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This is the eerie moment a group of people walked near the house where four University of Idaho students were brutally slain in their sleep.
Internet sleuths are pointing to the new footage from a police stop that occurred near the Moscow off-campus home of the victims.
Just minutes before police said the students were killed, plainclothes officers made an unrelated stop in the area for three students suspected of underage drinking.
One officer’s bodycam captured the incident, and in the background of the video, several people can be seen moving quickly past police on Taylor Avenue, two houses down from the scene of the crime.
True crime vlogger Olivia Vitale, who highlighted the video, said it was imperative police track down the potential witnesses who may shine new details on the case.
‘Between the people with law enforcement and the people in the background of the bodycam footage, that is about half a dozen people, Vitale told Fox News. ‘The importance is they may have witnessed something unbeknownst to them.’
The video comes as the Moscow Police Department called on people to provide tips as no arrest has been made in a month, while also warning to crackdown on internet sleuths who are spreading misinformation.
The plainclothes officers had stopped three students for suspected underage drinking
A group of people could be spotted walking hurriedly past police when the officers made an unrelated stop near the home where the four Idaho University students were slain
Few details and contradictions from police has led to widespread theories spreading across the internet over the murders . Those killed in the November slayings were (left to right) Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders), Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle
Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were all students at the University of Idaho. They were brutally attacked between 3am and 4am — and a month later, the killer has yet to be caught.
The fact that little remains to be known about the case has led to a flurry of speculations surrounding the case, with internet sleuths continuing to alert police to potential evidence.
While officials have previously said there is nothing of value in the bodycam videos of that night’s stop, it remains unclear if police questioned the people seen walking hurriedly in the background.
The Moscow Police Department did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The police stop is clocked between 2.50am to 3.12 am on November 13. Officials believe the murders took place between 3am to 4am.
Pat Diaz, a former Miami-Dade homicide detective, agreed that the development could provide new information for local police.
‘If they haven’t yet, they need to locate them ASAP,’ Diaz said of the people in the bodycam video. ‘That is a great lead. Someone knows something.’
The police stop occurred just moments before police believe the slayings took place, and only two houses down from the scene of the crime
Kaylee and Madison were found on the top floor of the Moscow, Idaho home. College lovers Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were found in a second-floor bedroom while survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were sleeping on the first floor
Before Steve Goncalves said Wednesday that his daughter Kaylee died in the same bed as Maddie, this is where it was believed the college students had died
The latest tip comes as former Moscow Police Captain Paul Kwaitkowski, 64, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview the killings were most likely a targeted attack.
The retired Moscow police captain who spent 20 years investigating every local homicide in the Idaho claimed the perpetrator responsible for the murders knew at least one of the victims and may have been seeking vengeance.
Retired Moscow Police Captain Paul Kwaitkowski, 64, said it is likely the Idaho murderer knew at least one victim and may have been motivated by revenge
‘Somewhere along the line, something bad happened, something that pi***d someone off enough to go after these people.’
Kwaitkowski comments came amid police’s uncertainty about whether or not the victims were targeted.
Officials said the initially believed the attack was not targeted, but weeks later recanted their statement in one of many contradictions that have left the public and the families of the victims frustrated over the investigation.
Kaylee’s father Steven Goncalves has publicly aired his anger over the bungled police investigation into the gruesome murder of his daughter, who was last week revealed to have suffered ‘significantly more brutal’ injuries than her three friends.
The bereaved dad shared new details of those injuries, revealing Kaylee had sustained ‘big open gouges’ and that the knife slashed open her liver and lungs, Fox News reported.
Goncalves said his daughter’s wounds ‘definitely did not match’ those of Mogen, who was found in the same bed as Kaylee, after asking coroner Cathy Mabbutt how many times the victims were stabbed.
‘She says, ‘sir, I don’t think stabs is the right word, it was like tears, like this was a strong weapon, not like a stab’,’ he told the news outlet.
‘She said these were big open gouges. She said it was quick. These weren’t something where you were going to be able to call 911. They were not going to slowly bleed out.’
Kaylee’s father Steven Goncalves shared new details about the violent injuries his daughter sustained, revealing Kaylee had suffered ‘big open gouges’ and her wounds did not ‘match’ those of her friends
Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (right) who were best friends since sixth grade, died in the same bed, according to Kaylee’s father Steve
Based on the victims’ wounds, Goncalves said, the coroner’s office suspects the killer was likely a ‘strong individual’ however investigators have not determined the person’s gender.
