BILLINGS — Perry Widdicombe loves Moscow, Idaho. She knew it from her very first visit to the University of Idaho when she was attending Billings Central High School. But now, she’s afraid to leave her apartment because a murderer is still on the loose.
"It gets dark at 4:30 p.m., so I haven’t been leaving my house after 4:30," Widdicombe said.
Widdicombe is a senior at the University of Idaho, so she’s called Moscow home for four years.
"It's the kind of town where you can walk home at night and never feel unsafe," she said.
But it’s now a completely different place, after four students - Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin - were killed around 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13 in a house they shared.
"They were all murdered through stabbing, with probably a larger knife," said Cathy Mabbutt, the Latah County coroner.
Goncalves and Mogen spent most of Saturday night at the Corner Club, a local sports bar, according to a timeline released by Moscow police. Widdicombe was there at the same time.
"I am friends with some of their sorority sisters," she said. "The University of Idaho is such a small school that even if you didn’t know them, you know people who knew them."
She also knew exactly where the four’s house was, at 1122 King Road.
"I’ve been to the neighbor's house," Widdicome said. "(The school) sent out the alert and told us it was on King Street - I didn’t have to look up where that was. Everyone knew immediately, and everybody knew immediately it was a college kid in that neighborhood."
Classes were canceled the day following the killings, and Moscow became a ghost town.
"I’m pretty much the only one of my friends left here," Widdicome said. "I don’t blame everybody for leaving. If I could leave, I definitely would have."
She has plans to visit her sister in Seattle soon, where she can hopefully stop thinking about a tragedy that continues to haunt thousands.
"It’s very scary that someone who could have killed four people is still out there," she said. "I know Moscow Police is doing everything they can, but it’s still very frustrating."
