Timeline: What we know so far about the murder of four University of Idaho students

Officials in the small town of Moscow, Idaho, have been a little cryptic about what happened to four University of Idaho students who were murdered last weekend.

Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves were found dead at a house near the University of Idaho campus on Sunday, mere hours after posting smiling photographs on Instagram.

So far, neither the suspect nor the murder weapon have been traced and the police have cautioned the small town of 25,000 people to remain vigilant.

So what exactly happened in the hours before and after the students' bodies were discovered?

Here's the best timeline we currently have.

Monday 22 August – Term begins

The University of Idaho's fall semester began on 22 August, drawing all four students back to campus.

Chapin was from Conway in northwestern Washington state, while Kernodle was from the suburbs of Phoenix in Arizona. Mogen and Goncalves were both from Idaho, near the city of Coeur d’Alene about 84 miles north of Moscow.

Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and two other female students lived together in a six-bedroom home off campus – the home where the murders took place. Kernodle and Chapin were dating.

“Love this place. Love this people,” Goncalves said on Instagram in October, posting a happy picture of herself. A previous post, commemorating Mogen's 21st birthday in May, showed a timeline of the pair “growing up together”, going all the way back to their childhoods.

12 September – ‘Knife threat’ on campus

The university’s security issued a “Vandal Alert” to students and staff warning them about an assailant armed with a knife.

The warning, described as a “Threat with Knife”, reported that a group of students had been walking through the campus when the man threatened them with a knife.

“The Moscow Police Department received a report that a group of students was walking between the Steam Plant parking lot (Lot #14) and the Student Recreation Center on Paradise Path and were threatened by a person with a knife,” it read.

The assailant was described as a white male aged 18 to 22 years old, who was dressed in all black.

No one was harmed in the incident but officials felt the need to alert students and staff to the threat – taking place in what is a notoriously safe small town where no murders have been reported since 2015.

Saturday 12 November – 'One lucky girl'

At 8.57 local time, Goncalves posted for the last time on Instagram, including a picture of herself and all three other slain students standing together arm-in-arm on the porch of a house.

"One lucky girl to be surrounded by these people everyday," she wrote in her caption.

Two other women are also shown in the photo, which was taken in daylight and therefore at least an hour or two beforehand.

That night, Chapin and Kernodle went to a party together on the university campus, while Mogen and Goncalves went to a bar in town.

Sunday 13 November – 1.41am – Victims last seen alive in footage

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Mogen and Goncalves were seen stopping by a local food truck for a late-night bit to eat.

Twitch footage, seen by The Independent, captured the two best friends arriving at the food truck at around 1.41am.

An unidentified man appears to be walking with them, before he steps back as they approach the truck.

Mogen and Goncalves go up to the truck and order food, while the man stands a few feet behind them – before pulling his hood over his head.

Mogen appears to spot someone she recognises and walks over to a man, hugging him briefly before returning to Goncalves’ side. After ordering, the two best friends move over to the collection side of the truck.

The mystery man who arrived with them follows and stands close by.

Over the next 10 minutes, the group of young people and students are seen laughing and chatting away as they wait for their orders.

The man is seen chatting and laughing to another man in the line, while Mogen and Goncalves appear to laugh and joke with each other and take photos.

When their food is ready, Mogen and Goncalves leave together, walking away from the truck and turning left.

The man, who was chatting to another student at the time appears to notice them walk off and gestures at them, before he turns and walks away from the truck, turning right – the opposite direction to the two women.

Meanwhile, police said Chapin and Kernodle were seen at the Sigma Chi fraternity house.

All four of the victims are believed to have returned to the home sometime after 1.45am.

Goncalves’ sister, Alivea, claims that the 21-year-old made seven calls to the same man between 2.26am and 2.44am.

“Kaylee calls [the man] six times between 2.26am and 2.44am. From 2.44 to 2.52 Maddie calls [the man] three times, then Kaylee makes a final call to him at 2.52am,” Alivea told Inside Edition.

She gave the first name of the man in question, but The Independent has redacted it to avoid undue speculation. The name has never been mentioned by police in connection with the investigation.

Sunday 13 November – 3am to 4am – Murders

Officials believe the students were killed some time between 3am and 4am on Sunday (13 November).

All four were stabbed to death with an “edged weapon such as a knife” – though the murder weapon has not been found.

There was no sign of forced entry, the door appeared to be unlocked and nothing seems to have been taken.

Few details have been released about the murders including how the assailant or assailants was able to kill all four students.

The two other roommates were home at the time of the attack but were unharmed. Police said that they were not necessarily witnesses to the incident and have been cooperating with investigators. There was no hostage situation, officials said.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt said the victims were “likely sleeping” when they were killed as all four were found in bed.

Ms Mabbutt confirmed that each victim was stabbed multiple times, describing their wounds as “pretty extensive” and revealing that they bled out inside their student home.

“It’s pretty traumatic when there’s four dead college students ... who’ve been stabbed to death in one location,” she said.

“I’ve been coroner for 16 years... we have had multiple [victim] murders in the past, but nothing, nothing like this.”

Sunday – Noon – Mystery 911 call

Police were called to the home on King Road at 11.58am on Sunday after a 911 call came in alerting them to “an unconscious individual”.

When they arrived on the scene, they discovered the four victims dead from a knife attack.

Officials are remaining tightlipped about who placed the 911 call and why they would have said it was an “unconscious individual” given the bloody nature of the crime scene.

Police have not confirmed whether that person was on the scene when they arrived, or whether they are a potential suspect.

