Kristi Goncalves, the mother of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves, said police investigating the gruesome crime cleared certain individuals “very quickly.”
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was one of four students killed in a Moscow rental house near the university campus on November 13. Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were the other victims. Police are still looking for the perpetrator.
“I feel like there were a couple of people who were cleared very quickly that maybe they shouldn’t have been,” Kristi Goncalves’ mother told NewsNation in an interview.
He added that he “doesn’t know anything about those individuals” but believes the police may have cleared them too early in their investigation. It wasn’t clear if the Goncalves family was referring to anyone in particular, but relatives said they stand behind Kaylee’s ex-boyfriend.
SCHEDULE OF MURDERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO: WHAT WE KNOW
University of Idaho victim Kaylee Goncalves may have had a stalker, according to Moscow, Idaho police. But they have not substantiated the claim, and investigators have not named a suspect or person of interest 12 days after the brutal quadruple slaying of Goncalves and three of her friends.
(Instagram @kayleegoncalves)
“I just know that they were people who definitely should have been watched,” he told the outlet.
Her husband and Kaylee’s father, Steven Goncalves, told NewsNation in the same interview that he doesn’t know what would stop authorities from “sharing someone’s alibi.”
IDAHO MURDERS: FORMER TENANT OF FIRST FLOOR OF MOSCOW HOUSE SAYS HE COULD NOT HEAR ACTIVITY ON OTHER FLOORS
Kaylee Goncalves, one of four University of Idaho students found murdered in a home near campus
(Facebook)
Detectives from the Moscow Police Department, which is in charge of investigating the murders with the help of local and federal authorities, “do not believe that the following are involved in this crime” at this time: the two roommates survivors of the victims who lived on the first floor of the house where the attack occurred, a man seen in video footage of a food truck that Goncalves and Mogen ordered from the early hours of November 13, a private party that led to the two young men home around 1:45 am, a male Goncalves and Mogen called multiple times in the early morning hours of November 13, anyone in the home when 911 was called the next morning at 11: 58 am and a sixth tenant in the house who moved in earlier in the year.
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“Just because the police say something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. So sometimes if you have someone you’re suspicious of or you don’t have enough information or evidence… you can say everyone is cleared. That doesn’t mean [police] they can’t change their mind and turn around and arrest someone,” former New York City Police Department Police Sergeant Joseph Giacalone told Fox News Digital.
“Then why publish a list of people the detectives don’t believe were involved in this crime?”
Giacalone said the quadruple murder could be “one of the biggest cases” he has seen on social media.
MURDERS AT UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO: KAYLEE GONCALVES’ DAD HAS ‘INCLUSION’ OVER ‘DIFFERING BEHAVIOR’ OF VICTIMS BEFORE THE ATTACK
“Sometimes people take things too far… Listen, we don’t want anyone to get hurt. We don’t want anyone to retaliate. There have been some irresponsible people on social media who have accused and targeted… on some people,” Giacalone said. He added that while social media and the true crime community are “great”, speculation can be harmful to the investigation and to innocent people.
Police can’t dominate rumors on social media, but they can try to control the narrative, the former NYPD detective said.
Map of murder victim activity in Idaho late on November 12 and early on November 13.
(Fox News/Moscow Police Department)
In her obituary, Goncaleves’s family described the 21-year-old as strong, fair, tough, dedicated, beautiful and loving.
IF IDAHO VICTIMS ‘WE ARE GOING TO GO, THEY ARE GOING TO GO TOGETHER,’ SAYS A FRIEND
“Throughout all her years of education, Kaylee kept up amazing grades and made friends wherever she went. She was outgoing, quirky, contagious, and a little ditzy (sorry Kaylee, it’s true!),” they wrote. “She loved to constantly prank her friends and family. She loved adventure. She worked hard, always had a full-time job on top of her studies, even in high school. Kaylee loved the finer things in life and took a lot of pride to buy those things for herself.
A photo of Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, who were murdered with two other University of Idaho students.
(instagram)
Sunday will mark three weeks since the students were stabbed to death, likely in their sleep, and police have yet to name any suspects in the case.
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Moscow police have continued to describe the brutal killings as “an isolated and targeted attack”. University of Idaho students who left campus for the Thanksgiving break were given the option to stay home and learn remotely rather than return to campus with a suspect still on the run. The police also have to announce any kind of motive in the quadruple murder.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the killings to call 208-883-7180 or tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.
