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The four Idaho students murdered in their home on Sunday were stabbed multiple times by a long and wide knife in an attack that the coroner says was ‘personal’.
Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were all murdered in the house in Moscow, Idaho, by an as-yet unidentified killer who remains on the run. The horrific killings have petrified the college community, with students fleeing campus in fear of their lives.
Some of the kids suffered defensive wounds, according to Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt. None of them had been sexually assaulted.
Police continue to hunt for the killer but the slow pace of their investigation has enraged the victims’ families.
The coroner did not elaborate on why she thought the killings were ‘personal’, but she said the wounds were multiple and ‘extensive’.
She added that she does not believe it was a murder suicide, and that the toxicology results for each victim will be irrelevant.
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Jake Schriger is not thought to have been in the home when an unidentified killer murdered his girlfriend along with Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, in the early hours of Sunday morning
‘They were like peanut butter and jelly’: Madison and Jake had been dating for a year and were due to visit his family for Thanksgiving
Students held a vigil for the murdered youngsters on Thursday. Many are now fleeing campus out of fear that the killer remains on the loose
Maddie’s boyfriend, Jake Schriger, is not thought to have been in the home when an unidentified killer murdered his girlfriend along with Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
It’s unclear if Jake has been interviewed by police, or where he was on Sunday when his girlfriend was killed.
His mother Stacy told The New York Post that she was expecting Maddie to travel home with him for Thanksgiving.
‘Her and Jake were like peanut butter and jelly. We were expecting her for Thanksgiving. Whenever we talked on the phone, she always said I love you,’ she said.
The autopsies of the four kids reveal they were stabbed with a ‘long knife’.
Jake and Madison had only just attended a formal together. Jake has not yet made any public comment about his girlfriend’s death.
It comes as Xana’s father Jeffrey reveals that she died fighting for her life.
He told CBS 5 that autopsy reports showed that his daughter Xana’s skin showed ‘bruises, torn by the knife.’
Kernodle also questioned how the killer got inside the house since the front door locks with a number code.
He said: ‘Every time you go, you have to go around the house because of the number code so they either knew that or went around and maybe found the slider door open.’
He added: ‘I think midnight was the last time we heard from her, and she was fine.’
Jeffrey Kernodle (left) the father of victim Xana Kernodle (back right), revealed that his daughter’s body showed signs that she had defended herself from her killer
Kaylee Goncalves (left) and Madison Mogen (right). Kaylee’s sister warned students at the University of Idaho
Kaylee’s sister Aubrie made a plea to remaining students to leave campus until the killer is found
Kaylee’s sister, Aubrie Goncalves, has also spoken out to warn any students in Moscow, Idaho, that they were not safe so long as the mysterious killer was still at large.
‘No one is in custody and therefore no one is safe.’
‘To the students of the University of Idaho that are still staying around campus, leave. Your grades are severely less important than your lives.
‘I wish all the students of U of I safety and peace. You guys are not safe until this sicko is found.
Students on campus have since said they are ‘leaving as fast as they can’.
Ava Driftmeyer, who said she lives near where the four students were killed, told CNN: ‘It’s so dark. It’s just like a dark cloud over everything. We’re leaving as fast as we can.
‘I just don’t even think it’s like set in yet. … You know how insane this is? And the fact that there’s no answers is like the worst feeling ever.’
There were two other students in the house at the time of the murders who survived.
They are Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell said the two survivors are helping police with their investigation but would not give further details of how they survived or whether either Dylan or Bethany called 911 later on Sunday morning.
He also told DailyMail.com the pair are not suspects but said every possibility is being looked at by the investigative team which now includes detectives from the Idaho State Police and the FBI as well as the Moscow Police Department.
DailyMail.com can reveal the two roommates who escaped death while their four friends were knifed at their off-campus house are Bethany Funke (left) and Dylan Mortensen, (right)
Dylan Mortensen (left) and Bethany Funke (middle) lived in a modest Moscow rental house with fellow University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle (second from left) Kaylee Goncalves (second from right) and Madison Mogen (right)
Mortensen (left) and Funke (middle) were home at the time their three roommates and the boyfriend of one were brutally murdered
Neither Dylan, 19, who is from Boise, Idaho, nor Bethany, a member of sorority Phi Beta Phi, have responded to messages from DailyMail.com and both have locked their social media profiles.
