Police investigating University of Idaho stabbings overwhelmed with tips about white Hyundai near crime scene
Police investigating the deadly stabbings of four University of Idaho students were overwhelmed with tips on Friday after they put out a call for information about a white Hyundai Elantra spotted near the crime scene.
It’s been nearly one month since housemates Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and student Ethan Chapin, 20 were found dead inside a residence just off-campus, where the three women lived with two other roommates. They were all fatally stabbed and were likely asleep when the attack began, a coroner has said.
In the weeks since the grisly slayings, authorities have struggled to identify a suspect or find the murder weapon used in the attack, but maintain the investigation is moving forward.
“We’re continuously making progress,” Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell told CNN Friday. “But this is a criminal investigation, and as we make progress, we can’t always provide that information.”
On Wednesday, the Moscow Police Department called on community members to help track down the person or people inside a white Hyundai Elantra made between 2011 and 2013 that was near the off-campus home in the early morning hours of Nov. 13.
By Friday investigators had become overwhelmed with tips.
“Tips and leads have led investigators to look for additional information about a vehicle being in the immediate area of the King Street residence during the early morning hours of November 13th,” the department wrote in a news release earlier this week.
“Investigators believe the occupant(s) of this vehicle may have critical information to share regarding this case.”
Snell said since the start of the case, authorities have received more than 6,000 tips. Due to the volume, calls are now being directed to an FBI call center that will help sort leads, according to an update from the Moscow Police Department.
“The global call center has the resources to take those calls, categorize them, and send them on to investigators so they can utilize those tips in the investigation,” the department said.
The FBI has also created a website where people can upload security camera footage or other digital media from the area recorded around the time of the killings.
With News Wire Services
