Police have been investigating the grisly killings for more than six weeks, but they have not yet identified a suspect. According to a criminal expert, the killer knew the four young pals and may have been rejected or embarrassed by one of the victims.

After coming home after a night out, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were murdered at around 3 am on November 13.

Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, two other roommates, were also there but managed to escape the attack and even slept through it. They are no longer considered to be suspects.

In a shocking crime that has rocked the nation, police are still searching for a suspect and motive in a mysterious case that has left residents and students of the small university town of Moscow gripped with fear.

According to Leonard Adam Sipes Jr, a criminology professor and former specialist for the US Department of Justice’s clearinghouse, the offender in this case is likely a man who was familiar with the victims and their living arrangements. Sipes believes that the offender may have had a personal connection to the victims.

“The offender could be someone who knew the victims from afar; someone who was aware of where they lived and their level of protection,” he told Express.

“But to kill four suggests that the offender had a passionate grudge.

“Most offenders at the time of their crimes are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. An offender with a grudge, however minor, could be responsible.

“The grudge could be minor to us but important to the offender”.

He said that, statistically speaking, male criminals usually know their female victims before they kill them, and he pointed out that 76 percent of women are killed by someone they knew.

“It’s more than possible that he was rebuffed or humiliated by one of the victims.

“It takes a lot of passion to kill four people with a knife.”

However, he said that those who are “substance-fueled” and may be suffering from mental illness are often the perpetrators of exceptionally violent crimes of this kind.

However, Sipes notes that extreme violent crimes of this nature are often carried out by individuals who are under the influence of substances and may be struggling with mental illness. These ‘substance-fueled’ offenders may act impulsively and without clear motivations or rationalizations for their actions.

As the Moscow Police Department, the state police, and the FBI keep looking into the case, the crime expert found clues about how the criminal would act.

According to Sipes, some offenders return to the scene of the crime and take “bits of clothing or something personal as a memento” as a way to relive the experience. 

However, if the offender is someone who was known to the victims, they may choose to avoid the crime scene altogether. Sipes suggests that in this case, the offender would have all the souvenirs they needed simply through the extensive media coverage of the crime.”

On Thursday, a group of people who clean up crime scenes went to the 1122 King Street home of the late student to clean and disinfect it.

After their investigations are over, police said they will return the house to the property management firm.

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