On the early morning hours of November 13th 2022 at the University of Idaho , just several hours past midnight, the weather was a chilling -2 ℃ (28 ℉). The sky was overcast with residual snow lingering on the ground. The wind was calm. The the night was still. It was a standard November night in Moscow, Idaho. The dress attire for a seasonal outing would have been heavy clothing. Multilayered sweat top with hoody or a thick jacket and hat with strong footwear. No flip-flops or light tennis shoes. Cotton t-shirts and shorts were out of the question. The night was cold and the air was still with a slight 2 knot wind. The atmospheric pressure was a steady 27.6 inches of Mercury with 95% humidity. It was under these conditions the assassin(s) choose to make their assault on four young college students.

So far, the Moscow police department has not released many details of the crime to the public. Their reasoning has been to protect the investigation in order to set up a successful prosecution which will hold on appeal. However, this is North America, and Americans love to talk. Talky, talky, talky, after all, one of the characteristics of freedom, as denoted in the US Constitution, is the ability to talk freely. Therefore, many hypotheses and conjectures have formed regarding, who committed the crime, and how they committed the crime.

The murder house, on 1122 King street, is a tangible boundary line for two competing hypothesizes. First, was the killer outside the home at the decision point to execute the assault, or was the killer inside the home? A second conjecture would be the mental state of the attacker or attackers? Was the attack premeditated, or was it spontaneous ,which is termed a crime of passion by the jurist? Had the assassin(S) been acquainted with the victims or was this a methodical execution planned by a sadistic serial killer?

If the killer was outside the home, logic would dictate the crime was premeditated because the killer would have waited for the exact moment to enter the dwelling. There would have been mental calculations taking place. The killer would have had to negotiate the entry into the property then decide which door to enter first. The killer or killers would have had to decide if the the second floor was the first objective or the third floor. These calculations could have been over a few hours, days, weeks, or months.

If the killer was inside the home the attack could still have been premeditated. That is, the killer was waiting inside for the victims to return. However, if the assailant was inside a more pronounced possibility of the attack being the result of an argument or disagreement is enhanced. To understand the crime we must walk in the assassins footprints.

Few details have emerged from the Moscow, Idaho police, however, the police have released two body cam videos of events surrounding the crime screen. First, there is a video of the police approaching the home for a noise complaint 2 months before the killings. It appears from the information surrounding the incidence lots of people were at the house, but no one whose name was on the lease agreement was actually in the house. In addition, a third-year law student, who lives in the close proximity to the home, noted a great deal of party activity occurred around the clock in the dwelling [1]. Second, on the night of the stabbings, the police have released a video of an encounter with under age drinkers returning home from a Sigma Chi Fraternity party, which is within 136 yards from the murder house. The exact same party Ethan and Xena attended. The video starts at about 02:50 in the morning of November 13th and runs for about 25 mins. So, from the video we can ascertain that the Fraternity party continued well into the night of the stabbing and the police were in close proximity to the slaying, but they were unaware of it's occurrence. Where was the party atmosphere at the murder house on the night of the slaying? If people had been recorded partying at this house, when none of the occupants are at home on a continuous bases, then why, on this Saturday night, with a football game event in town, does no one show up to the house, until late the next morning? By the police body-cam, we have observed there are people moving about in the area of the house, where the stabbing occurred, in the very early hours of the same mourning. A quick mental gymnastic of the statics surrounding this house would dictate, that at least one or two late night drifters, would have been at the house or stopped by the home, but on this night, a Saturday night, no one is there, except for the killer(S).

The weapon of choice the killer used to slay the victims gives insight into the meditation of the attack. It is alleged the killer used a military grade K-bar type knife, but this is only a guess. The exact type of knife is unknown. In a crime of passion, the assailant could have grabbed a butcher knife out of the kitchen drawer. However, we hope the police did a review of the kitchen utensils with the surviving roommates to determine if any of the items were missing especially the prominent ones. Also, along this line it has not been disclosed if the victims or roommates possessed large knifes. Idaho is a rural type state, and some of the girls in that house most likely were familiar with hunting and live stock activity. These were not big city girls. Could they have possessed a knife the killer used in a crime of passion?

Void of a crime of passion with an in house weapon, the killer(s) would have contemplated what instrument he or they were going to use. The weapon of choice gives us insight into the killers thinking. A knife is up close and personal. It is quite, and in the dark of the night, a knife in the hands of a skilled poacher is deadly efficient. We must remember these carefree students were out drinking all night. They had drank a hogshead of alcohol. Not only were they caught off guard while sleeping, they were highly intoxicated. The killer(s) was not addressing a full grown man in an open field in the middle of the day. No, these little lambs were an easy sacrifice, that is why all four were crucified without notice.

It has been reported in past years young male Idahoans would kill coyotes and dump them off on the door steps of sorority houses in the morning hours between 0100 and 0400. Maybe some sort of Idahoan mating ritual? Not something one would be accustom to in the big city [3]. In addition, three weeks before the killing a little dog was skinned by a human. Not only that, it has been been reported that deceased animals were found by police at the home of the victims and determined by detectives to be the result of wildlife activity. Yet, no deceased animals appeared at anyone else residence who live nearby.

It is a well known postulate that serial killers begin by killing animals, before they jump to humans. Edgar Allen Poe, the great american writer, gives us a picture of this phenomena in the Black Cat short story he wrote in 1845 [4]. Furthermore, by using geographic profiling it has been determined that serial killers rarely commit a killing in their own neighborhood [4]. They go elsewhere to kill, and then retreat to a safe space. There have been three killings in a geographic area of a 400 mile radius from this murder screen with striking similarities. The first killing occurred in Pullman, Washington on a Saturday night around 0300 to 0400 on May 25th, 2019 when two University of Washington students were stabbed in their sleep. In the Pullman Washington attack the assailant had two eight inch knifes he used like a ninja. He left both at the seen, and it was said he was a short Asian man. 13 months later on June 14, 2020, in Washougal, Washington, on a Saturday night, around 0300 to 0400, a 71 year old women is stabbed to death in her sleep. 14 months later on August 13, 2021, in Salem Oregon, on a Saturday night, around 0300 to 0400, two people were stabbed in their sleep by a masked man. A third occupant, who was in the house cat sitting, was not attacked and called 911. Now, 14 months later, on November 13, 2022. on a Saturday night , 4 people are stabbed to death, and this time two survivors remain alive.

The location of the killing presents a difficult task do to the prevalence of people passing into and out of the small complex. The complex doesn't have inside nor outside security cameras. In addition, the neighborhood as a whole has very marginal surveillance. The individual doors were reported to have had combo locks installed by a previous tenant two years ago, but it was later reported these locks were removed. Based on the historical activity at the property it is doubtful the victims were concerned about door security on the night of their death. They were concerned about sleeping off a hard Saturday night. The only security available outside of the victims own self defense was a dog owned by Kaylee. It has been reported the dog was locked in an unoccupied room and Kaylee was on the Third Floor. These were not 30 somethings grinding it out with a mortgage and children. These were carefree young people with very little sense of danger. The future was a northern star. What could go wrong?