Murder In Moscow: Moscow Police Update The Case On December 12th 2022

By December 12, 2022, the investigation into the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin had increasingly focused on identifying a white 2011–2013 Hyundai Elantra that investigators believed had been in the immediate area of the King Road residence during the early morning hours of November 13. Moscow police said tips concerning the vehicle had surged and that the FBI was prioritizing and vetting those leads, while detectives sought to speak with the vehicle’s occupant or occupants because they believed they could have critical information about the case. Investigators were also continuing to reconstruct the victims’ movements before the murders, reviewing surveillance footage from businesses and residences, and asking for video captured between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. across a broad section of Moscow. At that stage, police said no suspect had been identified, no murder weapon had been recovered and investigators were deliberately withholding many details to protect the integrity of the investigation.

Police also used the update to clarify what they had and had not established. They said they still believed the murders had been a targeted attack, although they had not determined whether the intended target was the house itself or one or more of its occupants. Investigators said they had examined hundreds of tips about reports that Kaylee Goncalves had a stalker but had not verified one, and they had ruled out the surviving roommates, the Grub Truck man, the private driver who took Kaylee and Madison home, the man they repeatedly called that night, people present when the 911 call was made and a former tenant as being involved. By then, investigators had collected 113 pieces of physical evidence, taken roughly 4,000 crime-scene photographs, conducted multiple 3D scans of the house and received thousands of calls, emails and digital submissions. Police also rejected a number of circulating rumors, including claims that the victims had been tied and gagged, that a red Mustang was connected to the case, and that similar stabbing cases in Pullman and Salem had been linked to the Moscow murders.



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