No suspects, murder weapon or motive: Mystery of four University of Idaho students killed in their beds
The grey house with the Christmas wreath on the front door and twinkling fairy lights overhanging the back patio could be any other student home in the remote town of Moscow, Idaho.
A blanket of snow covers the ground, and a rubbish bag overflowing with beer and seltzer cans is propped up near an outdoor grill.
The young women who lived here until recently were popular members of sororities at the University of Idaho and regularly threw parties.
They documented their lives on social media, with choreographed videos of group dances and photographs dressing up for nights out.
Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin
But four weeks ago this apparent student idyll was shattered when three of the housemates – Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin – were brutally murdered.
In the early hours of a Sunday morning, as they slept in bed, they were stabbed to death with a large knife, their rooms splattered with blood, while two other housemates slept through the attacks.
Four weeks on, no known witnesses have come forward, there is no named suspect, no murder weapon and no obvious motive.
Moscow’s small police force, which hadn’t had a murder for more than seven years, is at the centre of the race to find a killer, or killers.
“It’s hard to tell when or if this town will ever be the same,” Robbie Johnson, the force’s public information officer, says.
‘We can’t afford to make a mistake’
There are signs that the community and grief stricken parents of the victims are growing frustrated with what they perceive as a lack of progress by police, even as reinforcements from the FBI and Idaho state police have arrived.
The decision to withhold certain information or lines of investigation from the public is deliberate, Ms Johnson tells Sky News.
Robbie Johnson
“We don’t just want an arrest, we want to take it to court,” she adds.
“We need to be sure we are going through all the evidence and it is vast. There are pictures, emails, phone calls coming in. We can’t afford a mistake or to put out information that might compromise the investigation.”
Police have consistently stated their belief that either the house, or its occupants, were targeted, but they haven’t revealed why they believe that.
The house where they were slaughtered
Internet sleuths have pored over the layout of the building. The ground floor, with its sliding patio doors, is where Xana and Ethan, a couple since the spring who were said to be perfect for each other, were slaughtered.
In one of the bedrooms upstairs, lifelong best friends, Kaylee and Maddie, were also sharing a bed when they were murdered.
In the early hours, they had been repeatedly texting Kaylee’s former boyfriend, with whom she was still close and police have discounted as a suspect.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the case is that two other female housemates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, who were in basement level bedrooms, survived.
They say they slept through the attacks and when they woke they summoned other friends to the house, believing one of the housemates to be unconscious.
Just before midday, one of the friends called police, who discovered the true horror of what had happened. Police have discounted Dylan, Bethany and the friends who arrived that morning as suspects.
“The big question is why,” says Troy Lambert, a crime writer whose stepson lives in an apartment less than 100 yards from the murder house.
“Why would they target young college kids who, in my mind would have no enemies,” he adds.
“My stepson and his housemate do gaming and stuff like that, so they didn’t hear anything.
“With the density of students in this area, it is kind of surprising that nobody heard anything. It’s what makes me think that it was somebody and something organised because they didn’t make noise. They knew not to make noise.”
Troy Lambert
The movements of Kaylee and Maddie
Investigators say they’re busy piecing together not just what happened inside the house, but where the victims had been in the hours leading up to the murders.
Kaylee and Maddie had spent the night at a bar called Corner Club with its neon yellow sign and affordable drinks, just off the main street in Moscow.
They left at 1am to walk to a nearby food truck, where Kaylee can be heard on a livestream, stumbling over her words as she orders a portion of pasta carbonara.
There then appears to be a dispute with a man in a hoodie. At one point, Maddie gestures towards him and seems to say “f*** you mister,” before they all disappear out of shot.
Pictures captured at the food truck
Police say they have also discounted him as a suspect.
It had previously been reported that Kaylee’s parents believed she may have been the primary target based on what they had been told about the extent of her injuries compared with the other victims.
But they now don’t think that is the case.
“I don’t think that the family believes that there was an individual target on their daughter,” their lawyer, Shanon Gray, tells Sky News.
“It just doesn’t make sense with the facts that have been presented and other information that we’ve gathered.
“The person might have targeted the home, because there were all girls that lived there and a lot of people came and went, it was a very social scene.”
Five-page-long list of questions
The Goncalves family recruited Mr Gray to push the police for answers. He took a five-page-long list of questions to a meeting with investigators this week, but they are remaining tight-lipped.
