Moscow police are dismissing the significance of bodycam footage that shows people in the background near the home where four University of Idaho students were found dead in November.
“Just look at social media and the rumors that fly out there,” Moscow Police Department Captain Roger Lanier said during a Tuesday press conference.
“A small [piece] of information that has speculation added to it just takes its own life on the internet and starts rumors and then we find ourselves not only tracking those rumors down and trying to quell them but also, we see that tips that come in are more geared toward the rumors.”
Lanier was referring to Moscow police bodycam footage, stamped at 3:12 a.m. on November 13. As CrimeOnline reported, Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee, 21; Ethan Chapin, 20; and Xana Kernodle, 20, were murdered in their off-campus rental off King Street in Moscow on the same date.
Investigators previously said that they think the murders occurred on November 13, between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
“During the timeframe of the murders, there were people in the general vicinity,” true crime blogger Olivia Vitale told Fox News Digital. “Between the people with law enforcement and the people in the background of the body cam footage, that is about half a dozen people. The importance is they may have witnessed something unbeknownst to them.”
Lanier, however, said that the rumors in the case were the “most frustrating” aspect when people added information that authorities had not properly vetted.
Former Miami-Dade homicide detective Pat Diaz told Fox News Digital that he agreed with online sleuths in that the people in the video should be looked into thoroughly.
“If they haven’t yet, they need to locate them ASAP. That is a great lead. Someone knows something,” Diaz told Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, the investigation continues. According to Moscow police, two victims were found on the second floor, and another two were found on the house’s third floor, which is built into a hill.
The intruder, police said, didn’t attack two additional roommates on the first floor. Investigators do not believe the surviving roommates had anything to do with the murders. Police said the suspect, who has yet to be named or found, used a sharp-edged knife in the killings.
Last week, police said they were “interested in speaking with the occupant(s)” of a white Hyundai Elantra that was reported in the area around the time the students were murdered.
They asked anyone who owns or knows of someone who owns a white Elantra — a 2011-2013 model — to send that information to the tip line at 208-883-7180, email to tipline@ci.moscow.id.us, or upload digital media at fbi.gov/moscowidaho.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (left)Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle;/Instagram]
