Idaho police seize footage of car speeding past Moscow gas station on night of college murders
For the last week, police have asked for the public’s help in tracking down the occupant or occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra in connection to the case
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A white car has been spotted on surveillance footage speeding past a gas station in Moscow, Idaho, on the night that four college students were brutally murdered in their beds.
The footage captured what appears to be a white sedan driving along Highway 8 at 3.45am on 13 November.
Investigators previously revealed that University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were stabbed to death in their beds at around 3am or 4am that morning.
The gas station is just a four-minute drive from the student rental home on King Road where the murders took place.
For the last week, police have asked for the public’s help in tracking down the occupant or occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra in connection to the case.
The overnight assistant manager at the gas station told Fox News Digital that she was trawling through surveillance videos to pass time on her shift when the vehicle – which appears similar to the car police are searching for – caught her eye.
The employee, who wanted to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said the white sedan drove past “real quick” before turning off the highway down a side street.
She contacted the case tipline and, on Tuesday morning, detectives arrived at the business where they retrieved eight hours’ worth of security tapes.
The detectives returned immediately to Moscow Police station afterwards, Fox reported.
On Tuesday, a police spokesperson told Fox that she could not immediately confirm whether the car in the footage is the same mystery vehicle seen around the home on the night of the murders.
An employee at the gas station told The Independent early on Wednesday that they had been told not to comment on the matter.
The Independent has reached out to Moscow Police for further information.
It is unclear how law enforcement may have missed the surveillance footage from the local business up until now – a month on from the murders.
For weeks, officers have also been canvassing the area to retrieve surveillance footage around Moscow and investigators have been asking local businesses and homes to submit any videos from around the time of the murders.
While it is currently unclear if the vehicle is the Hyundai Elantra police are searching for, the discovery may well be the break in the case that investigators, the victims’ families and the Moscow community have been hoping for.
Last week, Moscow Police said that a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra with an unknown licence plate was seen near the crime scene around the time of the murders.
“Investigators believe the occupant(s) of this vehicle may have critical information to share regarding this case,” police said in a statement.
Investigators urged the public to come forward with any information, revealing that it might just be the missing “piece of the puzzle”.
Border agents along the US’s border with Canada have been notified to be on the lookout for the car and tips have been pouring in from the public ever since – so much so that the calls are now being directed to a national FBI tip line.
A month has now passed since the brutal murders and no arrests have been made, no suspects have been identified and the murder weapon is nowhere to be found.
Moscow Police marked the one-month anniversary on Tuesday by insisting that the case is not “going cold”.
In a video interview released by the department, Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier said that tips continue to pour in about the case every day as he reflected on the harrowing moment news of the murders first came to light.
“It was hard – I got called at home. It was on a Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“It took me a second. I really had to think about what I just heard – four murders in Moscow, Idaho, is so out of character.”
The captain described how he arrived at the murder scene to find a “somber” crowd of weeping friends and family outside the home.
“They were standing outside, there was a lot of crying, there were friends trying to find out who exactly was inside the house, some family members that arrived on scene. It was incredibly hard for the community,” he said, adding that it was a “very, very draining day” for his own officers.
“Everybody just kind of fell into a role that was an all-hands-on-deck moment that Sunday afternoon,” he said.
Police believe the four victims were stabbed to death in their beds with a fixed-blade knife at around 3am or 4am on 13 November. There was no signs of sexual assault.
Two of the victims were found on the second floor of the home and two on the third floor.
On the night of 12 November, Kernodle and Chapin were at a sorority party at Sigma Chi house together from 8pm to 9pm and arrived back at the home at around 1.45am. It is unclear where they were in the five-hour time gap.
Goncalves and Mogen had spent the night at The Corner Club bar in downtown Moscow, before stopping by a food truck and then getting a ride home from an unnamed “private party” to arrive at the property at around 1.56am.
Two surviving roommates were also out that night and arrived home at around 1am, police said. The two women, who lived in rooms on the first floor of the home, are believed to have slept through the brutal killings and were unharmed.
The horrific crime scene went unnoticed for several more hours, with police receiving a 911 call at 11.58am on Sunday, reporting an “unconscious individual” at the home.
The two other roommates had first called friends to the home because they believed one of the second floor victims was unconscious and would not wake up. When the friends arrived, a 911 call was made from one of the roommates’ phones.
Police arrived on the scene to find the four victims dead from multiple stab wounds.
Several people have been ruled out as suspects: the two surviving housemates, the man who was caught on camera with Mogen and Goncalves at a food truck in the downtown area before they headed home on the night of the slayings, the person who gave Mogen and Goncalves a ride home from the food truck, Goncalves’ former long-term boyfriend and the friends who were in the home when the 911 call.
A sixth person listed on the lease of the student home and two men involved in a “stalker” incident with Goncalves around a month before the murders are also not believed to be connected to the case, police said.