Moscow store manager says Idaho murder victim shared fears about potential stalker

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

A store manager in Moscow, Idaho has said that Kaylee Goncalves voiced fears about a potential stalker before she and three other students were killed.

The man told NewsNation that Goncalves and Madison Mogen had visited his business about three weeks before they were killed along with fellow University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin inside the young women’s off-campus rental home on 13 November.

He said that Goncalves and Mogen would always come together with two other girls. The last time the group was at the store, he said, he had asked them if they were travelling together in an attempt to stay safe.

“One of them more or less openly says, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve had one of our friends be stalked before so that is why we travel in a group like this,” the man said, adding that Mogen was who voiced the concerns while she motioned to Goncalves.

“You could tell they were all obviously trying to keep Kaylee safe and be there for her as good friends.”

Moscow Police said weeks ago that they had looked extensively at reports that Goncalves had a stalker, but were unable to link that line of investigation to the murders. The criminal probe entered its second month this week with the killer still at large.

The department tracked down two men involved in one of those incidents and said that they were not in any way connected to the stabbings.

Authorities said that the men had followed Goncalves inside a business when they were trying to meet people, and have been cleared.

Last week, authorities asked for the public’s help in locating a vehicle of that model seen near the scene of the quadruple stabbings. The department said that the occupants of the car could have critical information about the brutal stabbings.

On Thursday, Fox reported that Kane Francetich, who lives just 0.3 miles from the murder scene said detectives had reached out to him on 14 November for surveillance footage placed on top of his six-unit rental building on Linda Lane.

Mr Francetich said that the video showed the side view of a car white car west on Taylor Road sometime between 2.45am and 3.15am. It remains unclear if the car was the same one police linked to the murders.

Moscow police said they are sorting through 22,000 registered 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantras.

Investigators previously revealed that the victims were stabbed to death in their beds at around 3am or 4am on 13 November.

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 that 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.

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.