IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Police release new info about U of Idaho murders, including who called 911

Multiple people spoke with the dispatcher during the call made at 11:58 a.m. to report an unconscious person, police said.
/ Source: TODAY

More than a week after four University of Idaho students were found slain in a home near campus, investigators are releasing more details about the attack that appear to clear some people with ties to the victims.

The 911 call came from the phone of one of the two surviving roommates who were home at the time of the killings, according to a statement from the Moscow Police Department.

Police said the surviving roommates called friends over to the house on Nov. 13 because they believed one of their roommates had passed out. Multiple people spoke with the dispatcher during the 911 call made at 11:58 a.m. to report an unconscious person, according to police.

Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were found dead on Nov. 13 with multiple stab wounds.
Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were found dead on Nov. 13 with multiple stab wounds.TODAY

Police found Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, dead with multiple stab wounds. Police have said the four victims were likely sleeping at the time of the attack, and that some of them had defensive wounds.

The two surviving roommates and the friends called to the house are not believed to be involved in the crime, according to police.

Investigators have also ruled out a man wearing a white hoodie near Mogen and Goncalves at a food truck around 1:45 a.m. on the night of the killings, city police Capt. Roger Lanier said at a press conference.

Mogen and Goncalves had been at a bar before going to the food truck, and then got a ride home from a "private party driver," according to police. Lanier said detectives have ruled out the driver and the man at the food truck as suspects.

Police also do not believe that a person called seven times from Goncalves' cell phone after she returned home was involved in the attack, Fry said.

"This person was asleep unfortunately, (and) was not getting the calls," Goncalves' mother, Kristi Goncalves, told TODAY. "If Kaylee was in imminent danger — her or Maddie — they would have called 911. They would not have been calling this person."

Officers investigate the deaths of four University of Idaho students at an apartment complex south of campus on Nov. 14, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho.
Officers investigate the deaths of four University of Idaho students at an apartment complex south of campus on Nov. 14, 2022.Zach Wilkinson / The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP

Investigators have been sifting through more than 600 tips and conducted some 90 interviews in the week following the attack.

Police have asked the public to turn in doorbell, cell phone and security camera footage between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 13 in the area around the residence.

"Anyone who has observed any notable behavior or has any video surveillance or can provide relevant information about these murders please call our tip line," Fry said.

The fact that the killer is still at large has rocked the small college town of 26,000 people.

"This person is dangerous. And we fear that this person will do this again," Goncalves' mother said.