The unidentified suspect who fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students could show up at his victims’ funerals to “indulge” in thinking they “got away with it,” a retired FBI profiler told Fox News Digital.
“Sometimes the criminals show up,” said Mary Ellen O’Toole, who once worked in the bureau’s prestigious behavior analysis unit.
“They might really get a kick out of thinking they got away with crime, so going to a service like this, where they can walk in and people don’t realize who they are, that can certainly fuel that kind of selfishness”. answer,” she said.
Ethan Chapin, 20, his girlfriend, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and her best friend, Madison Mogen, 21, were massacred in the early hours of November 13 in a rented house near the campus of Moscow, Idaho.
TIMELINE OF MURDERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE KILLING OF FOUR STUDENTS
Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, and Xana Kernodle were stabbed to death on November 13.
(FoxNews)
The Moscow Police Department, which is working with the Idaho State Police and the FBI, has said they have not yet zeroed in on a suspect or motive. On Wednesday night, Moscow police appeared to retract their claim that one or more of the victims were “attacked”.
“Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any of its occupants were targeted specifically, but are continuing to investigate,” the Moscow Police Department said in a press release.
Latah County Attorney Bill Thompson told KTVB on Wednesday morning that “investigators believe this attack was targeted at a specific person.”
The Moscow Police Department said on Wednesday that they have since clarified the evidence with Thompson and that his statement was the result of a “miscommunication”.
Authorities also said they have not determined if there was more than one shooter.
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O’Toole said the nerve of the crime makes it more likely that the suspect would take the extreme risk of attending the victims’ funerals, and he put the odds of a surreptitious appearance at 50-50.
“There is an arrogance to this crime, there is a high-risk nature,” he said, noting that the offender entered a house occupied by six people “where there was every conceivable possibility that he would have been kicked.”
The house where four University of Idaho students were murdered on November 13, 2022.
(Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Investigators would likely be videotaping and observing these events, added O’Toole, who obtained a confession from “Green River Killer” Gary Ridgway and is known as the FBI’s leading expert on criminal psychopaths.
A law enforcement source told Fox News that authorities closely monitored the campus vigil Wednesday night, taking pictures in case the killer made a discreet appearance.
Kaylee’s father told ABC News the family was deeply concerned the perpetrator would show up if they held a service.
“My wife’s biggest fear, part of the reason we didn’t have a funeral, is because she couldn’t be guaranteed that this monster wouldn’t be there,” Steve Goncalves said.
Goncalves and Mogen considered themselves sisters.
(Friend of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen)
In 2015, Randolph Sanders shot his co-worker Kim Jones after she found out he had stolen money from the children’s nonprofit where they worked and was about to report him. Before confessing, he attended his funeral and even shook hands with his son, according to Crime + Investigation.
Nicknamed the “Taco Bell strangler,” Henry Louis Wallace lured 11 women into fast-food restaurants in North Carolina and South Carolina before raping and choking them to death.
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He knew many of his victims and often attended their funerals, where he comforted their families, until he was caught in 1994.
Hundreds of family and friends attended Chapin’s funeral on November 21 in Mount Vernon, Washington, about six hours from the University of Idaho.
The victims of the University of Idaho, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle.
(Instagram @xanakernodle)
Kernodle’s obituary says a funeral is scheduled for Friday at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, his hometown, to honor the four victims.
It is unclear if the event is in lieu of a funeral. An obituary for Mogen says that she and Goncalves will have a joint memorial at some point in the future.
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The slain students were found shortly after noon on November 13 after police received a 911 call requesting help for an unconscious person.
The victims were likely ambushed in their sleep between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and some had defensive wounds, according to the coroner and police. Each had been stabbed multiple times in the torso.
An aerial map released by the Moscow City Police Department shows the final movements of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves before they were murdered in their home on November 13, 2022. Inset photo shows to the victims.
(Moscow City Police Department)
Steve Goncalves told ABC News that his daughter and her friends were killed “quickly and no one suffered.”
Two roommates were home at the time of the attack and likely fell asleep, authorities said.
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Ethan Chapin’s family is frustrated by the lack of information from the University of Idaho and the Moscow police.
(Derek Shook for Fox News Digital/Instagram)
Retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente offered insight into the suspect’s personality traits.
“In general, mass murderers are usually male and they are angry or seeking retribution or revenge for some type of mistreatment, rejection or humiliation,” he said. “He’s probably socially isolated.”
Based on the complexity of the house’s layout, O’Toole believes the killer likely identified his prey days in advance. Studying floor plans, which show no furniture, or looking out a window, would not have been enough, he added.
“All the cases I’ve had with a crime like this… if the offender is successful, especially with people in the house, they’ve had to go into the house and look around,” he said.
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O’Toole surmised that the killer had significant experience with a blade to be able to stab four people to death.
“This person knew how to use a knife on a human being,” he said. “This person knew that that knife was going to create a mess, and he was okay with it.”
Tips can be sent to 208-883-7180, tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or through the digital presentation site here.
Cristina Corbin and Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.
