University of Idaho students ‘likely asleep’ when fatally stabbed, coroner says

MOSCOW, Idaho — The four University of Idaho students who were fatally stabbed last weekend were “likely asleep” when they were attacked, the county coroner said late Friday.

>> Read more trending news

Each victim was stabbed multiple times and some had defensive wounds, Latah County coroner Cathy Mabbutt said in a statement released late Friday by the police department in Moscow, Idaho.

Mabbutt added that the four victims were likely asleep and there was no sign of sexual assault.

Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho, were killed in the early hours of Nov. 13, The Washington Post reported. The three women were roommates, and Chapin and Kernodle were dating, according to the newspaper.

According to The Associated Press, Mabbutt also told NewsNation on Thursday that each victim suffered multiple stab wounds from a “pretty large knife.”

“It has to be somebody pretty angry in order to stab four people to death,” Mabbutt told the news outlet.

The victims were discovered at an off-campus house at about 11:58 a.m. PST on Nov. 13. They were discovered after police responded to a report of an unconscious person at the residence.

According to details collected from surveillance footage and interviews, Goncalves and Mogen were at the Corner Club, a bar in downtown Moscow, the Post reported. Police said they were at the club from 10 p.m. on Nov. 12 until 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 13. They stopped at a food truck and got a ride home, according to police.

The couple arrived home at 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 13, about the same time Kernodle and Chapin returned to the residence after being at the campus’ Sigma Chi fraternity house, the newspaper reported. According to the AP, Kernodle and Chapin were seen at the fraternity house between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Two other roommates also were home that night.

According to the statement released by Moscow police, “detectives do not believe the two surviving roommates or the male in the Grub Truck surveillance video are involved in this crime.”

Authorities have received more than 500 tips and have conducted 38 interviews, the Moscow Police Department said in its news release. Officials are seeking more tips.

According to an interview with KTVK, Kernodle’s father said that his daughter attempted to fight off the assailant.

“Bruises, torn by the knife. She’s a tough kid,” Jeffrey Kernodle told the Arizona-based station. “It doesn’t make sense.”

©2022 Cox Media Group