Sunday 20 November 2022 05:20 AM Four Idaho students knifed to death in their beds may have been too shocked to ... trends now

Idaho investigators were seen taking photos and measurements of some tire tracks outside the home where four college students were killed last Sunday, while some are wondering if it could be connected to a heinous crime against a dog. 

Moscow police believe victims Kaylee Goncalvez, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were stabbed to death at their home near campus between 3am and 4am. 

A local reporter said they were state forensics investigators who photographed the tracks. 

Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said Saturday that law enforcement is trying to 'expedite everything' that could solve the case, the first murder recorded in the city of Moscow in seven years.

Meanwhile, local sleuths on Facebook are attempting to connect the killings to the story of a man who found his neighbors' dog skinned alive just two miles away from where they were last seen. 

On October 22, a man named Clint Hughes posted on Facebook that his neighbors' 'sweet little dog was skinned like a deer. No animal did this. Our dog is bigger, and was so anxious about the same time that he tore his bed up into a thousand pieces. Also, our cat has been missing for the last couple of days.'

In a Facebook group, it was noted that the girls were last seen in public just under two miles away from the area where the dog was murdered. 

They also note that the four students were killed with a knife, which would've been used in skinning the dog.

DailyMail.com has attempted to contact Hughes for comment. 

Mogen and Goncalves, both 21 and friends since 6th grade, were last seen at a downtown bar and a food truck outside, before returning home at 1:45am.

The other two, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin - who did not live at the house - were at a party on campus on Saturday night.

All four were back in the house by 1:45am on Sunday morning, and were murdered between 3-4am.

Their two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were in the house at the time of the murders but survived. They're not considered suspects in the killings. Cops have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the killings and have pleaded for eyewitnesses to come forward. 

On Friday it emerged that the four may have been stabbed to death in their beds. 

Cathy Mabbutt, Latah County Coroner, told NewsNation that the victims were found in bed with multiple stab wounds to their chest, and described the weapon as a 'really large knife.'

She told Idaho News that the attack seemed 'personal.'

He also noted that some of the victims appeared to have fought back, according to the New York Times. 

The house that the six women shared showed no signs of a break in, police said at a press conference on Wednesday.

James Fry, chief of Moscow police, said nothing appeared to have been stolen from the house, which had a keycode lock. 

'We're not 100pc sure if the door was unlocked, but there was no damage to anything and the door was still open when we got there,' said Fry.  

Asked about the mayor of Moscow's description of the killing as a 'crime of passion', Fry said they were looking into it, and also investigating social media posts and any boyfriends or relationships the women had.

'We're looking at everyone,' said Fry.

'Every tip, every lead. There's no one we're not going to talk to.

'We're going to make sure nothing goes unturned.'

Kernodle's father Jeffrey has revealed his theory that the killer may have slipped into the house

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