Idaho police are looking for a white Hyundai Elantra and its occupants who may have "critical information" about the brutal murders of four Idaho university students last month. According to police, the car was in the "immediate area" of the Moscow home where the four students were stabbed to their deaths while they were sleeping.
Police said the car, believed to be 2011 to 2013 model, was found near King Road in the "early morning hours" of November 13 before it disappeared. The same night, the four students, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead inside their off-campus home.
New Lead?
The Moscow Police Department said investigators are looking for the white Hyundai Elantra and want to speak with the occupants of the car. The search is on but it isn't going to be easy as the police said that they do not know the license plate of the car.
"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. Investigators believe the occupant(s) of this vehicle may have critical information to share regarding this case," police said in a statement on Wednesday.
It is not known whether detectives think anyone in the vehicle may have been involved in the killing of the University of Idaho students or whether they may have seen anything that could help police in finding a suspect.
Police did not specify why they thought the car was anyway connected to the incident.
Authorities have still not identified a suspect more than three weeks after Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin were found stabbed to death in their off-campus house.
Two other residents of the home were sound asleep at the time and left undisturbed. They are no longer considered to be suspects.
"At this time, no suspect has been identified and only vetted information that does not hinder the investigation will be released to the public," Moscow police said Wednesday.
The local police agency is also taking help from the FBI and the Idaho State Police in their investigation.
Case Getting Cold
With no concrete answers from the police, may now believe the case is getting cold and the murder may never be traced. On Wednesday, police were spotted at the King Road residence personnel removing the dead students' belongings, which may indicate that the forensic teams had finished collecting all of the evidence from the house.
Around 9.40 a.m. local time on Wednesday, police visited the scene of the massacre with boxes in tow. Moscow Police Chief James Fry joined the effort and personally drove a U-Haul loaded with the victims' belongings.
Among the things removed from the house were Madison Mogen's prized pink cowboy boots, which had been left untouched in a window since November 13.
"We just went in to gather the belongings, and we're just trying to give stuff back to the families so that they can have some closure," Fry told reporters before driving off in the rented U-Haul.
Fry emphasized that the case has not gone cold despite the fact that three weeks after the gruesome killings, police still have no suspects and no murder weapon.
"We have a job to do, and we're going to do it to the best of our ability. We owe this to the families, we owe this to the victims, we owe this to our community. We're going to continue on," said Fry.
"We're at that point in the investigation where we're still gathering information, we're still gathering tips, we're still gathering evidence," Fry said in an earlier video statement released by the department.
However, the parents of at least one of the victims have lost all patience as they wait for answers about who took their daughter from them. The father of Goncalves plans to use a private investigator in addition to hiring a lawyer to put pressure on the police to answer questions.
According to a statement from the Moscow Police Department, a small 36-member force that is in charge of the intricate investigation, personal items from the property will be sent to a secure storage facility where family members can inspect and retrieve them.
