Idaho murders updates: Police calls surge as Moscow community racked by fear two weeks on from college killings

University of Idaho students are expected to return to Moscow on Monday following the Thanksgiving break.

However, with the killer or killers of the four students still at large two weeks on from the brutal stabbing murder it remains to be seen how many will come back for in-person lessons.

The Independent previously reported how the small college town had emptied out in the wake of the murders – with no suspects identified, no arrests made and the murder weapon still not found.

Students have only two weeks of classes left before the university term ends for the winter recess.

College officials have prepared for the possibility that many students will continue to stay remote until at least the new year, vowing to take a flexible approach to learning.

“Faculty have been asked to prepare in-person teaching and remote learning options so that each student can choose their method of engagement for the final two weeks of the semester,” Scott Green, university president, said in a statement last week.

Almost everything that happened after 1.45am last on November 13 inside the college home where Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were murdered still remains a mystery.

The investigation has been compounded by changing stories from law enforcement and wild social media speculation that has seeped into the local rumor mill.

The Independent‘s Sheila Flynn reports from on the ground in Idaho.

The University of Idaho plans to provide accommodations for students who have left campus after the murder of four students.

University president Scott Greene said that the college plans to “be flexible through the end of the semester,” and that faculty were asked to prepare in-person and remote learning options for the final two weeks of the semester.

Days after saying that the public would have to “trust them” on the notion that the killings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were targeted, police have revealed why they are not sharing the rationale behind the assessment.

Aaron Snell, with Idaho State Police, told Fox News Digital on Saturday that information about the targeted murders is being handled with caution so as not to jeopardize the investigation, which has entered its second week with no arrests or major developments.

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

The Independent has the story:

It could have been anyone, in any US college town, on any Saturday night. That’s how typical the murdered students’ behavior was in Moscow, Idaho, just hours before they were brutally stabbed to death.

Reporting from Moscow, Sheila Flynn outlines the four young students’ final hours:

Aaron Snell, with Idaho State Police, told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the Moscow Police Department, which had its last homicide before the November 13 slayings in 2015, had followed protocol and secured the crime scene correctly.

“I am confident that there was not a compromise in the integrity of the investigation. We know that the Moscow Police Department arrived at the scene,” Mr. Snell told Fox. “They essentially saw what had occurred.”

“They locked it down and then additional resources came in. We have a lot of the best of the best, the best technology, the latest and greatest as far as training goes. So, indeed, I believe in the integrity of this investigation.”

The University of Idaho is hosting a candlelight vigil on Wednesday for the four students killed at their off-campus home on November 13.

Moscow police said that the vigil will be held on November 30 after the brutal slayings of Xana Kernodle, 20, Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21.

It could have been anyone, in any US college town, on any Saturday night. That’s how typical the murdered students’ behavior was in Moscow, Idaho, just hours before they were brutally stabbed to death, The Independent‘s Sheila Flynn reports.

She writes:The University of Idaho campus had been busy that day, a sea of ​​gold and silver as the Vandals prepared for a home game against the UC Davis Aggies in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome.

“It was 28 degrees at kickoff – the weather was listed as a daunting “ice fog” – but happy, loyal fans turned out; the Vandals’ 44-26 loss was disappointing but did not deter the students from preparing to hit the town.

“Among them were five girls living in a three-bedroom rental home on King Road, just over a mile from the stadium and only two blocks from the edge of campus.”

Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were killed just hours later.

Read Sheila Flynn’s full coverage:

Police investigating the murders of four University of Idaho students ruled out a possible connection to a similar stabbing a year before.

The loved ones of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen have tried to navigate grief amid rampant rumors about the circumstances surrounding the killings.

“All the noise out there is really harming the families,” a friend of Kristi and Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s parents, told The Independent. “And it’s taking the police down trails that are not real and taking them away from the ones that are.”

Police have issued similar pleas updating their social media posts repeatedly to address specific inaccuracies circulating.

They shot down reports that the skinning of a nearby pet dog was related to the murders; then they said a report of a man waiting in a woman’s car was “unfounded.”

The Independent‘s Sheila Flynn has the story: