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Police clear up 'miscommunication' on whether Idaho students were 'targeted' in brutal killings
Law enforcement officials investigating the murders of four University of Idaho students have issued multiple statements in the span of 24 hours to clear up miscommunication on whether the victims were "targeted."
MOSCOW, Idaho - A sixth person was on the lease at the off-campus residence where four University of Idaho students were murdered more than two weeks ago, but detectives said they do not believe that individual was present during the quadruple homicide, the Moscow Police Department revealed Thursday evening for the first time.
Three of the roommates – Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 – were stabbed to death between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. on Nov. 13. Kernodle's boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who did not live there and was staying the night, was also killed.
Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, along with the women's two other roommates in Kaylee Goncalves' final Instagram post, shared the day before the slayings. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
Two other roommates who were inside the home were uninjured. Authorities said in the early days of the investigation that Chapin was a roommate, but clarified five days after the murders that he was only visiting.
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"Detectives are aware of a sixth person listed on the lease at the residence but do not believe that individual was present during the incident," the Moscow Police Department said in a news release.
The home where four University of Idaho students were murdered Nov. 13. The victims were stabbed to death on the second and third floor, according to police. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Authorities did not immediately respond to questions from Fox News Digital on Thursday evening.
Team Idaho Property Management Supervisor Merida McClanahan previously told Fox News Digital that the residence is a three-story, six-bed, three-bath, single-family home that is frequently rented out to students. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom on each of the floors.
A neighbor, third-year law student Jeremy Reagan, described the residence as a party house.
"There were parties that were kind of loud," Reagan previously told Fox News.
"As I would take my dog in and out to go to the bathroom, I would just be walking by, I would look up and I would see people in the windows almost every night, probably four or five nights a week. There were a lot of people that went into and out of that house pretty frequently."
Investigators search a home in Moscow, Idaho on Monday, November 14, 2022 where four University of Idaho students were killed on Nov. 13. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
The house is a short walk away from the Sigma Chi house, where Kernodle and Chapin spent the evening before returning home shortly before 2:00 a.m.
Mogen and Goncalves went out to a local bar called the Corner Club before also returning home at approximately 1:56 a.m.
Police also said that Idaho State Police Forensic Services have already returned the first lab results to detectives. Authorities have not publicly released the results.
After a series of conflicting statements, the Moscow Police Department said Thursday morning that they "remain consistent in our belief that this was a targeted attack," but are unsure whether the "target was the residence or if it was the occupants."
Idaho State Police Communications Director Aaron Snell said this week that the "collection of evidence at the house is coming to a conclusion," but he was unsure of when the crime scene would be released.
Fox News' Audrey Conklin and Ashley Soriano contributed to this report.