“We asked why they haven’t released more information to the public,” he added. “Down the road we may look at it and say, ‘great job not releasing that information’, or they may come to regret those decisions.
“I don’t know if anyone has ever experienced handling a murder investigation that involves four college students that had been stabbed, so I’m sure it’s new to them.
“But they still need to make sure that they’re doing the right things, and we’re here to hold them accountable for it.”
Shanon Gray
The missing five hours
Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of the other two victims, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on the night of the killings.
Between 8-9pm they were at a party at the imposing Sigma Chi fraternity house, with its basketball court in the garden and stars and stripes flag, now flying at half-mast.
It is less than a five-minute walk through an alley to the house where they were killed, but they didn’t reach home until just before 2am and police are trying to account for those missing five hours.
In a sea of uncertainty, a violent killer, or killers, on the loose continues to terrorise this town of 25,000 people, which includes 11,000 students.
Everything that happens in Moscow at the moment is coloured by loss and fear. At winter graduation, where Kaylee Goncalves was supposed to receive her degree, a swell of police patrol the arena.
‘It’s scary being here’
“I have pepper spray and different self-help things, but it’s scary being here, and it doesn’t feel like home anymore. It doesn’t feel safe,” says Emma Bartlett, a graduate, who went to junior school with Kaylee and Maddie and tutored Ethan at university.
Emma Bartlett
“He was always smiling, so happy, so funny,” she says, “I’m just so glad I got to know him.”
It’s not just students who are living in fear. Treva Adkins visited Moscow to see her daughter Katie graduate over the weekend.
Treva Adkins
“When we checked into the Airbnb, I was scared to death,” she says. “I made my husband check under then bed, and I’m a 43-year-old woman.
“I noticed the windows weren’t locked, and it paralysed me, so I shut all the windows and I closed the curtains. It’s terrifying, constantly looking over your shoulder.”
The lighting of Moscow’s town Christmas tree took place last week and has become a focal point to remember the four slain students. Coloured ribbons are fastened around the guard rails and notes of reflection.
“Gone too soon, Ethan, Xana, Kaylee and Madison,” reads one. “Praying for your family, friends and for justice,” reads another.
In a community desperate for answers and accountability, the unknowns keep stacking up.
Val Kilmer, the actor who starred in Top Gun and played Batman and Jim Morrison, has died aged 65.
His daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press he died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles surrounded by family and friends.
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered, she said.
The actor, who played Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise in 1986, previously admitted he didn’t want the role, which made him famous.
But he said he begged to be part of the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, even going as far as contacting the producers and creating “heartrending scenes with Iceman”. It would be his final acting role.
Kilmer had a colourful romantic past, having dated Hollywood stars including Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie, Carly Simon and Cher.
He starred in Willow in 1988 and married his British co-star Joanne Whalley. The couple had two children before they divorced in 1996.
Kilmer with his former wife British actress Joanne Whalley in 1989. Pic Shutterstock
Val Kilmer appeared alongside Nicole Kidman in Batman Forever. Pic: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Kilmer portrayed Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holiday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
Kilmer was one of the best-paid actors in the 1990s and in 1992 film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it”.
In his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry, Kilmer discussed his throat cancer diagnosis and recovery.
Actor Josh Brolin wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
In an Instagram post actor Josh Gad called Kilmer “an icon”.
He said: “RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon.”
Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
Kilmer made his Broadway debut in the 1983 production of Slab Boys with Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.
He also appeared in Shakespeare plays in New York – playing the title role in Hamlet and appearing in Henry IV: Part One and As You Like It.
In 2005, he starred on London’s West End in Andrew Rattenbury’s adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice at the Playhouse Theatre.
Kilmer also enjoyed painting, with his website describing him as a “talented and prolific artist in a variety of mediums”.
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“Liberation day” was due to be on 1 April. But Donald Trump decided to shift it by a day because he didn’t want anyone to think it was an April fool.
It is no joke for him and it is no joke for governments globally as they brace for his tariff announcements.
It is stunning how little we know about the plans to be announced in the Rose Garden of the White House later today.
It was telling that we didn’t see the President at all on Tuesday. He and all his advisers were huddled in the West Wing, away from the cameras, finalising the tariff plans.
Follow the events of Liberation Day live as they unfold
Three key figures are central to it all.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the so-called ‘measured voice’. A former hedge fund manager, he has argued for targeted not blanket tariffs.
