ID - 4 University of Idaho Students Murdered - Moscow # 18

[EncyclopediaBrownJr]

I'd like to think there's 3 scenarios right now from the investigative POV:

1. You have no DNA of the killer

2. You have DNA but no matches in any database.

3. You have DNA with a match

We can rule out 3 since they would have arrested the perp by now. That leaves 1 and 2.

If 1, you may not want to admit that you have no DNA. You may instead probably say, you have DNA and that you are working on identifying who it belongs to. That would probably spook the perp.

If 2, You probably aren't going to say you don't have DNA and you're not going to say you have the DNA for fear the perp might run or commit suicide. The logical thing to do would be to keep quiet.

At this point in the game, I would like to believe the answer is number 2. You have DNA but need time to figure out who it would belong to. If nothing else leads to the perp, I hope this is the case and it's just a matter of connecting the dots genealogically.

 

[debirlfan]

Also there really were no outside lights to illuminate inside house. How did killer get around in darkness? Did he have a headband with a light on it? Night goggles maybe? He has to be precise when entering each room to see location of victims, and how they are laying in bed.

How do we know the house was dark and silent? There could be night lights. Maybe someone sleeps with the tv on?

 

[XtremeScorpio]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1598381449232912385

So they do believe it was a targeted attack but are now saying it could have been against the residence? Thats the first I've heard it could have been the house, and not the people residing in it. Interesting.

 

[OldCop]

One of the images grabbed from DM inside the house. Is that blood on the cabinets?! (Added one with updated exposure.)

Eerie photos reveal inside the Idaho quadruple murder house

DailyMail.com pictures show the inside of the home in Moscow, Idaho, where four students were murdered.

www.dailymail.co.uk

It could be, but it looks like an older cabinet and I often see that type of stain on a DIY job of polyurethane, varnish, or stain.
Good observation.

 

[Data Sleuth]

I think he was supposed to be living at the frat house, but I suspect he was 'unofficially' living with X, at least most of the time. As in not on the lease and not supposed to be living there, but....

Is that a rumor or your opinion?

 

[XtremeScorpio]

I'd like to think there's 3 scenarios right now from the investigative POV:

1. You have no DNA of the killer

2. You have DNA but no matches in any database.

3. You have DNA with a match

We can rule out 3 since they would have arrested the perp by now. That leaves 1 and 2.

If 1, you may not want to admit that you have no DNA. You may instead probably say, you have DNA and that you are working on identifying who it belongs to. That would probably spook the perp.

If 2, You probably aren't going to say you don't have DNA and you're not going to say you have the DNA for fear the perp might run or commit suicide. The logical thing to do would be to keep quiet.

At this point in the game, I would like to believe the answer is number 2. You have DNA but need time to figure out who it would belong to. If nothing else leads to the perp, I hope this is the case and it's just a matter of connecting the dots genealogically.

I'd like to believe it's #2 as well. And if that is the case, I'd think we're going to start seeing more stories of people being interviewed and having their DNA collected. I'm not so sure they have done that yet, but I could definitely be wrong, as it's possible LE wouldn't be releasing that info (yet).

 

[Cryptic]

As far as we know, there has been no verified report that the bedroom doors were locked.

Though I a can accept that there is no verification that the bedroom doors were locked, I suspect they were.

The house was known to host parties, have a lot of visitors that could well include additional house guests with varying levels of familiarity to all the residents.

It is probably a natural instinct for people to create personal or private spaces. Given the circumstances above, I suspect that the residents locked their bedroom doors upon going to bed for the night. If so, this was probably not done out of any fear. Rather, out of a desire to maintain a personal space in a house hosting a lot of social activities.

Of course, possibly being "locked" does not mean truly "secured". For example, every interior locking door in my house (bedrooms) can be shouldered or kicked open very quickly by an athletic adult- or even by an athletic teenage.

If the doors were locked, it further points to the sudden, overwhelming nature of the attack and suggests that there was no build up such as an argument, a demand for payment etc etc.

 

[waldojabba]

Off to the races on something that was never what I was saying. Of course we need the media to investigate and ask questions to get to corruption or misfeasance, etc as well as so many other things or else we would be like other countries where they imprison or worse those reporters. That’s not even in the ballpark of my point.

It’s only been 2 1/2 weeks later! It’s not a cold case from a year ago. There are local people from a small town who are not accustomed to the national stage nor are they at all acclimated to even having a murder for nearly a decade then going out and speaking to the national media. Again, the families are understandably under extreme grief, but look at the end result. Every time any of these people has spoken, they are giving tidbits that the FBI and LE don’t want out there. It’s only been two weeks plus, you think LE doesn’t know their every move is going to be scrutinized? That they need reporters to put pressure on them because otherwise they wouldn’t be doing their job? In six months, if no arrest, people want to start going through everything to see why there and delving into every aspect of it, by all means, go ahead then.

But otherwise, what you have is an undermining of the case that is counterproductive to the goal. By releasing crucial information with every interview that should not be out there, they are actually endangering the conviction of whoever they do charge. If the end goal is to get a maniac behind bars, continuing to press for details that should be secretive at this point is what people should be upset about, not the other way around. They should have one spokesperson with experience on the national stage speaking to reporters if that’s the case or releasing a press release everyday to be transparent.

@Missyrocks5 thank you for this post - its logical and well thought out anf IMO totally on point

 

[OldCop]

I'd like to think there's 3 scenarios right now from the investigative POV:

1. You have no DNA of the killer

2. You have DNA but no matches in any database.

3. You have DNA with a match

We can rule out 3 since they would have arrested the perp by now. That leaves 1 and 2.

If 1, you may not want to admit that you have no DNA. You may instead probably say, you have DNA and that you are working on identifying who it belongs to. That would probably spook the perp.

