UPDATE: Hyundai Elantra found in Oregon isn’t connected to Moscow homicides, police say

Update (5:42 p.m., Dec. 20): Investigators have spoken with the owner of the white 2013 Hyundai Elantra found in Eugene, Oregon, and do not believe she has any connection to the Moscow homicide investigation, police said in a news release. The vehicle is registered in Colorado, police said, and the owner was involved in a collision and her car impounded. The car also is not connected to the case, police told the Idaho Statesman.

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Moscow police are investigating a Hyundai Elantra found in a neighboring state as part of their sprawling search for a vehicle known to be in the area of the home around the time when four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death last month.

The vehicle, a white 2013 Elantra found in Eugene, Oregon, matches the criteria of the Elantra that police have continued asking the public for their assistance to locate. Moscow police have been searching for a model from 2011-2013.

“Investigators are aware of a Hyundai Elantra located in Eugene, Oregon,” Moscow police said in a Tuesday news release. “We are working with the local jurisdiction to determine if the vehicle is related to our case.”

The Elantra has front-end damage and no license plates, according to the Law & Crime Network website, which was first to report the information.

Eugene police responded to a call about the damaged white Elantra parked at West 7th Place and Seneca Road in the early morning hours on Saturday, Dec. 17, Eugene police spokesperson Melinda McLaughlin told the Statesman in a Tuesday email. A person was reported sleeping in the car.

Eugene police sent word of the vehicle to the Moscow Police Department, per investigators’ requests. Eugene is about an 8-hour drive from Moscow.

“We have no information to indicate the vehicle is related to the Moscow, Idaho, case,” McLaughlin said. “However, they were sent the vehicle information so they have it to review.”

Investigators in Moscow still have not said why they are searching for the white Hyundai, other than they believe the driver and any other possible occupants may have information critical to their ongoing investigation of the Nov. 13 quadruple homicide.

“The significance of the car is we know it was there,” Moscow police spokesperson Robbie Johnson told Inside Edition earlier this month. “We know we haven’t spoken to who was in that car, who may have owned that car, and we need to speak to them. We know that that person could really have the information we need to break the case.”

The Idaho Transportation Department on Tuesday denied a Statesman request made through the Idaho Division of Motor Vehicles for the number of white Hyundai Elantras from 2011-2013 registered in the state. A department spokesperson said the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office requested the information be restricted, citing its potential to jeopardize the investigation if released.

“We are not able to give out that information because of the active investigation,” John Tomlinson, an ITD spokesperson, told the Statesman by phone.

Moscow police said last week they had a list of about 22,000 registered Elantras that investigators were sorting through, Moscow Police Capt. Roger Lanier. This week, as the homicide investigation extends into its sixth week, police have maintained their message to the public of wanting information about any white Hyundai Elantras.

“What we’re asking is that anybody else who still hasn’t sent in a tip, if you own one, or if you know somebody who was driving one the day before or the day after, to please send that tip in,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Monday in a video update.

The Eugene lead is one of more than 16,500 email, phone and digital submission tips police said they’ve received and are reviewing as of Tuesday since the Nov. 13 homicides.