MOSCOW, Idaho — The Moscow Police Department continues to say the stabbing of four University of Idaho students in a house just off campus on Nov. 13 was targeted, despite not having a suspect, or suspects, in custody.
Authorities have stated publicly since the attack happened that it was targeted, but when pressed to explain why they believe that, police have said they can’t disclose why to protect the integrity of the investigation.
In the hours before a vigil was held Wednesday night for the four victims, mixed messaging came from officials in Moscow about what and who might have been the target.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin on Tuesday that "targeted" may not be the best word to use as different people are interpreting the word differently.
"The bottom line is whoever is responsible for this is still at large. That can't be changed," Thompson told Entin in a video clip of the interview posted to Twitter on Tuesday, "My understanding is the investigators believe that whoever is responsible was specifically looking at this particular residence. but that's all that they can offer at this point."
When asked if he or investigators can say whether the person responsible was looking at a particular individual in the home, Thompson said: "I don't think they can say that at this point. They are still - that's part of the investigation is trying to determine who might have been the target."
The following day, in an interview with KTVB’s Morgan Romero, Thompson stated multiple times that investigators believe one of the victims of the attack was definitely a target, and they are still trying to figure out who.
This interview with the prosecutor was facilitated through, and approved by, the Moscow Police Department's communication team.
"I’m not quite sure where the confusion is coming from. Investigators believe this attack was intended for a specific person. They do not know yet for sure who person was among the four victims," Thompson told KTVB on Wednesday morning. "Some people have had confusion over what the word targeted means but hopefully that clarifies it. The investigators do believe the attack was intended or focused on a specific one of residents there. They're just trying to figure out who."
After Thompson's comments were publicized Wednesday, Moscow Police Department issued multiple news releases, followed by a couple corrections to those news releases.
Around 3:15 pm MST on Wednesday, they said, regarding "the interview with the Latah County Prosecutor", they "feel his responses were messaged to support the implication that new information had been released. Specifically, generalized statements regarding the potential of targeted victims and the involvement of drugs were redefined into an affirmative answer."
Moscow PD continued by saying there was no change or new information in the case at that time.
Because the verbiage in that press release was confusing, members of the media reached out to the public information officer overseeing the case for clarity. They issued another press release hours later at 8:15 p.m. MST stating that conflicting information had been released over the last day and reiterating that the prosecutor stated the suspect(s) specifically looked at this home and that one or more of the people who lived there were "undoubtedly targeted."
"We have spoken with the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office and identified this was a miscommunication. Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted but continue to investigate," the police department said in the news release.
The police department also issued the following apology directly to KTVB on behalf of Prosecutor Bill Thompson prior to the news release being disseminated:
"Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. We want to let you know that there was a miscommunication between detectives and my office. To clarify, investigators do not believe the murders were random, but we cannot unequivocally state the residence, or any occupants, were specifically targeted. I apologize for any confusion."
KTVB asked the Moscow Police Department acting public information officer Aaron Snell, who is with ISP, how detectives still believed the attack was targeted if they couldn’t definitively say whether the house or the residents inside were the target.
On Thursday morning Snell said, "We remain consistent in our belief that this was indeed a targeted attack but have not concluded if the target was the residence or its occupants."
The department sent out another release Thursday evening, again reiterating that statement and stating they were the only provider of official information on this case.
An Idaho Statesman reporter posted on Twitter that they contacted Idaho State Police and the prosecuting attorney's office about the conflicting statements. The reporter was told that Thompson was no longer giving interviews.
This is not the first time law enforcement and elected officials have given confusing or conflicting information since the quadruple homicide occurred on Nov. 13 in Moscow.
In addition to announcing the murders were "targeted and isolated", police also initially said they didn’t believe there was an ongoing threat to the community after the attack. During a news conference on Nov. 16, Moscow Police Chief James Fry back-tracked that statement, saying because they haven't found the person or people who committed the murders, there may be an ongoing threat to the community.
'I look forward to the day when we can have some accountability': Latah County Prosecutor feels confident investigators will solve murders
In KTVB's interview with Thompson on Wednesday, he said that, to his knowledge, no specific person(s) are suspects at this point, but investigators have made a lot of progress.
He said they've eliminated theories and suspects, allowing them to focus efforts on other leads as they try to recreate the timeline of what occurred leading up to the murders and during the attack.
"Investigators have explored a number of people who might have been people of interest and essentially cleared each of them through the investigation and are still working through that process," said Thompson. "I can certainly say progress is being made, that we are not losing momentum in this investigation. If anything, momentum continues to build and resources continue to be made available."
Thompson explained that his office is involved at this point to provide support to the investigation, since no suspect has been found and therefore no case has been brought to his office. He says they have actively worked with investigators since the beginning, aiding authorities with search warrants and providing legal advice. He has also been to the crime scene.
"This case is challenging because there is still so many questions and we don’t have all the answers; we don’t know the ultimate answers as to who did this and why yet. But I think investigators are going to get there," Thompson said. "I've never seen in 30 years as a prosecutor this amount of coordinated resources working on a single case. It really is impressive and gives me confidence that they're going to get the answers we need. It's just a matter of patience and perseverance."
He feels confident that detectives are going to solve this crime due to the amount of resources on this case and their ability to identify people and eliminate possibilities.
It has been more than two weeks since the quadruple murders happened. Thompson said that absolutely does not mean this case is going to go cold, especially because this case is the number one priority in their region.
"We have had homicide cases in the county over the years that have sometimes taken years to solve. I hope this is not one of those but if that takes that amount of time then it takes that amount of time. We aren’t going to stop until we find out who’s responsible for this and why it happened," Thompson said.
He said investigators are working to understand the order in which the murders happened. Investigators will keep some information close to their chest at this point in the investigation, Thompson said, such as where exactly the victims were found on the second and third floors of the home and how the suspect entered the house.
"Very few people would know that and whoever is responsible is one of the people who would know that If they release that publicly it really could compromise the investigation," Thompson told KTVB.
He wasn't able to say whether the person or people responsible knew the house well enough to know where the victims were at the time or if the suspect(s) had been to the home before.
The prosecutor hasn't heard any concerns about evidence being tainted or compromised. Any trace evidence is helpful in a case like this, which is why the Idaho State Forensic Lab scientists are on site gathering and analyzes samples and evidence, Thompson said.
He couldn't share what kind of evidence police are collecting and processing in any of the five cars towed away from the front of the victims' home on Tuesday. The cars were moved to a more secure and long-term storage area.
When asked if he believed drugs were involved in this crime, Thompson said he "wouldn't make that leap there."
As authorities have done for weeks, Thompson again encouraged everyone to share any and all information, videos and pictures that may contain anything "out of the ordinary" with law enforcement by using the tip line set up for this case.
"I want to remind everybody we have a good community here," said Thompson. "This is a safe place to be. I know it is difficult to say that and think about it when dealing with these tragedies but we’re going to move forward and I’m confident investigators are going to solve this. And I look forward to the day when we can have some accountability."
"Please don’t get distracted by the conspiracy theories and," he said, "I'll be perfectly blunt, the nonsense some people put out there just to stir the pot. That hurts the families all the more, it hurts the community all the more. Use your common sense and trust what’s going on. Investigators are doing the best they can."