Ex-tenant of Idaho murder house says ‘you can hear footsteps on every floor at night’

An ex-tenant of the house where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death has offered an interesting revelation in the case – revealing that every footstep can be heard in the ‘creaky, old’ home.

The detail was offered up Friday by Cole Alteneder, and adds to the mystery of why the still unknown killer murdered the students on the second and third floors while two other roommates slept soundly on the first.    

More than a month has passed since students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were all stabbed to death inside the three-story home late November 13. 

Cops have so far have discerned that the slayings occurred between 3 am and 4 am – and not much else. Moscow Police Chief James Fry, who oversee the small city of 25,000, has said he has no clue who or where the killer is, and has faced criticism.  

The detail was offered up Friday by University of Idaho alumni Cole Alteneder, who lived on the home’s second floor in 2021

Madison Mogen, 21, top left, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, bottom left, Ethan Chapin, 20, center, and Xana Kernodle, 20, right, were murdered in their off-campus university home on November 13. Alteneder’s revelation adds to the mystery of why the still unknown killer murdered the students on the second and third floors while their two roommates slept soundly on the first

Each floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom. Alteneder, who graduated in 2022, lived in a bedroom on the second floor the house, directly above one of the first-floor bedrooms. 

He described Friday how tenants could hear footsteps resonate throughout virtually every part of the home. 

‘It’s a very creaky, old house,’ Alteneder, who lived at the home during his junior year, told Fox News and several other outlets in a series of interviews. ‘You can hear the footsteps on every floor.’

He added to ABC News: ‘You can’t walk up any of the stairs or on any of the floors without everybody in the house knowing it.’

Alteneder – a former track standout at the school who lived on the floor where college lovers Chapin and Kernodle, both 20, were found – went on to recall how when he lived there, his roommates below him could hear virtually everything he did in his room.

‘The person who lived below me always said he could hear me walking around,’ Alteneder told Fox News. ‘I had a desk and a rolling chair, and he could hear that roll around.’

Alteneder – a former track standout at the school who lived on the floor where college lovers Chapin and Kernodle, both 20, were found – said that when he lived at the home, he and his roommates could hear virtually everything others did in their respective rooms

Kaylee and Madison were found on the top floor of the Moscow, Idaho home. College lovers Chapin and Kernodle were found in a second-floor bedroom – where Alteneder had lived as a student – while survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were sleeping on the first floor

He added the home – set in a cul-de-sac called ‘fratlantis’ by students due to its proximity to fraternity row – also boasted poor insulation a ventilation system that allowed tenants to ‘hear everybody talking throughout the house.’

He said he and his roommates were used to the noises, and eventually learned to tune them out. 

The neighborhood, Alteneder added, boasted a ‘very active party life,’ which carried over into the house. 

‘A lot of students are very familiar with the inside of the home,’ he described. ‘At parties, people would hop the fence and just, like, walk away if the cops came.’ 

Each floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom. Alteneder, who graduated in 2022, lived in a bedroom on the second floor the house, directly above one of the first-floor bedrooms

He further told Fox that hundreds of students had likely been in the home at some point or another – and thus knew the layout.

He said of the local police force’s failure to so far glean a suspect: ‘I think everybody expected [an arrest].’

Moscow police – who have faced rampant criticism from the general public and families of the slain – recently announced that their investigation will continue over the university’s winter break.

In response to public outcry over a lack of results in their investigation, police recently released some details offering insight into the final movements of the victims on the night of the slayings.

They said Goncalves and Mogen went to a local bar, stopped at a food truck and then caught a ride home with a private party around 1.56am, according to a police timeline of the evening.

Chapin and Kernodle, meanwhile, were at the Sigma Chi house just a short walk away, and returned to Kernodle’s room around 1.45am, police said.

Two other roommates, 19-year-olds Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were also out that evening, but returned home by 1am, police said. They didn’t wake up until later that morning. They have said they did not hear anything strange the night of the murders.

Two other roommates, 19-year-olds Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were also out that evening, but returned home by 1am, police said. They didn’t wake up until later that morning. They have said they did not hear anything strange the night of the murders. 

When the pair woke up, they called friends to come to the house because they believed one of the victims found on the second floor had passed out and wasn’t waking up. 

At 11.58am, someone inside the home called 911, using a roommate’s cell phone. Multiple people talked with the dispatcher before police arrived.

Police found two of the victims on the second floor of the three-story home, and two on the third floor. A dog was also at the home, unharmed.

Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault, police said.

Chief James Fry who heads up Moscow Police, in the small city of 25,000 people admitted he has no clue where the killer is. He is asking the public for help with the investigation

On Friday, Chief Fry – who has received the brunt of the backlash – asserted he has no regrets over how the probe has been conducted, insisting the initial stages were handled correctly while also stating he is confident a ‘conclusion’ will be reached. 

Earlier in the week, detectives revealed they were not sure if the slain University of Idaho students were targeted by the killer, contradicting Chief James Fry who previously insisted they were. 

Fry had told reporters a week after the murders: ‘We believe they’re targeted because we take a totality of all the circumstances we’re looking at,’

The statement was then echoed by Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson.

The department, however, has since filed a correction that seemingly conceded their lack of progress on the case.

‘Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted but continue to investigate.’  

Nearly six weeks after the grisly murders, few answers have come out despite the father of one of the victims stating that the killer was ‘sloppy’ and left a ‘mess’ of evidence behind. 

The department recently asked the public for help in finding the killer.

‘Investigators believe someone has information that adds context to what occurred on the night of the murders and continue requesting additional pictures, video, and social media content,’ police said in a statement. 

‘Whether you believe it is significant or not, your information might be one of the puzzle pieces that help solve these murders.’ 

Meanwhile, the case continues to captivate arm-char sleuths across the country –  with one recently sued by a University of Idaho professor of gender and sexuality over a wild allegation regarding the horrific murders. 

Meanwhile, the case continues to captivate arm-char sleuths across the country – with one recently sued by a University of Idaho professor of gender and sexuality over a wild allegation regarding the horrific murders 

The Texas-based sleuth, tarot reader Ashley Guillard, was named in the suit filed earlier this week by Professor Rebecca Scofield.    

The professor said she is suing Guillard for failing to remove the videos in which the sleuth alleges that the professor planned the murders because she was in a relationship with Kayla Goncalves. 

Guillard alleged, seemingly with no evidence, that Scofield perpetrated the killings with another student because Goncalves was trying to break up with her and to ‘keep from making the relationship public.’ 

In the lawsuit, Scofield said she never met any of the victims. She began mentioning Scofield in a video on November 24.