Surviving housemates of slain University of Idaho students break their silence

The two surviving roommates who were at home when four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in November they spoke for the first time.

In a letter read by a pastor during a church vigil Friday, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke wrote that their friends are “all unique in their own way.” CBS News reported it.

“They all lit up every room they walked into and were gifts to this world,” one of the housemates said in the letter. “I wish every day I could hug everyone and tell them how much I loved them.”

Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in the early hours of November 13 in the women’s dormitory outside campus near the University of Idaho in Moscow. Chapin was not a resident of the house, but he was meeting Kernodle and had stayed the night.

“For Xana and Ethan: They were the perfect match together and had this unstoppable relationship,” Mortensen wrote. He also called Mogen and Goncalves, who were best friends, “the inseparable duo”.

“My life has been greatly influenced by meeting these four beautiful people, people who have changed my life in so many ways and made me so happy,” Mortensen wrote.

The murders took place around 3 or 4 in the morning, the police said. The two surviving residents were on the first floor of the home when the stabbings took place on the second and third floors. Mortensen and Funke probably slept through the attacks. One of their cellphones was used to call 911 to report an “unconscious” person when they woke up later that morning. the police said. Police have ruled out those who survived as suspects.

The motive and identity of the killer are still unknown as the investigation enters its fourth week. The weapon, believed to be a large knife with a fixed blade, not found.

The Moscow Police Department has asked the neighborhood for any surveillance footage that could help the investigation. Several people who were seen with the victims that night have been released, including a private driver who drove two of them home.

Authorities continue to describe the incident as a targeted attackNBC reported, though Moscow police and the Latah district prosecutor appeared last week to backtrack on their initial assessment that the victims were targeted. Police say they don’t know if the target was the residence or its occupants.

Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee Goncalves, spoke last week to express frustration at the lack of progress in the investigation, saying her daughter may have had a stalker make her uncomfortable. Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s sister, said during a News of the Nation interview about the investigation that the family received little information from law enforcement.