Conquer Club

Who is the Vandal Slayer?

What we know so far:

- Before last week there had only been one murder in Moscow, Idaho in the last decade.
- Moscow, Idaho has a population of 25,000 and is home to the University of Idaho.
- On November 13, between 3-4 a.m., someone - or a group of people - stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in their rented house.
- There are no signs the victims were restrained or sexually assaulted, and nothing was stolen.
- Two other women were in the house during the killings but have been ruled out as suspects. Neither were attacked and both were apparently unaware the murders were occurring.
- At 12 p.m. the next day, a 911 call was placed by an unknown person using one of the victim's cellphones. When police arrived, the two other women were still unaware their four roommates were dead in their rooms.
- Police say they have no suspects, no motive, and have not recovered a murder weapon. They have not released the identity of the 911 caller or a recording of the call.
- The University of Idaho has canceled classes and encouraged students to leave town.
- This is the 40th anniversary of the last murder of the Stage Door Killer, an unidentified serial killer who murdered at least five people in an adjacent county in the early 1980s.

Police are also saying that that two of the victims made ten separate phone calls to one of their ex-boyfriends minutes before the killing started. The ex-boyfriend was asleep and didn't answer the phone any of the ten times.

The police have announced "we cannot say that there is no threat to the community."

The police are also saying the murder weapon, which they have yet to recover, appears to have been a serrated combat knife.

Major questions:

1- How do you stab four people to death in one house, without two other people in the same house noticing anything amiss?
2- Who called 911 from the victim's cellphone? Was it the killer?
3- Could a first time killer murder four people sequentially with a knife or is this the work of someone who is experienced?
4 - Was the killer(s) in the house when the phone calls were being placed to the ex-boyfriend?

The title of this thread is a tribute to the Marco Beltrami song of the same name.

Updates:

- The Police are now saying the 911 caller was one of the two surviving roommates who slept through the attack. However, she called because she thought they had all passed out and didn't realize they'd been stabbed to death. (?)
- Police are also saying that, one week prior to the murders, a dog was found brutally killed three miles away. That is also unsolved.
- Police have gone from "there is no current threat," to "we cannot say there is no current threat," to - as of today - saying everyone in Moscow should "be vigilant."
- The police are saying more than 60 officers from the Latah County Sheriff's Office, Moscow Police, and Idaho State Police are involved in investigating the crime, and that even the FBI is assisting.

It is a mystery, as of now. Very odd and interesting facts. At this point, little makes sense.

saxi does a good job summarizing what I have read elsewhere, with new facts that I did not already know. I assume these are all valid facts.

I find it most ODD:

1) that 911 was called on the cell phone of one of the victims;

2) Two roommates of the six, slept through the murder of FOUR others.

Also, having had 2 children go to college, I find it odd that 6 you people live in one apartment, although, I suppose, to save money, "college kids" will enter odd living arrangements. (Both my children lived in one apartment with 3 others. Each had their own bed room and there were 2 bathrooms for them.)

One other bit of speculation by me: The sleeping roommates may have slept through the late night doings of the other 4 before so they just learned to ignore noise generated by those 4. Some of the murdered 4 were apparently seen (and on camera) at late night events a few hours before they were killed.

My understanding is it was a 6 bedroom house and everyone had their own rooms with one bedroom unoccupied. The guy lived at the Sigma Chi chapter and was sleeping over that evening.

saxitoxin wrote:My understanding is it was a 6 bedroom house and everyone had their own rooms with one bedroom unoccupied. The guy lived at the Sigma Chi chapter and was sleeping over that evening.

Based on the video scenes I have seen of the crime scene, the house seemed near Fraternity Row, or at least one Frat house nearby. I think it was the Sigma Chi house.

No one in the media seems to want to discuss the likelihood this will never be solved.

Only 50% of US murders get solved and the chances of solution drop by 50% if a suspect isn't identified in the first 48 hours. It's now been a week and police seem to all but admit they have no suspect.

saxitoxin wrote:No one in the media seems to want to discuss the likelihood this will never be solved.

