The father one of the college students murdered in Idaho last month said he believes the killer targeted his daughter or her best friend, Fox News reports.
In an interview on Sunday with “Fox & Friends,” Steven Goncalves said his daughter Kaylee Goncalves was killed on the third floor of the house along with Madison Mogen, which was out of the way from where police believe the assailant entered the home on the second floor.
“To me, he doesn’t have to go upstairs,” Steven Goncalves told Fox News. “I’m using logic that he chose to go up there when he didn’t have to. . . . I’m just putting the dots together.”
The grieving father has said that Kaylee and Madison were found in the same bed together, which did not surprise him because they had been close friends since childhood.
Also killed in the slayings were Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, who were found on the second floor.
Investigators believe that the four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death between 3 and 4 a.m. on November 13 at the off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. Two other roommates who were on the ground floor at the time of the murders were not attacked and police do not believe they were involved in the killings.
Earlier this week, authorities retracted a statement from investigators who said they believed certain victims were targeted, according to Fox News. Police said they were not sure whether the home was targeted generally or if the killer targeted specific individuals in the home.
In Sunday’s interview, Steven Goncalves said police have not been forthcoming about their investigation with victims’ families.
“As far as the investigators, they’re very tight-lipped, and they’re keeping everything close to their vest, and I understand that, and I’m probably not the right person to share all these things with,” Goncalves told Fox News. “So, I’m just trusting that their case is super tight, and they don’t really need to reach out to the community, and all the evidence is right there in that home.”
He added that he has lost confidence in the police investigation, telling Fox News, “I do not feel confident, and that’s why I push the envelope and say a little bit more. I hate to be that guy, but, you know . . . everybody has a job and a role to play and this is my role as the parent.”
On Saturday, Goncalves said it appeared his daughter and Madison were classified as having different manners of death.
“I’ll cut to the chase: Their means of death don’t match,” Goncalves told Lawrence Jones Cross Country. “Their points of damage don’t match. I’m just going to say it. It wasn’t leaked to me. I earned that. I paid for that funeral. . . . I sent my daughter to college. She came back in a box, and I can speak on that.”
Goncalves said he is doing everything he can to raise awareness about the case and keep up public pressure to find the perpetrator.
“There’s less people coming to Moscow. I’m not going to go sleep in my bed knowing that I could get up and I could go to town and I could do something, and I’m not going to go away,” Goncalves told Fox News. “I hate to be a pain, but as a father, I just can’t even sleep thinking that I could be doing something.”
To report information about the case, call 208-883-7180 or email tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.
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