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Eerie video captures University of Idaho students’ final moments before stabbing murder

The video appears to show Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in line to buy food late on Saturday night

Io Dodds
Thursday 17 November 2022 18:14 GMT
Video shows mystery man with slain Idaho students

Eerie video footage has captured the last known movements of two University of Idaho students before they were stabbed to death along with two friends inside their off-campus home.

The video, taken from a Twitch livestream from the GrubTruckers food truck in Moscow, Idaho, shows Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves stopping by for some late-night food in the early hours of Sunday morning.

During the roughly 10-minute stop, the 21-year-old best friends appear to be having a good time, laughing with each other, taking photos and chatting to other students gathered nearby.

A mystery man appears to be with them when they arrive at the truck – but the two young women leave the area alone.

Around two hours later, Mogen and Goncalves were dead – killed inside their student home along with their friends Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20.

Police said the four victims were stabbed to death at around 3am or 4am, with their bodies left undiscovered until around midday when officers responded to a 911 call at the home for an “unconscious individual”.

When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the four friends – all sorority or fraternity members at the college – dead inside the home. There was no sign of forced entry, the front door was open and nothing appeared to have been taken, police said.

The two other roommates were present inside the home at the time, but were unharmed.

Four days on, no arrests have been made and no suspects named – while the murder weapon is also yet to be recovered.

Investigators have been working to determine the final movements of the four victims in the hopes of finding some answers as to what happened.

The Twitch footage, seen by The Independent, shows the two best friends arriving at the food truck at around 1.41am.

An unidentified man appears to be walking with them, before he steps back as they approach the truck.

Mogen and Goncalves go up to the truck and order food, while the man stands a few feet behind them – before pulling his hood over his head.

Mogen appears to spot someone she recognises and walks over to a man, hugging him briefly before returning to Goncalves’ side.

After ordering, the two best friends move over to the collection side of the truck. The mystery man who arrived with them follows and stands close by.

Over the next 10 minutes, the group of young people and students are seen laughing and chatting away as they wait for their orders.

The man is seen chatting and laughing to another man in the line, while Mogen and Goncalves appear to laugh and joke with each other and take photos.

When their food is ready, Mogen and Goncalves leave together, walking away from the truck and turning left.

The man, who was chatting to another student at the time appears to notice them walk off and gestures at them, before he turns and walks away from the truck, turning right – the opposite direction.

All four victims are believed to have returned to the property sometime after 1.45am on Sunday morning.

Chapin and Kernodle had been at a campus party together while Mogen and Goncalves spent the night at a bar in the downtown area.

In a press conference on Wednesday, police confirmed that they are looking to speak to the other people in the footage but neither the man – nor anyone else in the video – has been identified as a suspect or person of interest.

Officials confirmed that they have not identified any suspects in the murders and no arrests have been made – as they appeared to walk back their insistence that the public is not in danger.

For the past three days, officials said that there was “no ongoing threat” to the public despite the killer still being at large.

On Wednesday, there was a marked difference in tone.

“We still believe it’s a targeted attack, but the reality is, there’s still a person out there who committed horrible, horrible crimes,” said Moscow Police Chief James Fry.

“So there is a threat out there still, possibly. We don’t know it’s going to be to anybody else. But we all have to be aware of our surroundings and make sure that we’re watching out for each other.”

Multiple law enforcement agencies including the Moscow Police Department, the Idaho State Police and other state and federal agencies are now working together to solve the case which has rocked the small, college town and left students on edge.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about this incident to contact the Moscow Police at 208-883-7054

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