Slain University of Idaho Student Fought to Defend Herself, Dad Says: 'She's a Tough Kid'

Mar. 15, 2025

The killings of four University of Idaho studentshave left the small community of Moscow shaken and afraid as the suspect — or suspects — remain at large.

On Nov. 13, Xana Kernodle, 20, Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, werefound dead in an off-campus residencenear the University of Idaho on Sunday.

Now the father of one of the victims is speaking out about who his daughter was — and how she courageously fought with her attacker.

“She just liked having fun,” Xana Kernodle’s father Jeffrey Kernodle toldArizona’s Family.

“She was — all the time — always with her friends,” he said.

Jeffrey said that Xana was in constant communication with her family and that he last heard from his daughter around midnight on Sunday.

“I think midnight was the last time we heard from her, and she was fine,” he told the outlet.

Xana Kernodle.Xana Kernodle/instagram

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“We do not have a suspect at this time, and that individual is still out there,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said during a news conference on Wednesday. “We cannot say there is no threat to the community.”

Kernodle and Chapin were in a romantic relationship, and Chapin’s mother Stacy Chapin previously toldKING 5that her son was spending the night with his girlfriend the night they were killed.

“Her and Ethan were together about a year, give or take,” Jeffrey told Arizona’s Family.

“When I went up there, she — I saw her just a week before that and she changed a lot. 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.”

Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves.Instagram

Jeffrey told the outlet that the autopsy showed that his daughter fought her killer, based on bruises she sustained during the attack.

The Moscow Police Department is asking anyone who may have information about the killings to call 208-883-7054.

source: people.com