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.
US
Starmer insists on security guarantee for Ukraine as he arrives in Washington for talks with Trump
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump, discussions that could help shape the relationship between the UK and the US for the next four years.
In a short speech at the British ambassador’s residence he was keen to emphasise the things the two countries have in common.
“We want to work with you, we want to welcome you to Britain,” he said. “We want a new partnership, because our history shows that when we work together great things happen.”
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Starmer: ‘We want to strike a new partnership’
On Wednesday, the prime minister had brushed aside growing tensions between the White House and Europe over Ukraine, saying he trusted Mr Trump and wanted the “special relationship” to go “from strength to strength”.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the White House meeting, Sir Keir insisted that the UK was working “in lockstep” with the president on the matter of Ukraine.
Asked if he could trust President Trump in light of what has happened in recent weeks, the prime minister replied “yes”.
“I’ve got a good relationship with him,” Sir Keir said.
“As you know, I’ve met him, I’ve spoken to him on the phone, and this relationship between our two countries is a special relationship with a long history, forged as we fought wars together, as we traded together.
“And as I say, I want it to go from strength to strength.”
Politics latest: PM’s ‘very stupid decision’ condemned
Even before Sir Keir arrived in Washington, the choreography of the trip hit a little turbulence as President Trump appeared to pour cold water on the prospect of a US military backstop for Ukraine as part of any peace deal – a key UK and European demand.
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Can Starmer ‘win’ in Washington?
“I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” Mr Trump said at his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“We’re going to have Europe do that because Europe is the next-door neighbour.”
His remarks seemed at odds with those made by the prime minister on the way to Washington as he reiterated how important a US military backstop was for Ukraine.
“We all want a peaceful outcome,” the prime minister said.
“It’s got to be a lasting peace, and that requires us to put in place an effective security guarantee.
“Exactly what the configuration of that is, exactly what the backstop is, is obviously the subject of intense discussion.”
He added: “But the reason I say the backstop is so important is that the security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin from coming again because my concern is if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious, I think, for all to see.”
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While European allies such as the UK and France are preparing to put peacekeeping troops on the ground to police the Ukraine-Russian borders, leaders have been clear that US support is essential to containing President Putin and securing that support is the key purpose of the prime minister’s trip to Washington.
President Zelenskyy has also demanded that clear guarantees of US military backing and security be part of his deal with the US on critical minerals, but a framework agreed this week by both sides did not include an explicit reference to any such support.
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Trump’s top moments with UK prime ministers
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Putin is ‘very cunning’
Ahead of the trip to Washington, the prime minister pledged to increase UK defence spending – a key ask of all NATO members by President Trump – and reiterated his commitment to putting British boots on the ground in Ukraine as he attempts to lower tensions between Europe and the US and demonstrate to President Trump that the UK is willing to play its part.
“When it comes to defence and security, we have for decades acted as a bridge because of the special relationship we have with the US and also our allegiance to our European allies,” Sir Keir said.
“I’ve been absolutely resolute that we’re not going to choose between one side of the Atlantic and the other. We will work with the US, we will work with our European allies, that’s what we’ve done for decades, and it’s what we’ll do whilst I’m prime minister.”
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Sir Keir also gave the British public a “message of reassurance” after his decision to accelerate defence spending in the face of Russian aggression, saying he had done it to “ensure their safety” and increased investment would bring opportunities.
“I want to reassure the British public that what we’re doing is to ensure their safety, their security and defence of our country.
“I want to also be clear that this is an opportunity because, as we increase defence spending, then that gives an opportunity for our industrial strategy, for jobs across the UK, good well-paid jobs in defence.”
Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, has said the newspaper’s opinion section will write “every day in support and defence of… personal liberties and free markets” – appearing to align the publication with the US political right.
In an email to staff that he shared on X, Mr Bezos added: “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
Marty Baron, a former editor of The Washington Post, has said he was “appalled” and “disgusted” by Mr Bezos’s decision.
Marty Baron speaking to Sky News
“I couldn’t believe that he was doing that. Jeff Bezos has always talked about having a variety of points of view on the op-ed page and welcoming that,” he told Gillian Joseph on Sky News’ The World programme.
“This runs totally counter to that. So I was certainly disappointed, but really disgusted.”
“For decades, the Post has prided itself on running a whole variety of opinions on its opinion pages.
“But now what he’s signalled is that only one sort of opinion will be reflected on those pages. And that will be the opinion that he himself holds.”
Mr Baron said that he believes Mr Bezos is “yielding to pressure from Donald Trump”.
Referring to Mr Bezos’s other businesses Amazon and space company Blue Origin, Mr Baron said: “He realises how dependent his commercial interests are on the US government.
“He realises how vengeful Donald Trump is and he’s concerned about the potential consequences for his other businesses. He’s now prioritising his other commercial interests over the interests of the Washington Post.”
Mr Bezos, who also owns Amazon, has typically had a hands-off approach to the paper’s editorial policy since he bought the Post in 2013.
But this appeared to change during last year’s US presidential election when he blocked the Post’s editorial board from publishing an endorsement for Donald Trump’s rival Kamala Harris.
He also refused to publish a satirical cartoon in January that depicted Mr Bezos kneeling at the feet of a figure of Mr Trump offering him a bag of money.
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The newspaper lost 250,000 subscribers after Mr Bezos blocked the endorsement of Ms Harris, with several employees resigning over Mr Bezos’s direction in recent months.
The day after the election, Mr Bezos congratulated Trump “on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory”, while Amazon was among the companies that donated $1m to Trump’s inauguration fund in what critics say is an effort to curry favour with the president.
In Wednesday’s statement by Mr Bezos, he said the Post’s opinion editor David Shipley had “decided to step away” – but it is unclear if he resigned or was fired.
Mr Bezos said: “There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.
“I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical.”
He added: “A big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical – it minimises coercion – and practical – it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
“I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.”
Jeff Stein, chief economics reporter at the Post, wrote on X after the email was published: “Massive encroachment by Bezos into The Washington Post’s opinion section – makes clear dissenting views will not be published.
“I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side, but if Bezos tries interfering with the news side I will be quitting immediately and letting you know.”
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