More than six weeks after the gruesome murders, police have yet to name a suspect in the mysterious case. A criminal expert believes the killer probably knew the four young friends and could have been someone who felt rejected or humiliated by one of the victims.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were killed around 3 a.m. on Nov. 13 after returning to their off-campus home after a night out.
Two other housemates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were also home but survived the attack and even slept through it. They have been ruled out as suspects.
Police have yet to name a suspect or motive in the mysterious crime that rocked America and left residents and students in the small university city of Moscow gripped by fear.
Leonard Adam Sipes Jr, a professor of criminology and former specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice clearing house, said he believes the perpetrator is a man who likely knew the victims and where they lived.
He told Express.nl“The perpetrator could be someone who knows the victims from afar; someone who knows where they live and what their level of protection is.
“But to kill four suggests that the perpetrator held a passionate grudge.
“Most offenders are under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of their crimes. An offender with a grudge, no matter how small, may be responsible.
“The resentment may be small to us, but significant to the offender.”
Statistically, he said, male perpetrators usually have prior knowledge of their female victims, highlighting that 76 percent of female homicides are committed by someone they knew.
“It is quite possible that the victims knew him. It is more than possible that he was rejected or humiliated by one of the victims.
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“It takes a lot of passion to kill four people with a knife,” said the former intelligence director of the National Council for Crime Prevention.
However, he said extreme violent crimes of this nature are often committed by offenders with “drugs” who may be struggling with mental illness.
Mr Sipes said the killer held a “real or imaginary grudge”, giving an example that one of the female students killed “looked like a girl who rejected him”.
As the Moscow Police, State Police and FBI continue their investigation, the crime expert discovered clues about how the perpetrator might behave.
He said some perpetrators return to the crime scene and keep “garments or something personal as a memento”, but if it’s someone known to the victims, he would likely avoid the crime scene.
“He would have all the souvenirs he wanted just from the sheer amount of media attention,” he said.
On Thursday, a crime scene cleaning crew was deployed to the deceased student’s home at 1122 King Street to sanitize and disinfect it.
Once the police investigation is complete, the house will be returned to the property management company, police said.