The two roommates were still in the home when police arrived.

Sunday – 2pm – Shelter in place

Not long after the bodies were discovered, the University of Idaho put its campus into lockdown.

"VANDAL ALERT," said the institution's official Twitter account, addressing students by their school nickname (drawn from its sports team the Idaho Vandals).

"Moscow Police Department is investigating a homicide on King Road near campus. Suspect is not known at this time. Stay away from the area and shelter in place."

The shelter in place was lifted around one hour later as police said the incident was “an isolated, targeted attack” posing “no imminent threat to the community at large”.

Monday 14 November – Mystery

On Monday, the Moscow Police Department named the four students, but officials gave confusing accounts of their fate.

Mr Bettge told The New York Times that he believed the killing was a “crime of passion”, and later admitted to another outlet: “We don’t really know what it was.”

Moscow Police Chief Fry said that a murder-suicide had been ruled out and that a suspect was wanted for the slayings.

Police continued to insist that there was no ongoing threat to the public.

University president Scott Green said Monday classes would be cancelled “out of respect for these fellow Vandals”.

Tributes poured in from the victims’ families, fellow students and members of the community, shocked at the horrific murders in the small college town.

Tuesday 15 November – Backlash

As the mystery deepened, Moscow residents and students began to post on social media about their dissatisfaction with the explanations coming from local officials.

Following Mayor Bettge’s “crime of passion” remarks, he told the Statesman that he was simply suggesting this as one potential motive, saying: “It could be any of a number of things. The police don’t know yet. I haven’t been told.”

He added: “They have ascertained that there’s no other threat to the community. I would say it was just a crime focused on this one location.”

The same day, Annie Reneau, who said she was the mother of a University of Idaho senior, wrote a lengthy Twitter thread that summed up the community’s fears.

"I’m not sure if people who aren’t directly tied to the University of Idaho in some way understand how little information students, parents and community members have gotten about the murder of 4 students in an off-campus apt two days ago," Ms Reneau said.

"Police believe it was an isolated, targeted attack. Okay, but somebody who was crazy/angry/drugged up/whatever enough to stab four people to death, even if targeted, is out there somewhere. I’m not generally paranoid, but that doesn’t sit well, does it?"

On Tuesday, police revealed that the victims’ had been killed with a knife, saying that further information would be available following the autopsies.

Police continue to try to reassure public there is no ongoing threat.

Wednesday 16 November – Police reveal new details and walk back safety assurances to public

On Wednesday, the video of Mogen and Goncalves at the food truck in the early hours of Sunday morning emerged, providing new details about the victims’ movements leading up to the attack.

Police held their first press conference on Wednesday evening, where they confirmed that they are looking to speak to the other people in the footage. None of the people in the video have been identified as suspects or persons of interest.

Police also revealed other details for the first time: that the four had been out at a bar and party that night, that the other two roommates were in the home at the time of the murders and that there was no sign of a forced entry.

After spending days trying to reassure the public that there is no ongoing threat, officials walked back the assertion.

“We cannot say there’s no threat to the community and as we have stated, please stay vigilant, report any suspicious activity and be aware of your surroundings at all times,” said Chief Fry.

No arrests have been made and no suspects identified.

Family members of the victims hit out at law enforcement over their response.

Goncalves’ sister Autumn Goncalves urged people to leave the small town as the killer remains at large.

“No one is in custody therefore no one is safe,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “If you have friends, family or loved ones in Moscow our family encourages you to get them home,” she added.

Chapin’s father Jim Chapin urged the local police to release further information about the killings.

“There is a lack of information from the University of Idaho and the local police, which only fuels false rumors and innuendo in the press and social media,” Mr Chapin said.

“The silence further compounds our family’s agony after our son’s murder. For Ethan and his three dear friends slain in Moscow, Idaho, and all of our families, I urge officials to speak the truth, share what they know, find the assailant, and protect the greater community.”

Thursday 16 November – Autopsy findings released

Autopsy findings for the victims were released on Thursday, officially ruling their deaths homicides by stabbing.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt confirmed that each victim was stabbed multiple times with a “large knife”, describing their wounds as “pretty extensive” and revealing that they bled out inside their student home.

She said the autopsies confirmed that the victims were killed “early in the morning, sometime after 2am, but still during the night” but that it was not been possible to determine from the injuries the order in which the victims were attacked.

DNA samples and nail clipping have also been taken from the crime scene with the coroner saying that it is “possible” that the tests could turn up DNA from people besides the victims.

A local prosecutor revealed that investigators are now exploring the possibility that more than one killer is responsible for the killings while officers are searching for a military-style Ka-Bar knife believed to be the murder weapon.

Friday 17 November - Suspects ruled out

The Moscow Police Department offered an update on the case on Friday with new details about the timeline.

Authorities also said that the two roommates at home at the time of the attack - and the man seen near Mogen and Goncalves on the food truck surveillance footage, have been ruled out as suspects.

“At this time in the investigation, detectives do not believe the two surviving roommates or the male in the Grub Truck surveillance video are involved in this crime,” a statement read.

“Additionally, online reports of the victims being tied and gagged are not accurate. The identity of the 911 caller has not been released. As part of the investigation, detectives seized the contents of three dumpsters on King Road to locate possible evidence. Additionally, detectives have contacted local businesses to determine if a fixed-blade knife had been recently purchased.

“At the time of this release, detectives have received nearly 500 tips which are being processed, investigated, and cleared. Thirty-eight interviews have been conducted with individuals who may have information about the murders.

“Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call 208-883-7180 or tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.”