‘She’s a tough kid’: Father of slain Idaho student Xana Kernodle reveals brave daughter fought attacker

"Bruises, torn by the knife," Jeff Kernodle told Arizona news outlet 3TV/ CBS 5, adding that her brave daughter retaliated against the attacker, "She’s a tough kid. Whatever she wanted to do, she could do it," Jeff also revealed that the door at their home "locks with a number code." "Every time you go, you have to go around the house because of the number code so they either knew that or went around and maybe found the slider door open," Jeff told the outlet. The authorities said there was no sign of forced entry when they first responded at the residence.

Moving forward, Jeff said her daughter had constant communication with her family and nothing about that night seemed unusual. As per the reports, on the night of November 12, Xana and Chapin went to a party while Mogen and Goncalves were out at a bar. Police say the victims came back home around 1.45 am and the attack took place between 3 am and 4 am. "I heard from her I think before we went out," Jeff told the outlet, "I think midnight was the last time we heard from her and she was fine."

Remembering his daughter, Jeff described her as a strong and responsible woman. “She didn’t really worry about the drama and stuff that much. She was never into that. She just liked having fun. Never about materialistic things,” Jeff said. He added Xana and Chapin had been in a relationship for more than a year now. "[W]hen I went up there she, I saw her just a week before that and she changed a lot," Kernodle told the outlet. "She had a life. She got to see what it was like to have a boyfriend you live with. And she really turned around. She was really responsible. Helping him out with his studies and stuff. I was really impressed,"

The four young individuals were left to bleed to death inside the residence and the Moscow police have called the site one of the most horrific crime scenes they have ever seen. The case has now been entrusted to 25 investigators from the FBI, Idaho State Police, and Moscow Police Department.