Peter Navarro is Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. A long-time aide and confidante of the president, he is a true loyalist and a firm believer in the merits of tariffs.
His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought – precisely why he appeals to Trump.
The third key character is Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and the biggest proponent of the full-throttle liberation day tariff juggernaut.
The businessman, philanthropist, Trump fundraiser and billionaire (net worth ranging between $1bn and $2bn) has been among the closest to Trump over the past 73 days of this presidency – frequently in and out of the West Wing.
If anything goes wrong, observers here in Washington suspect Trump will make Lutnick the fall guy.
What are Donald Trump’s tariffs, what is ‘liberation day’ and how does it all affect the UK?
And what if it does all go wrong? What if Trump is actually the April fool?
“It’s going to work…” his press secretary said when asked if it could all be a disaster, driving up the cost of living for Americans and creating global economic chaos.
“The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focussed on restoring the global age of America…” Karoline Leavitt said.
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‘Days of US being ripped off are over’
Dancing to the president’s tune
My sense is that we should see “liberation day” not as the moment it’s all over in terms of negotiations for countries globally as they try to carve out deals with the White House. Rather it should be seen as the start.
Trump, as always, wants to be seen as the one calling the shots, taking control, seizing the limelight. He wants the world to dance to his tune. Today is his moment.
But beyond today, alongside the inevitable tit-for-tat retaliation, expect to see efforts by nations to seek carve-outs and to throw bones to Trump; to identify areas where trade policies can be tweaked to placate the president.
Even small offerings which change little in a material sense could give Trump the chance to spin and present himself as the winning deal maker he craves to be.
One significant challenge for foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington has been engaging the president himself with proposals he might like.
Negotiations take place with a White House team who are themselves unsure where the president will ultimately land. It’s resulted in unsatisfactory speculative negotiations.
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Treasury minister: ‘We’ll do everything to secure a deal’
Too much faith placed in the ‘special relationship’?
The UK believes it’s in a better position than most other countries globally. It sits outside the EU giving it autonomy in its trade policy, its deficit with the US is small, and Trump loves Britain.
It’s true too that the UK government has managed to accelerate trade conversations with the White House on a tariff-free trade partnership. Trump’s threats have forced conversations that would normally sit in the long grass for months.
Yet, for now, the conversations have yielded nothing firm. That’s a worry for sure. Did Keir Starmer have too much faith in the ‘special relationship’?
Downing Street will have identified areas where they can tweak trade policy to placate Trump. Cars maybe? Currently US cars into the UK carry a 10% tariff. Digital services perhaps?
US food? Unlikely – there are non-tariff barriers on US food because the consensus seems to be that chlorinated chicken and the like isn’t something UK consumers want.
Easier access to UK financial services maybe? More visas for Americans?
For now though, everyone is waiting to see what Trump does before they either retaliate or relent and lower their own market barriers.
US
Democrat Cory Booker rails against Donald Trump and Elon Musk during marathon Senate speech lasting more than 17 hours
A senior Democrat has taken to the Senate floor to speak against US President Donald Trump – with the 17-plus-hour speech still ongoing.
Cory Booker, a New Jersey senator, began speaking around 7pm (midnight in the UK) and said he intended to disrupt the “normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able”.
Referring to Mr Trump’s presidency, he said: “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis.”
As of 5pm in the UK, Mr Booker was still speaking, having spoken for more than 17 hours. He has remained standing for the entire duration, as he would lose control of the floor if he left his desk or sat down.
Read more: Who is the Democrat making a marathon speech against Trump?
As of 4pm, Cory Booker has held the Senate floor for more than 16 hours. Pic: Senate Television / AP
Other Democrat senators have joined Mr Booker to ask questions so he can rest his voice, including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
At the start of his speech, Mr Booker said: “These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.
“The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
Overnight, he referenced Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Read more:
‘Liberation day’ is coming – one number to keep in mind
Prosecutors directed to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione
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“You think we got civil rights one day because Strom Thurmond – after filibustering for 24 hours – you think we got civil rights because he came to the floor one day and said ‘I’ve seen the light’,” he said.
“No, we got civil rights because people marched for it, sweat for it and [civil rights leader] John Lewis bled for it.”
Only Mr Thurmond and Republican Senator Ted Cruz – who spoke for 21 hours and 19 minutes against the Affordable Care Act in 2013 – have held the Senate floor for longer than Mr Booker.
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