As police continue to work on figuring out who was behind the brutal slaying of four University of Idaho students, experts say the DNA evidence in the case may pose a massive challenge for investigators.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were found dead in their beds in a house near the university’s campus in Moscow on November 13. The women lived at the house and Chapin was visiting.
Two roommates who were in the house at the time slept through the attack, police said, and they are not believed to be involved in the crime.
The slayings have left the community reeling, with police yet to name any suspects in the case or locate a murder weapon.
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Forensic evidence collected from the crime scene is being processed, the Moscow Police Department said on its website. More than 100 pieces of physical evidence were collected and then taken to the Idaho State Police crime lab, the police said.
Experts say the nature of the crime and where it took place means the DNA evidence may be difficult for investigators to utilize.
“It’s five young women that occupy that space regularly and then you have one who has a boyfriend that that was there, obviously, and is one of the victims,” Joseph Scott Morgan, a distinguished scholar of applied forensics at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, told Newsweek.
“You’re going to have their common DNA in that house just as a result of occupancy.”
Neighbors have told reporters that parties and gatherings were regularly held at the house, while police have said the surviving roommates summoned friends to the residence before a 911 call requesting aid was made at 11:58 a.m. and responding officers arrived and located the victims on the second and third floors.
Morgan says those people likely left evidence of their presence—such as skin cells and hair.
“All of that has to be taken into account,” he said.
“If any of these occupants had other romantic partners, perhaps that would be there with more frequency than others, then there might be a robust DNA signature left behind by those individuals… it’s a big obstacle for the investigators to overcome.”
Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York police sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, agreed, telling Newsweek: “DNA is going to be tough, because of the fact that you have a college house, lots of kids in there.
“God knows how clean it was, or how much DNA you’re going to find from several different donors. Any DNA that they find from an unknown subject is going to take a while to come through.”
Giacalone urged the public to be patient as investigators work the case.
“They’re going to have to wait for these DNA tests, toxicology reports to come back,” he said.
“So if they have collected hair fibres, blood samples, all that stuff takes time.”
He added that there is “no guarantee” that even if a suspect’s DNA is isolated, it would match anyone in the national CODIS database.
“Then that presents a whole other problem, because now you have to look at the familial DNA aspects of it and that takes even longer,” he said.
“So I think that you have to give the police department a little bit of breathing room. These kinds of cases are exhausting.”
The Moscow Police Department has been contacted for comment.
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