Clue Cited in Idaho Slayings Spurs Avalanche of Tips: Cops

'Overwhelming' number of tips have come in regarding white car spotted near students' home
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2022 11:03 AM CST
Clue Cited in Idaho Slayings Spurs Avalanche of Tips: Cops
Stock photo of a white Hyundai Elantra like the one seen near the crime scene.   (Moscow Police Department, via CNN)

A car seen near the off-campus home where four University of Idaho students were slain last month is the latest possible clue in the case, and it's one that has spurred what CNN reports is an "overwhelming" number of tips. On Wednesday, the Moscow Police Department noted that a white Hyundai Elantra, likely made between 2011 and 2013 (much like the one seen in our photo gallery), was spotted in the early morning hours in the "immediate area" of the house where Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were killed. "Thanks to these tips and leads, we know that that vehicle was there," Robbie Johnson, a spokesperson for the police department, tells Today. "So the occupants, or occupant, naturally is someone we want to talk to."

So many tips have come in on the white sedan alone that calls related to it are now being diverted from the Moscow Police Department to an FBI call center to help investigators sift through them. "The global call center has the resources to take those calls, categorize them, and send them on to investigators so they can utilize those tips in the investigation," the MPD said in a Thursday update, per CNN. The news outlet notes that investigators have so far received upward of 6,000 tips overall in the case, which has yet to produce a suspect, motive, or murder weapon. Police say so far, no tip has yielded a license plate for the mystery car. (More University of Idaho stories.)

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