Taxi Driver Who Drove Murdered University Of Idaho Students Home Admits Their Deaths 'Weighed' On Him: 'My Job Was To Get Them Home Safe'
Dec. 24 2022, Published 11:31 a.m. ET
A taxi driver who chauffeured University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, home hours before their brutal murders has spoken out on his feelings about being one of the last people to ever the young women alive.
"It's weighed on me," the driver — who frequently drove both women, as well as third victim Xana Kernodle, 20, around town — admitted in a recent interview. "I've replayed that night a million times over trying to think if there was some sign or some detail that something was amiss but there was nothing.
"It's not lost on me that my job was to get these girls home safe but that didn't really help this time."
According to surveillance footage, the driver picked up both Goncalves and Mogen at a food truck around 1:40 a.m. after a night of clubbing.
"They had their food, and they were super excited about their mac'n'cheese as girls are after they go to the club," the driver noted. "There was no apprehension, no weird feelings there, no upsetness. There was no nervousness about them. They weren't afraid of anybody. There was nobody following them or following us."
The man confessed that despite going over the details of the car ride repeatedly, there was "absolutely nothing" that was "different or abnormal." The girls chatted away in the back seat and he eventually pulled up to their driveway and they left the vehicle.
"I didn't watch them go all the way in," he continued. "There were the two of them, it's a relatively safe place. It's not something I would usually sit and watch."
"I've been driving here for years, and it weighed on me," he added. "It was rough, to think I was one of the last people to see them alive."
When the driver saw the news that shocking killings had occurred in that neighborhood the following Monday, he immediately went to the police, answered their questions and provided proof of where he was after dropping them off at their home.
Weeks after their deaths, there have still been no arrests and little information has been released to the public that sparks hope of the case being solved swiftly. h dismay as police have shared little information and the families of the victims have grown increasingly impatient — something that continues to upset the driver.
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"Those kids deserve justice and they're not getting it. It feels to this community like the police aren't even trying," he said. "Which is one hundred per cent related to how they aren't communicating with the community. People are scared."
"Most of us have very little faith in the MPD. We can't tell if we are watching qualified investigators who have a handle of the situation or if they are completely at a loss and grasping for straws."
The driver spoke with DailyMail on taking the girls home the night.