But both girls appear frequently on accounts that belonged to Madison and Kaylee – including a poignant Instagram post made by Madison on August 16 that shows all five girls together posing happily on the back porch of the home where three of them died on Sunday.
The two girls also appear in photos posted by Kaylee hours before she died which she captioned: ‘One lucky girl to be surrounded by these ppl every day’.
Another set of photos showing Dylan and Kaylee together was posted last Friday night and shows the pair dressed up for a night out.
The six friends who lived in the house enjoyed an active social life that included nights out in Moscow and parties at their off-campus home, according to social media
Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin (left) were both killed Sunday along with best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (right)
Blood drips down the outside of the wall of the house the four students shared. Investigators describe it as the worst crime scene they have ever seen
Outside the property, DailyMail.com saw trash left over from the home’s final parties
Among the debris outside the home were beer cans and White Claw hard seltzer packaging
A similar collection of pictures was posted the same day by Madison – and show her cheerfully posing with both Bethany and Dylan.
Together with Xana, the quintet appeared to have enjoyed an active social life that included nights out in Moscow and parties at their off-campus home.
A neighbor who lives in an apartment block next door and asked not to be named said the property was notable for comings and goings – often late at night.
He said: ‘There’s always parties at that house and people going in and out and there’s usually some noise from there.
‘But I didn’t hear anything on Sunday morning – no screaming, no gunshots, nothing.’
The murder scene home is on King Road in Moscow, a quiet cul de sac near the University of Idaho campus
Police in Idaho said they responded to a call of an unconscious person at the home just before noon on Sunday
Sigma Chi fraternity house in Moscow, Idaho where murder victim Ethan Chapin, 20, lived
Outside the property, trash left over from the residents’ final parties could still be seen – among the debris beer cans and White Claw hard seltzer packaging.
Chapin, who spent his final night at a campus party with girlfriend Xana, was a regular visitor to the home but did not live there – instead residing at the Sigma Chi fraternity house around 100 yards away.
Kaylee and Madison spent their final night at a downtown Moscow bar, police said, and were captured on a Twitch livestream purchasing a portion of carbonara pasta from a food truck at approximately 1.45am on Sunday morning – just hours before they were murdered.
The creepy footage shows the pair talking to a group of men lingering behind them before setting off for the mile-long walk home.
Neither Dylan nor Bethany were with them and their movements on the night of the slayings remains unclear.
Police said they are establishing a timeline of events – including the visit to the food truck – but were criticized by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson who said cops’ insistence the community is safe is at odds with the statements released.
He told CBS: ‘Obviously there’s no way police can say there’s no risk but what they’re seeing indicates that there’s not a risk this person will randomly attack people.’
Video emerged showing Mogen and Goncalves visibly drunk while ordering food from a food truck hours before they were killed
There were dozens of other youngsters waiting for food at the truck, which is parked outside a nightclub in downtown Moscow, Idaho, every Saturday between 10pm and 2.30am
While Kaylee ordered, Madison spotted a friend and walked over to hug him warmly (right). She then returned to wait with Kaylee
He added: ‘I don’t think they’re going to foreclose the possibility that it could be one or more people but right now they don’t know who is responsible.’
Discussing the food truck footage, Thompson added: ‘They’re in the process of identifying the other people who were there and what sort of contact did they have.’
Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin died in the early hours of Sunday morning and were found around 11:30am by a friend – possibly Dylan or Bethany.
On Tuesday, DailyMail.com revealed that police on the scene described it as ‘one of the worst’ they’ve ever seen, and blood could be seen oozing through the wall on the second floor of the home.
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show blood dribbling down the side of the house while evidence markers could be seen on the interior walls and back porch.
On Tuesday, police were seen collecting the contents of trash cans close to the home as part of the search for the ‘edged weapon’ they believe was used in the killings.
The trash was taken to a local garbage depot where hazmat-suited cops were seen sifting through garbage bags in a screened-off shed.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry told the media Wednesday: ‘There is still someone out there who committed four horrible, horrible crimes’
A make-shift shrine of flowers and stuffed animals has grown up around the University of Idaho campus after the four students were killed
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