Idaho Students' Killer May Be An 'Incel' Who Felt Rejected—Psychiatrist

Four University of Idaho students may have been stabbed by an "incel"—short for involuntarily celibate—who felt rejected by one of them, a forensic psychiatrist told Newsweek.

Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were found dead in their beds in an off-campus house on November 13.

The slayings in Moscow—which had not seen a homicide since 2015—have sparked a massive investigation, but police said on Sunday a suspect has still not been identified and no weapon has been located.

Police have said they believe the killings were targeted, but have not specified why they think that or which student may have been targeted.

Forensic psychiatrist Carole Lieberman said she is confident the slayings were not a random attack or the work of a serial killer. The "multiple stabbings and bloody mess are signs that it was personal and that the killer was enraged," Lieberman told Newsweek.

The four slain students were "the epitome of good looks, success and self-confidence," she said. "At least that's the way it seemed to their classmates and others in the town. So, there would have been a lot of envy and jealousy towards them."

Lieberman said the killer could be someone who felt rejected by one of the victims. "Perhaps some would-be suitor of Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, who felt that the girls were out of their league, felt rejected, whether they had approached them or just looked on from afar," she said.

"Indeed, the killer could be an incel who saw Kaylee and Madison as 'Stacys'—the name incels give to girls who they believe would look down on them and refuse to date or have sex with them."

Aaron Snell, communications director for the Idaho State Police, told Newsweek that while "investigators are not ruling anything out," he does not believe they are at a point to answer that question.

The "incel" community is an online subculture that promotes the misogynistic idea that men are entitled to have sex with women. Some self-identifying males turn to internet forums to plot violent attacks against those who reject them romantically and use terms like "Chad" and "Stacy" as slang for those with more active romantic or sex lives.

Incels can "develop a lot of rage towards 'Stacys' as they play their imagined rejection over and over in their mind," Lieberman said.

John DeCarlo, a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and a former police chief in Branford, Connecticut, said that when police say a killing was targeted, it constitutes "a broad range of possibilities."

"I think that it would be safe to assume that we could eliminate in this particular instance, with college students, a murder-for-hire," DeCarlo told Newsweek.

"The other type of targeting would be targeting because of jealousy, targeting because of a romantic affiliation, targeting because of a hate crime or a bias crime."

DeCarlo said police are not revealing everything they know about the slayings in order to protect the integrity of the investigation.

According to investigators, Goncalves and Mogen had been out at a bar and a food truck and got a ride home, reaching their residence at around 1:56 a.m. on November 13. Police earlier thought they got home at around 1:45 a.m.

Kernodle and Chapin had been at a fraternity house and returned home around 1:45 a.m, while two other roommates got home at around 1 a.m.

The two roommates slept through the attack and summoned friends to the residence in the morning because they believed one of the victims had passed out and was not waking up.

One of their cell phones was used to make a 911 call requesting aid at 11:58 a.m. Police have said they do not believe either of the roommates or anyone who was in the residence when the 911 call was made was involved in the crime.

Update 11/30/22, 3:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a comment from Aaron Snell.