Only 50% of US murders get solved and the chances of solution drop by 50% if a suspect isn't identified in the first 48 hours. It's now been a week and police seem to all but admit they have no suspect.

Intriguing case it is.

Another factor ... the killer used a very specific type of knife -- a serrated combat knife -- that he obviously brought to the scene for the purpose of murder. In other words, this wasn't a kitchen knife that one would randomly grab to stab someone. Nor was it an object people routinely carry around with them.

So, the killer came to the house having armed himself for murder. And yet he chose a knife in a state where buying a gun is as easy as buying gum.

I think the police are afraid of causing a panic but this is a serial killer.

saxitoxin wrote:Another factor ... the killer used a very specific type of knife -- a serrated combat knife -- that he obviously brought to the scene for the purpose of murder. In other words, this wasn't a kitchen knife that one would randomly grab to stab someone. Nor was it an object people routinely carry around with them.

So, the killer came to the house having armed himself for murder. And yet he chose a knife in a state where buying a gun is as easy as buying gum.

I think the police are afraid of causing a panic but this is a serial killer.

Why is this obvious?

I would say “possibly” or maybe “likely”.

Some people do carry weapons like this (just like some carry guns) all the time.

jimboston wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:Another factor ... the killer used a very specific type of knife -- a serrated combat knife -- that he obviously brought to the scene for the purpose of murder. In other words, this wasn't a kitchen knife that one would randomly grab to stab someone. Nor was it an object people routinely carry around with them.

So, the killer came to the house having armed himself for murder. And yet he chose a knife in a state where buying a gun is as easy as buying gum.

I think the police are afraid of causing a panic but this is a serial killer.

Why is this obvious?

I would say “possibly” or maybe “likely”.

Some people do carry weapons like this (just like some carry guns) all the time.

ITT we learn Jim is the killer.

BREAKING!

Radar Online reports police are investigating the University of Idaho's ROTC battalion.

A police source added, “Clearly investigators want to know if the University of Idaho’s Reserve Officers' Training Corps program had any Ka-Bar knives in its archive or on display.

They are proving whether the weapon could have been swiped by the killer or killers to commit the crimes, the insider said.

https://radaronline.com/p/university-of ... yle-knife/

Latest:
"Kernodle and Chapin (the guy, a date) had been at a party at the Sigma Chi fraternity house — less than a mile from the house on King Road — and returned home at about 1: 45 a.m. Sunday. Goncalves and Moden had spent the evening at a bar called the Corner Club before stopping at a downtown food truck on the way home. Both girls also arrived home at around 1:45 a.m.

The two surviving roommates arrived home at approximately 1 a.m.

Multiple calls were made from Goncalves’ and Moden’s cellphones between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. to a male who did not answer. A sister of Goncalves, Avilea, said the calls were made to an individual named Jack who is a friend.

Detectives do not believe that the two surviving roommates or any individuals summoned to the household on Sunday morning were involved in the crime.

Police don’t think 911 caller, roommates were killers in U of Idaho student stabbings

The police also cleared a male singled out in surveillance footage of the Grub Truck food truck, the “private party” driver who took Goncalves and Mogen home early that morning, and the individual called by Goncalves and Mogen.

The Latah County Sheriff’s Office also said that a reported incident involving a dog attacked with a knife elsewhere in Moscow was unrelated to the homicides, though they have not said how they know that. The Statesman has reached out for more information.

The next police press conference is scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. Pacific time in Moscow."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/eight-days-after-university-of-idaho-killings-here-s-what-we-know-as-police-investigate/ar-AA14o7O1

saxitoxin wrote:So, the killer came to the house having armed himself for murder. And yet he chose a knife in a state where buying a gun is as easy as buying gum.

Clearly a Democrat then.

I think a gun might have woken people up.

Don't Americans learn to sleep through gunfire at the age of 6-7?

