Fatal attacks on University of Idaho students were ‘personal’
Autopsies performed on the four University of Idaho students who were slaughtered to death showed the killings were “personal” – as the father of one of the victims said his daughter was trying to fight off the attacker.
Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt confirmed Thursday the cause of death was homicide by stabbing.
“It should have been a big knife,” she told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News about the murder weapon, which was not found.
The coroner described early Sunday’s attacks as “personal,” according to the Idaho News, citing a CBS report.
Mabbutt said it was possible some of the wounds in the bloody rampage were defensive, adding it was unknown who was attacked first.
She told KXLY that each victim was stabbed more than once and that there were no signs of sexual assault at the off-campus home on King Road where the students were slaughtered.
Mabbutt said there was “quite a bit of blood” at the scene, adding that in her 16 years on the job she had never worked on such a horrifying case that had four college students killed in one location.
“I don’t think I’ve been stabbed again,” she added.
The murders of Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, have shaken the school community – police are describing the crime scene as the “worst thing they’ve ever seen”.
Kernodle’s father said he believed the autopsy results showed she fought her killer to the end.
“Bruises, ripped open by the knife. She’s a tough kid. Whatever she wanted to do, she could do it,” Jeffrey Kernodle told Arizona’s family.
Jeffrey said he last heard from Xana, who was from Avondale, Arizona, around midnight Sunday and that “she was fine.”
“They just hung out at home. Xana was only home with her boyfriend,” he told the news outlet, referring to Chapin.
“She and Ethan dated for about a year, more or less. And she, really, when I went up there, she, I only saw her a week before, and she’s changed a lot. She had a life. She had to see what it’s like to have a boyfriend to live with,” said the devastated dad.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people held a vigil at Boise State University Thursday night to commemorate the murdered students.
“Today I’m wearing the University of Idaho black and gold,” BSU President Marlene Tromp told the crowd, the Idaho Statesman reported.
“Today, our longstanding rivalry is being put aside. Today we come together to bring light to a painful and dark time. We are all vandals. ethane. Xana. madison Kaylee. We will remember,” she said.
A paper bag containing a Jack in the Box food order is seen in a kitchen as investigators gather evidence at the crime scene.
Authorities have not named a suspect in the brutal killings.
The autopsies did not reveal who was killed first.
A person present read a statement on behalf of a student who was said to be a friend of the three female victims.
“I remember jumping on the trampoline and watching ‘MTV Cribs’ at Kaylee’s house, watching reality TV and trying on makeup at Maddie’s,” wrote the friend, named Carly. “They are people who made me who I am today at pivotal years in my life and I will always fondly think of the friendships I had with them.”
BSU student Trevor Drummond recalled Kernodle, whom he met in junior high.
“Xana, she treated me like I was part of the friends group for years,” he said, the Statesman reported.
“I don’t think there is anyone as outgoing, funny or loving as her. Whenever we were together, she always made sure others around her had more fun than she did,” he added.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/18/deadly-attacks-on-university-of-idaho-students-were-personal/ Fatal attacks on University of Idaho students were ‘personal’
