A new leaked surveillance photo shows two of the four murdered Idaho university students taking to an unidentified man inside a bar hours before they were slaughtered, as many fear that the investigation might be compromised. The image was made public on Tuesday and looks to be from the Corner Club in Moscow, Idaho.
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21 years old, are believed to have spent several hours priors to their deaths at this bar before picking up pasta at a nearby Grub Truck around 1.40 am and heading home on November 13., according to authorities. Goncalves, Mogen, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found fatally stabbed at the King Road home on November 13.
New Chilling Discovery
The new leaked surveillance photo shows Goncalves and Mogen chatting with an unidentified man wearing a baseball cap inside the bar. The man also has a beard. The image is timestamped at 1.32 am, which is just a few minutes just before the two rushed to pick up food from a food truck.
Police had previously confirmed that Mogen and Goncalves had spent several hours in the Corner Club, a nightclub in central Moscow, before leaving at 1.40 a.m. on November 13 to have some pasta from a nearby Grub Truck and return home.
In the photo, Goncalves and Mogen can be seen with their backs to the camera inside the Corner Club bar, which appears to be populated with a mix of young and elderly people.
Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, who has devoted her Twitter to the Idaho murder case, released the stolen surveillance image.
Coffindaffer criticized the footage's release and cautioned that it would hinder the investigation as several outsiders try to solve the case on their own.
"As feared, as time goes by, evidence, including video will continue to be leaked," Coffindaffer wrote on Twitter. "Whether for money or attention or whatever the motive, it is not right and will not help LE in their investigation. Don't we all want this case solved?"
Coffindaffer claimed to have received the image after it became public and released it online to deter further evidence from being leaked in the unsolved case.
"My point is to discourage leaking evidence by those who control it & have turned it over to LE. Once it has been leaked & wholesale distributed, "The horse done left the barn" as they say. All I can do at this point is discourage and explain why it's harmful to a case."
Police Still Clueless
According to the Moscow Police Department, they are unable to confirm the authenticity of the new image since it was posted online before investigators had a chance to review it.
"Once a record is released, we can no longer verify its authenticity as we do not know if anything has been altered," a release from the department says.
Also, the bar hasn't publicly commented on the killings since a Facebook post made the day after the bodies were found.
"Our hearts are hurting," the post says. "Hug your loved ones, call that friend you haven't talked to for too long, be there for each other, travel home safely."
Moscow police have been unable to identify a suspect even after six weeks of the murders despite gathering hours of surveillance footage from shops all across the area.
The brutal slayings of Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle, and Chapin have prompted web sleuths to slam the authorities for failing to stop the circulation of evidence and jeopardizing the investigation.
The discovery of the photo of Goncalves and Mogen, meanwhile, aids detectives in determining their precise movements prior to their arrival at their University of Idaho off-campus rental property at 1.56 a.m.
Kernodle and Chapin arrived home from a fraternity house about the same time. The other residents of the home returned around 45 minutes earlier and were unharmed in the attack. Investigators think the four were stabbed to death in their beds between three and four in the morning.
The night they died, Goncalves and Mogen were last seen leaving a food truck at about 1.40 am before rushing to catch a ride home.
