ID - 4 University of Idaho Students Murdered - Moscow #3

[cheetostock]

I have a potentially hot take: I really don't think anyone called 911 and said, "there's an unconscious person". I think the conversation went something like:

Caller: I just arrived at my friends house, and one of them is lying on the ground. There's blood everywhere!

Dispatcher: is the person conscious?

Caller: no/ I don't think so

Dispatcher: types "caller reports an unconscious person"

I agree with you; that’s why I just don’t have a lot of interest in getting hung up on these minute details.

 

[wary]

Or that it was impossible for any of the body wounds to be self inflicted. Angle. Depth. Position of bodies. Count of wounds. If all victims were stabbed numerous times that (combined with location bodies found) pretty quickly eliminates a murder suicide.

Besides the fact that the knife, as far as I’ve heard, hasn’t been recovered.

 

[Garshin]

Hello everyone, I hope you don't mind yet another new member chime in with their theories. So to be clear this is entirely IMO or MOO!

<modsnip >

Lastly, as someone who recently graduated from university I have heard several stories of friends waking up to find a homeless/transient passed out on their couch or front porch. They simply just stumbled into their house for a place to sleep out of the cold because the front door was unlocked. And not to stereotype but I could imagine an older homeless man carrying that type of knife on him for various reasons (food, self protection, etc.). So I guess that's the theory I'm going with. An older, likely mentally-ill, transient who was drunk or on drugs found his way into the house. Maybe Ethan awoke and confronted him and he pulled a knife out and went crazy. College towns seem to unfortunately be popular among that type of person. I lost count of the number of homeless people I would see sleeping in the library or harassing people for money around campus.

 

[Taffy550]

I feel so bad for the parents of theses kids and the parents who have kids living on and off campus. They must be so scared. The fact that LE didn't find a weapon at the scene, makes it seem more likely a homicide than a murder suicide. JMO I hope this is not a serial killer targeting college students. MOO

 

[Podunk]

While not a mansion, the crime scene home is spacious. However, it's reasonable to assume that such violent murders would be heard by other occupants. However during my college years (a long time ago) it was common to turn up one's stereo or radio to drown out unwanted noise from housemates. Headphones worked well but I never slept with them on. Today, earbuds are common. Is it plausible that one would sleep with earbuds in? I would think it is.

 

[BeSweets]

While not a mansion, the crime scene home is spacious. However, it's reasonable to assume that such violent murders would be heard by other occupants. However during my college years (a long time ago) it was common to turn up one's stereo or radio to drown out unwanted noise from housemates. Headphones worked well but I never slept with them on. Today, earbuds are common. Is it plausible that one would sleep with earbuds in? I would think it is.

I personally sleep with my AirPods in and YouTube premium running most nights.

 

[dlgq]

I have a potentially hot take: I really don't think anyone called 911 and said, "there's an unconscious person". I think the conversation went something like:

Caller: I just arrived at my friends house, and one of them is lying on the ground. There's blood everywhere!

Dispatcher: is the person conscious?

Caller: no/ I don't think so

Dispatcher: types "caller reports an unconscious person"

Having worked with LE in the past. This is actually pretty accurate. Radio is open to scanners so dispatchers tend to be vague. At least in the area I worked, which is fairly close to Moscow.

 

[PacoElFlaco]

Thoughts about the presumed knife.

- Although definitely not the kind of knife you would carry every day on your person due to its size, it would be something that someone perhaps would keep in their vehicle as a defense weapon.

- You don't necessarily need to be a soldier or have training to use one offensively. There are many knife fighting videos on Youtube. Even just untrained swinging against a terrified, surprised opponent would easily be lethal.

-Someone using such a knife to kill would not definitely injure themself and leave DNA. There is a finger guard to prevent the hand from slipping onto the blade. The handle is made of stacked leather rings and would not become too slippery even if wet with blood. Remember, this knife was specifically designed for combat and self-injury would not be desired.

 

[clearskies1]

Thoughts about the presumed knife.

- Although definitely not the kind of knife you would carry every day on your person due to its size, it would be something that someone perhaps would keep in their vehicle as a defense weapon.

- You don't necessarily need to be a soldier or have training to use one offensively. There are many knife fighting videos on Youtube. Even just untrained swinging against a terrified, surprised opponent would easily be lethal.

-Someone using such a knife to kill would not definitely injure themself and leave DNA. There is a finger guard to prevent the hand from slipping onto the blade. The handle is made of stacked leather rings and would not become too slippery even if wet with blood. Remember, this knife was specifically designed for combat and self-injury would not be desired.

Why do you think it was the kind of knife that was designed for combat and had a finger guard?

