- The killer who stabbed four Idaho students to death likely left behind DNA, a police expert said.
- But the university house where the murders occurred could complicate the investigation, the expert said.
- No arrests have yet been made in connection with the November 13 murders in Moscow, Idaho.
The loose killer responsible for stabbing four University of Idaho students to death He probably left DNA behind, but the university house where the killings occurred could complicate the investigation, a police expert says.
There was “probably a large amount of evidence” at the off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, where the four friends were killed during the early hours of November 13, Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at the New York University. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Insider on Tuesday.
“So you have all this blood, and there may be hair fibers, but you’re also dealing with a college house,” where “a lot of people [are] coming and going,” Giacalone said. “So you probably have a lot of mix in there with DNA.”
Three of the four victims shared the rental house with two other roommates, and the residence has reportedly been described as a “party house” by a neighbor.
Giacalone, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD and former commander of the department’s Bronx Cold Squad, told Insider that if investigators detect “so many different DNA profiles” at a crime scene, then they “will not be able to detect effectively”. focus on a specific person.
The Moscow Police Department and a local coroner said friends Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were attacked. probably while sleeping – on November 13 after a night of partying.
Some of the victims had defensive wounds, authorities said. Giacalone said there could be DNA from the suspect under the victims’ fingernails.
“When you have an up close and personal attack, the chances of [the victims] scratching and scratching their way to try to protect themselves, the chances of capturing DNA under those fingernails are pretty high,” Giacalone said.
Of the suspect, he added: “You can’t tell me this person wasn’t drenched in blood or left behind some of their own DNA.”
Policeman said this week that 113 pieces of physical evidence have been collected and around 4,000 crime scene photos have been taken. Police said authorities also took three-dimensional scans of the house.
Meanwhile, no arrests have been made, no motive has been released and no suspects have been publicly identified, leaving the small town on edge and the families of the victims frustrated as the murder investigation continues. past its third week.
Giacalone said he is “worried” about how the case is progressing.
“The pressure in a case like this is tremendous and now that we are three weeks into it, that pressure is only going to get worse,” he said.
The longer the investigation drags on, Giacalone said, “the worse it gets because this is a situation where, frankly, there may be too many suspects and not enough evidence to prove or disprove.”
Since the early days of the investigation, police have said the students were killed in a “targeted attack,” but recently admitted that they do not know if the young victims were “attacked”.
“We have not changed our belief that the killings were a targeted attack. However, investigators have not concluded whether the target was the residence or its occupants,” the department said Monday.
Giacalone called the nature of the killings “up close and personal.”
“Someone who chooses a knife really wants to inflict that pain and look into someone’s eyes when they do it,” he said. “You will rarely have a situation where a stranger makes you so angry.”