If 2, You probably aren't going to say you don't have DNA and you're not going to say you have the DNA for fear the perp might run or commit suicide. The logical thing to do would be to keep quiet.

At this point in the game, I would like to believe the answer is number 2. You have DNA but need time to figure out who it would belong to. If nothing else leads to the perp, I hope this is the case and it's just a matter of connecting the dots genealogically.

I also lean towards #2.

 

[10ofRods]

On house targeting:

There are lots of crimes where a particular place (with people in it) were targeted. Manson case comes to mind, but also most of EARONS's killings (he was looking for a certain kind of window, a certain known-to-him tract home lay-out, and THEN he started looking for victims as he stalked).

The Nightstalker was also a "target-the-house" killer. On the weekend he was caught, the entire LA area was alerted as to the type of window he had used to enter houses, which caused a crazy run to hardware stores to find a way to secure those windows. It was very scary. Nightstalker moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, chose mostly ranch style houses or first floors of apartments, with a particular kind of window. He did not care who was inside, he planned to kill them and eat their food, sometimes hanging out for hours in the house.

That being said, in these killings, it's hard to believe the perp didn't use further observations (the fact that people were home was telegraphed by the cars). He brought the weapons with an intent to kill, IMO. "The house" could mean "the house, its occupants and all its usual doings." If the perp had a strong objection to the particular party lifestyle of the house (and other houses), choosing this house rather than the frat house seems to have obvious reasons behind it.

Anyway, if a type of house is being targeted then anyone else in the same type of house is at risk.

 

[waldojabba]

There was no Internet in the time of the Boston Strangler. Otherwise, the tip line would be broken by calls about every man in Boston older than 11 years of age. And people’s lives would be seriously devastated by unbiased accusations.

It would be reasonable to believe that the public needs to give the police and the FBI time to work the Idaho case. I am positive they’ll find the killer. Afterwards, one would hope, the Uni will clamp down unbridled partiying as it happened in its neighbor school.

BBM - Wondering what correlation you are drawing between "unbridled partying" and this senseless killing ?

 

[SuziQ]

Just a few posts about a bloodhound asked--answered by some saying 1 dog on 1st or 2nd day observed. Zero followup on dog or dogs. I assumed "no trail" from that ...hope this helps...not much about the right or wrong dogs as in some other cases.

Thanks. It would be puzzling if the dogs didn't pick up a trail. However, I guess they would have to have a scent sample from the perp. Not sure how that would be accomplished if the perp didn't leave anything behind. Imo.

 

[debirlfan]

Is that a rumor or your opinion?

"But I suspect...." would indicate that it's my opinion.

 

[Jeging]

I'd like to think there's 3 scenarios right now from the investigative POV:

1. You have no DNA of the killer

2. You have DNA but no matches in any database.

3. You have DNA with a match

We can rule out 3 since they would have arrested the perp by now. That leaves 1 and 2.

If 1, you may not want to admit that you have no DNA. You may instead probably say, you have DNA and that you are working on identifying who it belongs to. That would probably spook the perp.

If 2, You probably aren't going to say you don't have DNA and you're not going to say you have the DNA for fear the perp might run or commit suicide. The logical thing to do would be to keep quiet.

At this point in the game, I would like to believe the answer is number 2. You have DNA but need time to figure out who it would belong to. If nothing else leads to the perp, I hope this is the case and it's just a matter of connecting the dots genealogically.

If #1 or #2, you should do the same thing. They don't know to what degree the perpetrator is listening or if the perpetrator believes what law enforcement says.

 

[annpats]

In my view, any strange vehicle would likely have been seen by someone, either at the address or leaving the address. It would have been parked outside for at least a few minutes whilst the attacker was carrying out the crime.

I don't think for one second the perp parked his car outside the house!!

I think he did have a car, so he could escape quickly, but it would have been parked a short walk away, maybe on one of the roads at the back of the house.

 

[mrsdue]

It could be, but it looks like an older cabinet and I often see that type of stain on a DIY job of polyurethane, varnish, or stain.
Good observation.

Cabinets were new, here are pics from the listing.

 

[MsBetsy]

That really makes no sense.

Maybe instead of being "specifically" targeted, some or all of the residents were randomly targeted.

 

[cottonweaver]

IMHO the majority of the people wanting more information are not trying to help LE nor are they doing it for personal safety. They are doing it to get the gossip, the rumors, the dirt, the sensationalism.
Many of the media outlets and the YTers cater to this mindset for the almighty clicks.

yes, crime is a commercial product and as I said before True Crime is also now a massive industry worth a lot of money.

It wasn't so much the case when I first started on Websleuths. There were barely any TC podcasts and most was documentary form - such as Dateline etc or dramas with CSI content.

As for YouTube - it's up to the individual to find the better quarters of that platform. If you avoid watching and subscribing to the crud and instead support the better providers imo you'll get higher quality, detailed information than is available on many of the big budget TV channels.
If ToS allowed, I'd give some examples of where I'm coming from, but ToS doesn't allow that. It's depressing to see that some of the poor YouTube channels often have huge subscriber numbers, but some of the retired LE & forensics, pathologists & other related experts are low figures, in comparison.

 

[Jeging]

If the killer is sleuthing on these type of websites, there is no way his account was opened after the murders. It was probably opened weeks, or months ago, maybe at the library, or using someone’s unsuspecting computer, iPad, or phone.

He/she/they may merely be lurking.

 

[SuziQ]

Is that also blood on the shoe in the box?

It does look like blood on the wardrobe door but it's bizarre how that would have happened. I wondered if it's arcing from when the offender has been thrusting the knife up and down?

I think it is a berry on the tree. Does look like drip marks on the cabinet. Is there a bedroom door or anything near that cabinet? Imo.