Slain Kaylee Goncalves was 'terrified' of stalker who followed her at night, claims local shop owner

Kaylee Goncalves, (L) Madison Mogen (Bottom R) Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin (Top R) were stabbed to death in an off-campus rented home (@kayleegoncalves, @maddiemogen and @xanakernodle/Instagram)
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This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently.

MOSCOW, IDAHO: Slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves would beg her friends to walk closely behind all the time as she was "terrified" of a stalker who was reportedly following her around, a local shop owner has said. Following her and her three friends' brutal murder, several reports claimed that Goncalves had a stalker. However, Moscow police have denied having any knowledge of it.

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In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in an off-campus three-story rented home. Law enforcement is yet to identify the suspect(s) in the case. Authorities have said that the gory scene where the students were killed was the “worst they’ve ever seen." 

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The vape shop manager has now said he discussed Goncalves' stalker with her and Mogen three weeks before the quadruple homicides. "Kaylee and Maddie would both come in here, they always had a smile on their face, they were the light of the world," he told NewsNation. "They always came in with a group of four or five girls at most, all the time they would come in together. I made a joke about them coming in together, that it was nice to see that they were trying to stay safe," he said.

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"Maddie then said oh we had a friend of ours be stalked, which is why we travel in a group. She was motioning to Kaylee as she said it," he added. "It seemed as though they were all trying to keep Kaylee safe and be there for her as friends. This was three weeks before the murder." He said Goncalves told him the stalker would follow her "at night" by the "campus or down on Main Street" as she went to or from bars. 

It was recently reported that Golcalves' injuries were “significantly more brutal” than the other victims. According to NewsNation’s Brian Entin, she had more gruesome injuries than her best friend Mogen which could be an important piece of evidence while determining who the target was.

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Kaylee’s parents have also claimed the way Mogen and she were killed on November 13 "don’t match". During an appearance on NewsNation’s 'Prime', former CIA and FBI agent Tracy Walder said that there is a possibility the murders were a “targeted attack”. “Some of the ways that we can know that this is a targeted attack is in the manner in which some of these victims were killed,” Walder said.

“And I want to be sensitive, obviously, to these parents and to their friends and family. But what you might see in a situation like this is sort of a gross overkill of one victim versus the others who may be simply just gotten in the way and I believe that that’s what her father is referring to,” Walder added.

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Kaylee's family wondered if the police cleared some of the people connected to the case too quickly. “I don’t know what would prevent you from sharing someone’s alibi,” said Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father. 


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