Idaho Police Did Not Ask Stores About Recent Hunting Knife Sales—Report

With authorities yet to name a suspect in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, a new report says police did not ask at least three local store owners about what kind of knives they sold.

Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found dead in an off-campus rental house in Moscow on November 13. The three women were roommates and Chapin, Kernodle's boyfriend, was visiting.

Autopsies determined the four were stabbed to death, likely with a fixed-blade knife. The Moscow Police Department said the murder weapon has not been located and that investigators checked with local businesses to determine if a fixed-blade knife had recently been purchased.

But three Moscow store owners told NewsNation this week that police never asked them for details about the kinds of knives they sell.

NewsNation correspondent Alex Caprariello reported that he visited three stores—a hardware store, an antiques store and a sporting goods store—that sell knives and received a visit from police in the aftermath of the murders.

"From the owners, the managers and the employees I spoke to, they all said that when it came to around the time of this murder, the police did not ask them what kinds of knives they sold, what types of knives they sold, how many knives they've sold," he said.

According to Caprariello, the stores are among dozens that sell knives in the area, where hunting culture and owning knives is "incredibly common."

Police also apparently did not ask these store owners for indoor surveillance footage, Caprariello said.

"They all told us it's pretty much been exterior footage only. They couldn't recollect being asked about interior footage," he said.

The Moscow Police Department has been contacted for comment.

It comes as Moscow Police Chief James Fry hit back after the department's capability to solve the murders was questioned by a lawyer representing the Goncalves family.

"There have been numerous questions about leadership in this investigation," Fry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Let me be clear, this is the Moscow Police Department's investigation, and I am the Chief of Police. The decisions are mine and mine alone."

Fry said he has "an excellent Command Staff, with over 90 years of combined experience, overseeing the investigation's daily operation, and I select who runs the investigative teams."

Police also said investigators were continuing to work through almost 12,000 email and phone tips in a bid to solve the murders, along with more than 4,500 digital media submissions.