'If The Killer Was Apparently So Sloppy, Why Haven’t Cops Found Him?' 'Bungling' Idaho Cops SLAMMED For 'Grave Contradictions' As Fears Grow Quadruple Murderer 'Could Be In Another Country By Now'
Nov. 27 2022, Published 11:18 a.m. ET
The perpetrator or perpetrators responsible for the brutal quadruple murder of four University of Idaho students could have escaped to another country in the days when local police were allegedly “asleep at the wheel,” it’s been claimed.
Moscow Police Department, the lead law enforcement agency probing the gruesome slayings on November 13, have repeatedly denounced whomever was responsible for the unsolved murders as being so “sloppy” they “left a mess of evidence”
Stumped cops are yet to identify a suspect or a motive and have blamed the Thanksgiving weekend holiday for their lack of leads. But a furious source told RadarOnline.com: “If the killer was apparently so sloppy, why haven’t cops found him?”
The parents of one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, said cops had told them the crime scene was a “mess” and the killer or killers were careless with the slayings.
Another source told RadarOnline.com: “In criminal investigations, it is widely known that if authorities do not have a lead, a suspect or an arrest within the first 48 hours, their chances of solving the case are cut in half.
“Those initial critical hours are a race against time to solve the case. In Idaho, we know cops failed to protect the crime scene and protect the credibility of the investigation.”
The insider added: “If this was a targeted killing, and the perpetrator or perpetrators are not serial killers, their natural behavior would have been to flee the area. This means they could be in another state, or worse, another country, by now.”
Moscow's proximity to Washington state — which the city directly borders — could hamper investigations by forcing other agencies to work together in an interstate investigation, the source added.
“It adds another layer of complexity,” the source said.
Goncalves and her roommates Madison Mogen, also 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were all stabbed to death on Nov. 13 between 3am and 4am.
Among the missteps by authorities:
— A garbage truck collected trash from the home before it was searched, mixing it with trash from other homes;
— Officers failed to interview the owner of the food truck where two victims were last scene;
— They also did not measure tire tracks at the crime scene until a full six days after the victims were discovered; and
— They failed to expand the search area to neighboring woodlands behind the house until Nov. 22.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, a source close to the investigation described the efforts by Moscow Police as "botched," and said the department could have ruined mountains of evidence at the scene by waiting so long to properly investigate.
“The reality is this evidence was likely obliterated and if the cops had done things correct," the source said. "Those tire marks would have been photographed, measured, and preserved, on the day when the victims were found,” said a source.
“The time that elapsed between when the bodies were found and forensics team returned to the crime scene allowed crucial evidence to be corrupted, by weather or other activity," the source continued. “With no suspect, no murder weapon and little to no leads, you have to ask the question: did police botch the investigation from the get-go?”
Adding to reasons for the tiny community to be on edge, a 12-year-old dog was skinned head-to-toe nearby — and while cops say the two incidents are not related, those claims have also been called into question.
Said an informant: “You have to ask yourself: how common is it for a dog to be skinned to death by a knife — just three miles from a scene where people were hacked to death just a few weeks earlier? To me, this is a multiple alarm fire.”
The source noted there is a proven link between violent acts towards animals and psychopathology.
Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and the ‘Son of Sam’ killer David Berkowitz — who killed dozens of innocent people combined — all practiced on animals before they turned their rage on human beings, the informant added.
“I can understand the local cops don’t want to spread fear amongst a local community already on edge, especially considering no suspect, no motive or no murder weapon have been identified, but to convincingly rule it (the dog killing) out seems a very interesting and somewhat rash decision,” the insider said.
“It’s been long established that individuals who have the capability of killing four people in this manner start their killings on animals ... This is a red flag, and it shows murderous traits. These are serial killer tendencies. Police owe it to the community to explain how they can unequivocally dispel a link between these two instances.”
The victims’ roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were in the house at the time of the gruesome massacre but were not harmed. They allegedly woke up hours later and discovered the bodies, calling 911 to report an "unconscious person."
Law enforcement confirmed Mortensen and Funke are not considered suspects.
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As RadarOnline.com previously learned, desperate police are hoping DNA evidence could be recovered from the fingernails of at least one of the victims, and are also zeroing in on a possible link to the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
A Reserve Officers' Training Corps — or ROTC — is a college program offered at the students’ colleges campus that prepares young adults to become officers in the U.S. Military.
Investigators believe the weapon used in the brutal slaying was a combat knife and it could’ve been sourced for the University of Idaho ROTC program, said a law enforcement source.
“Police believe a Ka-Bar-style knife was used in the murders, and they’ve already ruled out that type of weapon was for sale at a local store,” a case insider said. “This is a very unique style of a knife which is about six inches long.”
It has been described as similar to the knife brandished by Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone. A Ka-Bar knife has a blade on one side and a serrated edge on the other. The combat knife was issued by the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1940s, according to the company’s website.
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.
