The murders of four University of Idaho students have left the college town of Moscow, Idaho, on edge as authorities search for a motive and a suspect.
The four students were found dead in a home near campus on Sunday in what investigators believe was an "isolated, targeted attack."
The deaths of Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, have been ruled as homicides, though autopsy results are still pending.
Cathy Mabbutt, the Latah County coroner, said she was still processing the crime scene. "It was it was very, very traumatic," Mabbutt told TODAY, adding she had never seen anything like it before.
Investigators believe an edged weapon, such as a knife, was used in the attack, according to Moscow officials. Police do not have any suspects in custody.
Moscow Mayor Art Bettge said the deaths may have been a "crime of passion" or linked to a property crime "gone wrong," but the motive for the killings was still unclear, NBC News reported.
"At this time, we have shared every piece of information that we can without compromising the ongoing investigation," Moscow police said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the FBI told NBC News the agency is assisting Moscow police with the investigation. Police have said there is no imminent threat to the community, though students are rattled by the slayings.
"They should have had long, long lives beyond this," Olivia Niemi, a junior at the school, said.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21
"There was no reason, there is no dark past, there is no dark secret," Alivea Goncalves Stevenson, the sister of Kaylee Goncalves, told TODAY of the deaths.
Stevenson said Goncalves, a 21-year-old Idaho native, was a senior at the school, and that her smile lit up any room. Her sister was also a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
"She had everything going for her, absolutely everything," Stevenson said. "She had a job lined up. She’d worked really hard for it. She had trips planned."
Madison Mogen, 21
Goncalves and Madison Mogen, 21, were as close as sisters, according to their families. Mogen, known as Maddie to her friends and family, was in her senior year studying marketing and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
"Words cannot adequately describe the light these students brought to this world or ease the depth of suffering we feel at their passing under these tragic circumstances," University of Idaho President Scott Green wrote in a letter to students."
Xana Kernodle, 20
Xana Kernodle, a 20-year-old junior majoring in marketing, was also a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority with Mogen, and the pair also worked at a local restaurant together.
Ethan Chapin, 20
Kernodle was dating 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who was also murdered. Chapin, a triplet from Mount Vernon, Washington, was a first-year student at the school studying recreation, sport and tourism management. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Chapin's mother, Stacy Chapin, told TODAY her family is still trying to process the deaths.
"It’s not a call that you think that you’re going to have to speak with the funeral home directors and the FBI and have it hit national news," she said.