Only if it's outdoors. If it's inside their house, they get a little nervous.
More seriously, we know the assassin didn't use a gun. We don't know if they were carrying one in case of need,

FBI profilers have provided a description of the murderer:

The murderer is in his late teens or early-to-mid 20s.

"He’s sloppy," Clemente said, when reached by phone on Tuesday. "This is probably more of a compulsive kind of person, that would put him at a younger age and, maybe in the age group or just above the victims."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/idaho-coed-k ... attributes

The murderer either knew, or was stalking, one of the victims.

Asked later about the suspicion that the killer knew his victims, Clemente explained that the offender entered a home in the middle of the night "when anybody living there could have had a gun, multiple people could confront and attack him when he got in." "Unless he knew them, unless he knew one or more of them," he went on. "I think that reduces the risk if he did, or if he was stalking them, and he knew that on the weekends they all got wasted. And they went to bed early, or they went to bed in the early morning, and they didn't get up till late afternoon because they were all wasted."

The murderer is male.

"They fought back. This is somebody that was able to kill more people, including a male victim," Clemente said. He also referenced the use of a knife as a murder weapon and said, such violence is "more indicative of a male offender."

The murderer is a hunter or works as a butcher.

"The fact that he used a knife," Clemente explained. "It’s graphic but we call it, he doesn’t mind wet work – he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. He doesn’t pale at the sign of blood." He said he believed this could mean that the suspect is a hunter, a butcher or is otherwise in a field of that nature.

What I'm still not understanding is that the scene was so violent that blood was literally seeping out of the floorboards of the house and yet the roommates who called 911 thought the victims had just had too much to drink and were passed out.

Hunting knifes are common in rural areas. Hunters are common in rural areas. Rural areas require strong people in mining, farming, ranching, and forestry. Hopefully they can get better clues.

This lady seems to be saying to more or less disregard what the Moscow Police and Latah Sheriff are saying as they don't know what they're doing and are in over their heads. She also says - which is the first time I've heard it - that "some of the deceased had defensive weapons."

saxitoxin wrote:

jimboston wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:Another factor ... the killer used a very specific type of knife -- a serrated combat knife -- that he obviously brought to the scene for the purpose of murder. In other words, this wasn't a kitchen knife that one would randomly grab to stab someone. Nor was it an object people routinely carry around with them.

So, the killer came to the house having armed himself for murder. And yet he chose a knife in a state where buying a gun is as easy as buying gum.

I think the police are afraid of causing a panic but this is a serial killer.

Why is this obvious?

I would say “possibly” or maybe “likely”.

Some people do carry weapons like this (just like some carry guns) all the time.

ITT we learn Jim is the killer.

I might agree “likely” just saying you can’t make that as a given assumption.

jimboston wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:

jimboston wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:Another factor ... the killer used a very specific type of knife -- a serrated combat knife -- that he obviously brought to the scene for the purpose of murder. In other words, this wasn't a kitchen knife that one would randomly grab to stab someone. Nor was it an object people routinely carry around with them.

So, the killer came to the house having armed himself for murder. And yet he chose a knife in a state where buying a gun is as easy as buying gum.

I think the police are afraid of causing a panic but this is a serial killer.

Why is this obvious?

I would say “possibly” or maybe “likely”.

Some people do carry weapons like this (just like some carry guns) all the time.

ITT we learn Jim is the killer.

I might agree “likely” just saying you can’t make that as a given assumption.

OK

ITT we learn Jim is likely the killer.

bigtoughralf wrote:Don't Americans learn to sleep through gunfire at the age of 6-7?

------------ In Southwest Detroit it is 2 years old, unless you get hit with the bullet...We used to have T-shirts...I'm from Southwest Detroit, I vacation in Beirut...... ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)... ...10 time murder capital of the world...Only problem...Burned out houses, people killed through gunfire, Mayor Coleman Young, giving companies an ultimatum...Pay my taxes or hit 8 mile...That is just what they did..Vernors, Strohs,etc...