Online forums with thousands of members are full of people speculating about possible motives, doxxing the victims’ friends and even blaming some for the crime. FOX13
of four University of Idaho students who were found dead in a home near campus last month. But would-be armchair detectives and internet sleuths have come up with several of their own, the conclusions often based on conjecture and rumor.
Relatively few details have been released about the homicides, which have left the small college town shaken and grieving for Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. The four were friends and all members of the university’s Greek system. Many of the online sleuths are likely well-intended, she said — perhaps driven by a desire to avoid similar crimes, hoping to bring justice or just seeking a little fame within the true crime fandom.
The victims and their friends are young enough that much of their lives has been documented online, providing a wealth of material for web sleuths to mine. Photos and rumors once shared with a small circle are now being widely disseminated, exposing the subjects to harassment. The internet forums and community members went to work, and Moscow police announced Thursday that investigators were now sorting through 22,000 registered 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantras that matched their search criteria. The department thanked tipsters for their help providing additional information about the vehicle."We don’t want vigilantes out there trying to take the law into their own hands," he said.
"The speculations, the rumors, the accusations — anything you put on that fire will just make it burn hotter, so I don’t want to add any more to that," she said.Police on Monday released new information on their investigation of four murders at University of Idaho—specifically into the rumor that one of the murdered students had a stalker.
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