Idaho murders: 'Private party' drove 2 victims home, police now say

MOSCOW, Idaho – A “private party” drove two of the University of Idaho homicide victims home just hours before they were murdered in their beds, police said Friday.

Univrsity students Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalvez, 21; and Madison Mogen, 21, were stabbed to death in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13, after they spent Saturday night out with friends.

Police initially said in a Friday press release that Goncalvez and Mogen, who were close friends, took an Uber ride home from downtown and arrived to their home on King Road near campus at 1:40 a.m. They later changed their statement to say a “private party” drove them home, but it is unclear if the private party was someone known to the victims.

“This is a gruesome and heartbreaking tragedy,” Uber communications manager Navideh Forghani told Fox News Digital when asked whether Uber provided a ride to Mogen and Goncalvez. “It looks like Moscow police update the release to say a ‘private party.’ We have no record of the victims ordering a trip.”

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Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves shared multiple photos together on social media.
(Instagram/ @kayleegoncalves)

Goncalvez and Mogen spent Saturday evening at the Corner Club, a popular hang-out spot for University of Idaho students. Later on early Sunday morning, they ordered food from the Grub Truck, a food truck, in Friendship Square, where they were last seen in video footage before the murders.

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Kernodle and Chapin were at a party at the Sigma Chi fraternity on campus before they returned to their home on King Road around 1:45 a.m. Sunday.

Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle appeared to be in a relationship based on their social media presences.
(Instagram/ @xanakernodle)

Later that day, at 11:58 a.m., Moscow police responded to a 911 call regarding an unconscious person at the victims’ residence and located the four deceased students upon arrival.

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Officers stationed at the home after the attack described a bloody scene inside.

Police search a home in Moscow, Idaho on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, where four University of Idaho students were killed over the weekend in an apparent quadruple homicide.
(Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

The Latah County coroner on Thursday announced the four students’ manner of death as homicide/murder and their cause of death as stabbing. Police clarified on Friday that the students were killed in their beds.

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“The coroner stated that the four victims were likely asleep, some had defensive wounds, and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault,” the Moscow Police Department said in a press release.