He, however, believes it is most likely the work of a ‘sadistic male.’
‘It was a hell of a battle going on down there from what the coroner told us,’ he added.
‘I got outraged by them not just coming out and saying this was a woman or a man because they should know by the amount of strength it took to deliver the injuries.
‘They’re just being cowards. There are girls walking around the street right now that deserve to know. They should be looking out for a sadistic male,’ Goncalves said.
Like his former colleagues, Kwaitkowski says he does not know who was the intended target and suspects all four victims could have been the focus of the attack.
‘I don’t know who the target was,’ he said. ‘Maybe there was only one target, and the other three were collateral damage.
‘Why they were targeted, nobody knows yet – that involves deciphering all the digital data that they’re going to have to go through.
‘You have 20 people looking at tens of thousands of pieces of information. That will lead them to something. But it’s going to take time,’ he added.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry is pictured here assisting to remove the victims’ personal property from their King Street home
Authorities say DNA may have been present on the scene on different surfaces, and forensics crews are now working to run any specimens through state and local databases
Police have stacked up all of the personal effects they no longer need for evidence and carried them into a U-Haul driven by the police chief himself
Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt revealed that the victims’ hands were bagged at the scene before their bodies were removed
On Monday, Idaho cops revealed they have bagged the hands of the four victims to try and find additional clues into the slaying.
Authorities say the victims’ hands may contain evidence such as skin or hair under the fingernails if they tried to fight back against the unknown murderer who broke into their off-campus house in the early morning hours of November 13 and stabbed them to death.
Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin may have even touched their assailants’ DNA if they made physical contact during the attack, forensic experts told FOX News Digital on Monday.
Although details of the crime scene remain scant, there is no suggestion the victims’ hands had been removed from their arms, as Latah County Coroner Cathy Mebbutt says the hands were sealed with bags before the bodies were moved.
Investigators told FOX that once they can determine whether any of the students’ hands has even the slightest of remnants of their assailants’ DNA they could search through national and state databases to find a match — though they said the process could take weeks.
As Idaho State Police Forensics Laboratory Systems Director Matthew Gamette explained: ‘DNA can be found in any kind of cellular material.’
He said investigators are trying to determine whether ‘someone’s hand touched a surface or handled a surface, or whether they’ve left blood, saliva — any kind of bodily fluids’ and then identify areas where there might be tissue or touch DNA.
‘And then we would be trying to develop DNA profiles from those surfaces, in the case of latent prints,’ Gamette said.
‘We might be working a room or a car or something of that nature to be able to develop latent prints or fingerprints from a person that are visible to the naked eye,’ he said.
‘And then we would be looking to either compare those to known individuals, or we would be looking to put them in a database to see if we can identify someone.’
Goncalves’ parents have now set up an online fundraiser to offer a reward for any information about their daughter’s killer
Police are looking for any information about a 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra with unknown plates, that was in the area of the murders on November 13, saying the occupant may have seen something relevant to the investigation
While Goncalves’ father slammed police over the ongoing investigation, her mother, Kristi, said she is looking to fundraise to help bring her daughter’s killer to justice.
‘Our family would like to fundraise in hopes to offer a reward, and possibly hire a private investigator if that becomes necessary,’ Kristi told Fox News Digital.
The family is using both GoFundMe and GiveSendGo to raise money for a reward and a private investigator.
Similar campaigns created in honor of Kernodle, Chapin, and Mogen have raised more than $160,000 cumulatively.
While speaking with Fox News Digital, the grieving mother said that in addition to raising money for the private investigator and reward, the family will also use a portion of any funds raised to pay for their daughter’s funeral services.
‘The money raised will go directly to getting us answers as well as helping to pay for Kaylee’s final arrangements and her celebration of life on Dec. 30,’ Kristi said.
As of Monday, the GiveSendGo fundraiser organized by a family friend had reached just over $5,000 of its $20,000.
‘Kaylee’s family deserves to know the truth about that dreadful night. They stress that this absolutely cannot become a cold case, so we need everyone who is on board with this, to donate here, in order to make sure this does not happen,’ the GiveSendGo campaign’s description reads.
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