TRANSCRIPTION OF BRIAN ENTIN'S INTERVIEW WITH CHIEF FRY
23RD DECEMBER.
Entin - Chief, thank you so much for being with us. It's been almost 6 weeks now since the murders. I know you're getting hundreds of tips still coming in every day. Are you getting closer, Chief, to finding the killer or killers?.
Chief - We're continuing the investigation, we're continuing to push on. Like I said from the very beginning, I'm very confident that we will have a conclusion to this. A timeline - that's going to be as things develop, and we're following up on all those leads.
Entin - The latest I heard, you've done 250 interviews, your detectives, which is an enormous amount of work going on, behind the scenes, that obviously the public can't see. And I know there's a lot you can't talk about, but can you tell us whether you're zeroing in on one or two people at this point?.
Chief - Like we've said through the whole investigation, there's things we have to keep for the integrity of the case, and we're going to continue with that. We are interviewing a lot of people and we are gathering a lot of information and we're putting that puzzle together. And were painting a picture and we're trying to put that all together.
Entin - I've sort of thought about this, Chief. The fact that you've got so many resources there and the FBI and technology and the resources from the feds - Should we assume that this was almost someone.. like almost like a professional who knew what they were doing?. Because it seems like if this was just some college kid, surely that person would have been tracked down by now?.
Chief - So I think there's some misconception out there with how we operate, here in Moscow. We've called in ATF in the past. We've called in the FBI in the past on many of these big cases because they have resources that we don't. We want to have the best investigators there. That's why we call in the state police, from the very beginning of these, as well. So we've always done this type of investigations with the help of our federal partners as well as our state partners.
Entin - And you mentioned calling in the state police at the beginning. One concern that we've heard from the Goncalves family attorney is he has questioned how the investigation was handled in the first 48 hours. He says perhaps there was more that could have been done, immediately after the murders. Do you think things were handled properly right at the beginning?. I mean, do you have any regrets about the way things were initially handled?.
Chief - I do think they were handled properly. We secured the scene quickly. We called in the state police. We did our due diligence in getting the things that we needed to do, to have this be a solid case all the way through. We called in the state lab to collect evidence and, I believe that, it was the initial stuff that we started and how we did things that will help bring this to a conclusion.
Entin - School's out now, winter break at University of Idaho. I believe the kids come back on January 11th. We've heard from parents who are worried, saying, you know, 'maybe I'm going to keep my kids home or have them do online school'. What do you say to those families that are concerned about sending students back?.
Chief - What I've always said is, is we're a very proactive police force. We're out and about. We're on campus a lot. We're out doing patrols, but personal safety - People do need to pay attention to their surroundings. People need to make sure that they watch out for one another. But we want the students to come back. We will also want them to feel safe. So that's going to be a family decision, I think, on a lot of those parents and kids.
Entin - Is there anyway of knowing right now and, again, I know there's things you can't say, of whether this murderer is still in the area or maybe far away by now?.
Chief - Like I said, we're not disclosing any of that, but it's not that... we just don't know at this point. We're still trying to put everything together. We've said all along that we need people to be vigilant. We need people to pay attention because we're not sure exactly where the individual is.
Entin - The white Hyundai Elantra that's obviously gotten so much attention. People all over the country looking for it. Should they still be on the look out?. Do you think you've gathered what you need, in terms of that car or are you still wanting people to call in?.
Chief - We still are asking people to call in on any spotting of a white Elantra. We appreciate all the tips that we've gotten, not only from local Moscow, but across the nation. And we're following up on all those, so every tip helps. Like I said, we don't know exactly which tip is going to be the one that really secures a piece of information that we're looking for, but we're looking at all those.
Entin - I've been outside the house quite a bit over the last month. It was two days ago there were two detectives that showed back up to that house. Any idea how long you'll keep that a crime scene, the way it is, all roped off?.
Chief - I'm not exactly sure. We're working with investigators to verify when they're ready to release that, but as soon as we can release it, we will.
Entin - And I know how hard everyone has been working, again, behind the scenes. You have so many detectives on the case and the feds and the state troopers who are there. Obviously, a lot of people working the case have families and kids. I know you've mentioned before that there's young officers that first showed up to the crime scene and it was emotional for them. How's everybody doing at the department?.
Chief - I think we're doing well, actually. We're very committed, were committed to this. We've said all along that we will push through and we're giving people time off, as needed, and giving them a break and getting them back. But we're keeping people healthy and we're going to continue to push on this. We're committed to this.
Entin - Well, Chief Fry, we appreciate your time. I know how hard everyone is working. I know the families appreciate the hard work and thanks for coming on tonight.
Chief - Thank you and I appreciate it.
I'm not at all convinced that LE know who owns the car. I think if they had that information, they would be able to put it to work by squeezing the owner for information, putting the owner of the car under surveillance, scanning the owner's familial and social networks for anyone fitting their profile of the killer, etc.
