Police in Moscow, Idaho, have said they plan to collect and remove personal belongings of the slain victims in a recent stabbing to give back to their families. Police also said they wish to do this "as privately as possible" out of respect for the victims' families.
In a video released on YouTube on Tuesday, Moscow Police Chief Jim Fry said, "Tomorrow, me and my command team and other individuals will be going in to box up personal belongings of the people that lived there."
Fry continued, "We are going to be getting those items back to the families. It's time for us to get those things back that really mean something to those families and hopefully to help with some of their healing."
Police said this process will begin on Wednesday and involves the items being loaded into a truck and transferred to a secure location until the families can collect them. Police said these arrangements were made in coordination with the families.
In a press release on Monday, police said they are seeking all surveillance video from a specific area from 3 a.m. until 6 a.m. on the morning of the murders.
This area is bordered by West Taylor Avenue, West Palouse River Drive, Highway 95 South to its 2700 block, and Arboretum & Botanical Garden.
Police said the house where the four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death still remains an active crime scene and "progress continues to be made in the investigation."
In the early hours of November 13, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were fatally stabbed in an off-campus house near the University of Idaho.
Detectives said they are processing and working through more than 2,645 emailed tips, 2,770 phone tips, and 1,084 digital media submissions.
In Tuesday's press release, police said, "We believe someone has information that will add context to the picture investigators are creating of what occurred that evening."
In the video released on Tuesday, Fry said it is important for him to be involved in the process of removing the victims' personal belongings because "I'm not tied into the investigation side of it where I'm physically interviewing people, and it is important to me—it's important for us as a department to go in and take care of the families."
Fry added, "I'm a dad, I understand the meaning behind some of those things. It may be something that we gave one of our children or something, and we're just trying to bring some of that healing."
Newsweek has reached out to the Moscow Police Department and experts for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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