A person has been taken into custody in connection to the murders of four University of Idaho students, law enforcement officials say.
The person was taken into custody in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, NBC News correspondent for investigations Tom Winter reported on Twitter. Winter added that police in Moscow, Idaho, have not confirmed the arrest, but have announced a press conference for Friday afternoon to “give an update of the ongoing investigation.”
In a press release on Thursday, police maintained that no suspect or suspects have been identified and that a cleaning crew would be coming in to clean the off-campus residence where the crime occurred.
“Starting Friday morning we’re going to be bringing in a professional cleaning crew to go to the residence,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said in a video statement Thursday, according to ABC News. “Part of the reason we’re doing that is because of the biohazards, as well as chemicals that were used during the investigation.”
On Friday, an unnamed man was arraigned on unknown charges in connection to the quadruple homicide, local NBC-affiliate KHQ reported.
As recently as Thursday, police were still looking for the occupants of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that was seen in the immediate area of the off-campus residence where the murders took place in the early morning hours of November 13. The occupants have not been named as suspects, but police do believe they may have critical information regarding the case.
An abandoned white Hyundai was found in Eugene, Oregon, but it is still unclear whether the vehicle is connected to the Idaho murders.
“We are definitely aware of the vehicle and investigators are currently working on it,” Moscow Police Department spokesman Aaron Snell told Fox News last week after the abandoned vehicle was found in Oregon. Police in Eugene confirmed to the outlet that they provided the Moscow Police Department with information about the damaged Hyundai.
Police responded to a call around noon on November 13 about an unconscious person at an off-campus residence. When they arrived, they found the four students stabbed to death.
It’s been more than a month since Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, were murdered – and police still have not named any suspects or found the murder weapon.
Authorities have said they do not believe that the two surviving roommates – who apparently did not hear the murders take place – are involved in the crimes. They also do not believe a man observed in surveillance video outside a food truck visited by Goncalves and Mogen the night of the murders was involved, nor was a driver who drove the women home.
Police are still looking for any outside surveillance video taken between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on November 13 – the morning of the murders – from local businesses and residences in the area. They’ve requested all videos, even if there doesn’t appear to be any motion in them. Police are also asking for any tips or surveillance video about “any observed suspicious behavior” on the night of the murders, particularly in the areas where the students had been.
Police still contend that the attack was “targeted” but do not know whether “the target was the residence or if it was the occupants.”
