Neighbour of Idaho murder victims recalls hearing odd noise from crime scene house on night of killings
A neighbour of the University of Idaho murder victims has said that he remembers hearing a noise coming from the crime scene house in Moscow on the night of the killings.
While he couldn’t be sure, Inan Harsh said in retrospect it might have sounded like a scream.
Mr Harsh lives near the home at 1122 King Road where Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death on 13 November.
As the case rumbles on in its fourth week with no killer caught, no suspects identified and more questions than answers, Mr Harsh spoke to the Idaho Statesman about his vague memory from the night the murders took place.
He recalled hearing what he first thought was a scream or a “party sound” coming from the victims’ home before going to bed around 4am. Police believe the killings took place between 3am and 4am.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Mr Harsh told the Statesman of the noise. “After what happened, I’ve definitely had second thoughts. Maybe it was not a party sound. I’m not sure what good it does for them now.”
The Independent has reached out to Moscow Police and Idaho State Police for comment.
Several neighbours who spoke to the Statesman described the home where the killings took as a party scene, with dozens of people gathering at the home every other weekend. On the night of 13 November, the house was unusually quiet, they said.
“You could hear them yelling. I’d think, ‘Good for you,’” one neighbour told the outlet. “I would walk by when I’d take the dog to pee, down the hill and think, ‘Jeez, I should crash the party...’”
Among the many unsolved questions in the case was how two surviving roommates who lived at the home with Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle apparently didn’t hear any of the violence - as the victims bodies weren’t discovered until the following day.
The victims’ bodies were found on the second and third floors. At the time of the murders, two roommates were on the first floor and were left unharmed.
The roommates are believed to have slept through the attack as they were on the first floor of the home, while the bodies were located on the second and third floors. The women have been ruled out as suspectes and are not “not necessarily” considered witnesses, according to police.
The 911 call that would lead investigators to the crime scene came around noon on 13 November, from the cellphone of one of the roommates. Multiple people spoke to the 911 dispatcher, according to authorities, as several friends were “summoned to the scene” by the surviving roommates.
Earlier this week, a neighbour of the victims told Fox News Digital that they saw the victims’ front door, which opens to the first level of the house, wide open around 8.30am on the day of the attack.
Asked by the Daily Mail if he was aware of that report, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said he wasn’t sure where the claims came from.
“I’m not even sure where that came from, to be quite honest,” Mr Fry told the Mail. “I don’t even know the answer to that one. If I did, I would probably comment on that but I don’t know the answer whether the door was open.”
Moscow Police provided perhaps the most substantial update in the investigation on Wednesday, revealing that detectives are now searching for the occupant or occupants of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra.
“If you know of or own a vehicle matching this description, or know of anyone who may have been driving this vehicle on the days preceding or the day of the murders, please forward that information to the Tip Line,” the department said in a statement.
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 208-883-7180, email tips at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us, or submit digital media to the FBI at fbi.gov/moscowidaho.
