Speculation-- Did the killer plan to kill 4 people or did it just develop that way? Your target is on the 3rd floor. You break into the 2nd floor, and have to kill the people on that floor because you don't want them to wake and trap you on the 3rd floor. You find your target on the 3rd floor, but another girl is next to her, so you have to kill her too. One of the many scenarios my mind is cranking out as I go insane trying to imagine how this went down.
When I first heard about this case, I thought of Danny Rollings, The Gainesville Slayer, because something about the Idaho 4 reminded me of these murders specifically (probably the college student ages, numbers of victims, and the stabbing aspect).
I have since read up on Rollings’ MO, and it’s similar and different in a lot of ways.
1. First, Rollings was a spree/lust/thrill serial killer that posed his victims in horrific ways and SA the target victim, but not the other victims.
2. He specifically used a KABAR knife in his attacks along with a gun to subdue and gain compliance.
2. The first two victims In Gainesville, Larson and Powell, were both asleep… He passed by Powell (his actual target) as she was sleeping on the couch and went upstairs to kill Larson so she wouldn’t get in the way when he was with his target victim: He used duct tape to silence both of the girls before stabbing them. And then removed the tape and posed them.
3. He gained entry by using a screw driver to jimmy a sliding glass door.
4. He found his targets around where he lived (he was at that time, a vagrant that lived in a tent in the woods): At a restaurant, and a local convenience store and then stalked his targets for a few days and then killed them.
5. He picked women that looked like his ex wife and took his rage out on them.
6. His first murder was a girl he targeted in Louisiana and he killed her and annihilated her family (I believe it was a total of 4 victims).
In some ways, he was very organized but not in others but that may be because he was a poly drug user at the time of the Gainesville murders.
He knew and was taught human anatomy and knew where to stab someone to kill them.
Of course, there are many differences between Rollings’ MO and the Idaho murders, but, there could be some similarities that are still not known to the public.
For instance: LE keeps saying these attacks were “targeted” — well, so were the Gainesville murders but it took knowing Rollings and his confessions to understand the target and what it meant to him. He did make it sort of obvious with how some the women were very similar looking and 3 of the 5 victims were treated with an unmeasurable amount of brutality compared to the other two, which offered investigators clues as to his target victims.
He “targeted” his victims randomly and by sheer coincidence and the other two murders committed at the time were “collateral damage” for him. He then stalked them just a short time and used a screwdriver to gain entry and lay in wait.
Paules’ roommate, Manuel, was a surprise to him and he fought valiantly for his life.
As stated before, he SA the three target victims unlike what happened to the Idaho victims.
I’m not alluding to the idea that the Idaho killer is exactly the same type of killer: but the use of the KABAR, the “targeted” victims, the victims that were collateral damage, the way he gained entry (I think it has been theorized it was the slider door, and I’m going with that for this description and otherwise, it’s my opinion), the fact that maybe the Idaho killer wasn’t familiar with the layout (or the survivors locked their doors or something) or they weren’t his targets at all or within the target area and that’s why their lives were spared, the seeming thrill kill aspect of the incident (IMO, b/c i theorize this was a type of thrill-kill for the perpetrator), the seeming randomness of the murders (since LE has been ruling out potential subjects closest to the victims and working their way outward) and no POI or suspect has been caught or named, the ways in which the victims were killed by being awoken from their sleep (and maybe quieted which can be explained by either duct tape or a gun), etc… I also think piquerism may be a factor in the Idaho murders as well as the idea that they weren’t committed by a person known to them.
This case appears to be not only targeted but possibly very well organized by someone who really thought this through (I think Rollings may have been more meticulous if he wasn’t on polysubstances, is my point).
The ways in which they differ is almost enough to not even consider the similarities: 3 spree killings that spanned over a few days, a first kill being a family annihilator (but no one knew that at the time), he was also a stick-up robber of a bank/convenience store, the SA’s, the posing of the victims, the time he took with his victims, etc… Maybe some of the differences, the extreme escalation, and manic behavior could be attributed to Rollings’ Meth and other drug use at the time?
We also don’t know the age of the killer, but Rollings I think was 35-36 and his victims were as young as 18— so, an older killer may be something to consider as well.
I think it’s also maybe important to note the baseline of what triggered Rollings to notice a “target” and how he noticed them and stalked them a bit beforehand and his profile may be something to think about in relation to the Idaho murders.
All of this is my observable opinion.
I’ve attached some of my source material for this.
Access Google Sites with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
sites.google.com
Case opinion for FL Supreme Court ROLLING v. STATE. Read the Court's full decision on FindLaw.
caselaw.findlaw.com
The basis of FBI criminal profiling.
www.psychologytoday.com
