How much we know so far concerning the Idaho college student murder case

Police responded to a report of an unconscious person that they received around 11:58 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13. There, members of the Moscow Police Department found four University of Idaho students dead on the second and third floors of the home.

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle were roommates who lived in the home while the fourth victim, Ethan Chapin, did not live there but was dating Kernodle.

On Saturday night, police said, Chapin and Kernodle were at a party at a Sigma Chi house on the University of Idaho campus. They returned home around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.

Mogen and Goncalves were at a bar called The Corner Club in downtown Moscow that night. They left the bar, stopped at a food truck, and then also returned home at about 1:45 a.m., police said.

Investigators are confident about the accuracy of Mogen and Goncalves' reported whereabouts throughout the night — witnesses say they saw both women at the club, described as a popular nightlife spot for university students, and video footage from a livestream confirmed their visit to the food truck, But authorities have acknowledged that there are gaps in the timeline of Chapin and Kernodle's evening, the details of which are somewhat unclear.

"Detectives continue investigating what occurred from approximately 9 p.m. on November 12th to 1:45 a.m. on November 13th, when Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were believed to be at the Sigma Chi house on the University of Idaho Campus at 735 Nez Perce Drive," said Moscow Police in a Dec. 5 news release. "Any interactions, contacts, direction and method of travel, or anything abnormal could add context to what occurred."

The coroner says the victims were likely asleep, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. The timing of calls to the cellphone of Kaylee Goncalves' ex-boyfriend places the murders sometime after 3 a.m. Two other roommates who lived in the house were out separately and returned home before the killings.

"They went to high school together, then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually got into the same apartment together," Steve Goncalves said. "And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed."

Ben Mogen, Madison's father, said at the vigil she was his only child, so "everything she ever did was such a big deal." Talking about "Maddie" was his pride, Mogen said, and the two loved attending music concerts together.

Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho, was a marketing major and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Ethan Chapin, a 20-year-old freshman from Mount Vernon, Washington, was a member of Sigma Chi. He majored in recreation, sport and tourism management, according to the school.

Ethan Chapin was part of a set of triplets with a brother and sister, said his mother, Stacy Chapin. The family always tried to eat dinner together when time allowed, she said, she described spending

"We believe someone has information that will add context to the picture investigators are creating of what occurred that evening. Our focus is the investigation, not the activities. Your information, whether you believe it is significant or not, might be one of the puzzle pieces that help solve these murders," said the Moscow police department in a statement issued Dec. 6, adding that they are still seeking "all outside surveillance" from several Moscow sites from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.

On Dec. 7, police said in a press release that they were looking for the occupant or occupants of a 2011-2013 white Hyundai Elantra that was "in the area" when the students were killed, because they may have "critical information to share" regarding the murders. On Dec. 8, Fry clarified that a white vehicle seen in the background of body camera footage from an unrelated incident on the night in question "is not" the Hyundai investigators "are looking for."

On Dec. 6, police said that beginning the following day they would be removing some of the victims' personal belongings from the house and releasing them to their families, as they are no longer needed for the investigation. The house remained an active crime scene, police said. On Nov. 30, authorities moved five cars from the crime scene so that they could continue processing evidence.  Earlier in the investigation, they had seized the contents of three dumpsters, but said no useful evidence was found.

On Nov. 16, Fry told reporters that investigators believed it was "a targeted attack." In the ensuing days, however, police did not clarify that comment, or explain how they could make that statement without a suspect.

But in a statement Nov. 30, the department appeared to walk that back while addressing recent conflicting comments made by Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson, who had said at least one of the victims was "undoubtedly targeted" in the attack. The department Wednesday called Thompson's comments the result of a "miscommunication." On Thursday, police clarified that they still believed the attack was targeted, "but have not concluded if the target was the residence or its occupants."

Alivea Goncalves, the sister of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told NewsNation's Chris Cuomo on Nov. 28 that police have not given the families any more information.

"Law enforcement is kind of throwing around this word 'targeted,' but we don't know that means, and it almost makes it feel alienating because we don't have any more information on that," Goncalves said. "I don't know who that target was, if it was one of them, if it was all of them. I just don't know."

Police said they questioned both a man in a white hoodie who was seen in a video of Mogen and Goncalves at the food truck and the person who drove the two home that night. Police said they do not believe either was involved in the killings.

Police also do not believe Goncalves' ex-boyfriend is a suspect, despite the early-morning phone calls.

Police Chief James Fry said the 911 call was made using one of the surviving roommates' phones, but he would not confirm the caller's identity. In addition to the two surviving roommates, there were "other friends" at the house at the time the 911 call was made, Fry said. He said during a press conference on Nov. 20 — a week after the killings — that police were not sure how many people were in the home when the 911 call was placed and did not clarify when the "other friends" arrived.

Neither the surviving roommates nor the "other friends" were publicly identified for weeks after the murders took place. The roommates' names — Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke — were ultimately revealed during a memorial service in early December, where they spoke about the killings for the first time in a written message read aloud by a local pastor.

highly likely the offender left a lot of physical evidence behind and may have even cut themself as they stabbed the victims.

"We understand there is a sense of fear within our community," Moscow police said.

Although detectives have already used various tips and surveillance videos to rule out potential suspects, they are currently seeking additional tips and surveillance footage of "any unusual behavior" observed during the night of Nov. 12 — while Goncalves and Mogen were out in downtown Moscow and Kernodle and Chapin were at the university's Sigma Chi fraternity house — and into the early hours of Nov. 13.

source: cbsnews.com