 

[Tillicum]

Has this been posted?

 

[PacoElFlaco]

Why do you think it was the kind of knife that was designed for combat and had a finger guard?

Because while KaBar makes several styles of knife, when you say Kabar, this is the knife you are talking about. It's iconic. When the Moscow PD were asking the hardware store if they sold Kabars, they meant this particular knife. Also, the serrations on the blade are the way the wounds would have been distinctive and indicated a KaBar.

 

[BeSweets]

Why do you think it was the kind of knife that was designed for combat and had a finger guard?

Police looking for KA-BAR

They announced they are looking for a combat style knife, specifically citing KA-BAR.

 

[flippyflappy]

While not a mansion, the crime scene home is spacious. However, it's reasonable to assume that such violent murders would be heard by other occupants. However during my college years (a long time ago) it was common to turn up one's stereo or radio to drown out unwanted noise from housemates. Headphones worked well but I never slept with them on. Today, earbuds are common. Is it plausible that one would sleep with earbuds in? I would think it is.

Agreed about sleeping with AirPods or the something similar in. These are greek life kids, they're used to trying to sleep with partying, housemates having sex in next door rooms, etc. There is a lot of stuff you probably don't want to hear happening when you live with a bunch of other 20 year olds. The noise cancelling on those things are great too. I don't think it's surprising at all that other people in the house didn't know what was happening.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Hello everyone, I hope you don't mind yet another new member chime in with their theories. So to be clear this is entirely IMO or MOO!

<modsnip>

Lastly, as someone who recently graduated from university I have heard several stories of friends waking up to find a homeless/transient passed out on their couch or front porch. They simply just stumbled into their house for a place to sleep out of the cold because the front door was unlocked. And not to stereotype but I could imagine an older homeless man carrying that type of knife on him for various reasons (food, self protection, etc.). So I guess that's the theory I'm going with. An older, likely mentally-ill, transient who was drunk or on drugs found his way into the house. Maybe Ethan awoke and confronted him and he pulled a knife out and went crazy. College towns seem to unfortunately be popular among that type of person. I lost count of the number of homeless people I would see sleeping in the library or harassing people for money around campus.

Great first post! Welcome to WebSleuths!

 

[therealtroutbum]

Who ever perp this horrible crime was covered in blood. There has to be all kinds of physical evidence including footprints and DNA from defensive wounds underneath finger nails and such that we are not prevy to by LE. Imo it makes little sense that anyone still at the location would actually be the perpetrator. Still of the opinion that LE will solve this fairly quick once the evidence is processed. If they already have a person of interest finding the murder weapon and establishing hard timelines to place the pero at the scene of the crime in as narrow a timeline as possible is always key. If a college student had a issue with the young man why go after him and involve the girls? Doesn't make sense imo

 

[RetiredEE]

What was the case recently where tox or DNA results were greatly accelerated? Like days instead of the usual several weeks. IIRC. Apologies for bad memory.

 

[DatelineFan]

Does anyone believe Greek Life had something to do with this? When I think about Kaylee, and her new car, graduating soon, ostensibly new job, etc., I can imagine a scenario where someone is extremely jealous of her. I wonder if it could be a person or persons who know her or know of her through Greek Life

 

[Tippy Lynn]

What was the case recently where tox or DNA results were greatly accelerated? Like days instead of the usual several weeks. IIRC. Apologies for bad memory.

They were in the Eliza ‘Liza’ Fletcher case.

Found Deceased - TN - Eliza "Liza" Fletcher, 34, Abducted while jogging 4:30 am, forced into SUV, Central Ave near Univ of M, personal items found, Memphis 2 Sept 2022

https://www.actionnews5.com/2022/09/02/woman-missing-reportedly-kidnapped/ MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Memphis police are searching for a woman who went missing early Friday. Eliza Fletcher, 34, went missing in the early morning hours. Police found her personal items but have not located her. Her...

www.websleuths.com

 

[KaylynnCouture]

My understanding is that LE believes the suspect entered through the sliding glass door.

Were there signs of forced entry or was the door left unlocked?

 

[Tippy Lynn]

My understanding is that LE believes the suspect entered through the sliding glass door.

Were there signs of forced entry or was the door left unlocked?

Reporter - You mentioned that there's an indication that it's an isolated, targeted, incident and there is an individual somewhere. Can you give us a reason as to why there's that belief there is a suspect? And can you also give a little more information on the forced entry? There's no sign of forced entry, but did it seem like any of the entries were left unlocked by any means?

Chief - I'll answer the last part there just because it's at the front end of my mind. We're not 100% sure if the door was unlocked. There were no damage to anything and the door was still open when we got there.