their sluggish response.
One of the key pieces of evidence early on in the investigation were a set of tire tracks located near the crime scene, where police waited six days before measuring.
‘The reality is this evidence was likely obliterated and if the cops had done things correct,’ the source said. ‘Those tire marks would have been photographed, measured, and preserved, on the day when the victims were found.’
‘The time that elapsed between when the bodies were found and forensics team returned to the crime scene allowed crucial evidence to be corrupted, by weather or other activity.’
‘With no suspect, no murder weapon and little to no leads, you have to ask the question: did police botch the investigation from the get-go?’ the source added.
DailyMail.com pictures show the inside of the home in Moscow, Idaho, where four students were murdered. A neon sign that reads ‘Good Vibes’ can be seen through the window
A stack of red Solo cups, several cereal bowls with spoons still in them and an empty microwaveable popcorn bag are pictured still in the house
Red Solo cups are lined up on a white plastic table – a sure sign of beer pong parties
Early Wednesday morning, Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson told a local news station that ‘investigators believe that this attack was intended for a specific person.’
Within hours, however, the Moscow Police Department posted to their social media accounts, making a ‘clarification.’
‘Conflicting information has been released over the past 24 hours. The Latah County Prosecutor’s Office stated the suspect(s) specifically looked at this residence, and that one or more of the occupants were undoubtedly targeted,’ the police department said in a post.
‘We have spoken with the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office and identified this was a miscommunication.
A police officer stands outside the house in Moscow, Idaho, where four college students were stabbed to death
Steve Goncalves spoke about his daughter’s death during a campus candlelight vigil Wednesday
Maddie and Kaylee, best friends since sixth grade, died in the same bed, according to Kaylee’s father Steve
Friends and family gathered at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night to honor the four University of Idaho students killed in mid-November
Within hours of the Moscow Police Department issuing the ‘clarification’ on Wednesday, loved ones and community members gathered on campus for the ceremony remembering the four students.
Mr Goncalves revealed for the first time how his daughter died alongside her longtime best friend, Maddie, in the same bed.
The grieving father called the girls ‘absolutely beautiful’ and shared his gratefulness over the girls finding each other in sixth grade.
‘And every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything,’ Steve said.
‘Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together. And in the end … they died together in the same room, in the same bed.’
This announcement came as a bit of a shock to many.
Before the Wednesday evening clarification from Kaylee’s father, it was widely reported that the two girls had been in separate beds and bedrooms when they were brutally murdered.
Police have yet to answer how the killer was able to slay the victims without apparently alerting the others.
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.
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