‘I knew them’: 2 Idaho victims visited frat house often, president says
maylen
(NewsNation) — The flag is at half-staff at the University of Idaho Sigma Chi fraternity house, the last place victims Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were seen alive according to police. The fraternity’s president spoke out on “Rush Hour.”
“I knew them. Ethan was always in the house, Xana was a good friend before Ethan even came up,” said Sigma Chi president Reed Ofsthun.
The fraternity, which is located about half a block from the house where the murders happened, is cooperating with the investigation.
When asked about the timeline of the night in question, Ofsthun said, “As of right now we’ve told Moscow PD, Idaho State Police and the FBI all we know. We’re kind of leaving it up to them to piece it together. Obviously we don’t have the utilities or resources to do it on our own so we’re putting full faith in the officers and the detectives doing it.”
Moscow Police say they are investigating the time frame between 9 p.m. the night before the murders on Nov. 12 and 1:45 a.m., when Ethan and Xana were believed to be at the Sigma Chi house, reports NewsNation’s Brian Entin.
Meanwhile, detectives are not commenting on whether or not they are making significant progress in the case, only saying they have no suspects identified and will not release information at the risk of compromising the investigation
Starting tomorrow, police will go into the house where the murders were committed, which is still a active crime scene, and start removing the personal items that belonged to some of the victims, to be returned to the victims’ families.
Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole spoke out about the case on NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” and said she believes it’s likely the murderer had been to the house before.
“There is evidence of planning in this crime scene. This offender brought the weapon with him … Didn’t grab something out of the kitchen drawer, or at least, we’re not advised that happened,” O’Toole said.
She’s concerned that somebody capable of committing these murders is still capable of killing again. However, she understands why police are being very cautious and said that they should be.
