A former friend of the 28-year-old man suspected of killing four University of Idaho students says the suspect would get “frustrated” by women and discuss his depression.
The friend, Jack Baylis, told Fox Nation’s Nancy Grace in a new special that he and the suspect felt “frustrated” when dating and a woman would “ghost” them. Ghosting occurs when one person simply stops answering the other.
The suspect has been charged with murdering Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. It is suspected that he followed the three female victims on Instagram.
Baylis said that the suspect would sometimes message him about being “depressed,” saying the suspect “developed a weird sense of meaning.” Baylis also said the suspect was an “aggressive” drunk to the point that friends would hide his car keys. His friend also said the suspect would do “other sketchy drugs.”
Steve Goncalves, father of victim Kaylee, told Fox News that he was informed that the suspect was receiving special treatment in prison.
“I’ve been informed that his pretrial privileges, like his five suits, video and computer special treatment and vegan meals are unprecedented in the history of Idaho,” he said.
NewsNation’s Brian Entin, however, said on the network show “Banfield,” that the suspect is not receiving anything that other inmates don’t also get.
According to Entin, the suspected killer has access to a computer – but not the internet – so that he can read documents relating to his case. This is the same access given to other inmates, who can also respond to documents through their attorneys.
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It was previously reported that the jail was trying to accommodate the suspected Idaho killer’s vegan diet, which still appears accurate since Entin said the suspect is only being fed rice and beans.
The suspect is also being isolated from other prisoners “for his safety and the safety of others,” a source previously told NewsNation.
The accused has no definite trial date, as the original October start date has been pushed back.
DNA found on a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene has been matched to the suspect, according to court documents.
In early August, his attorneys offered an alibi for the suspect’s whereabouts on the night of the murder, saying he was out driving late at night.
“[The suspect] has long had a habit of going for drives alone. Often he would go for drives at night. He did so late on November 12 and into November 13, 2022,” Anne Taylor, the suspect’s attorney, wrote in the filing. “[The suspect] is not claiming to be at a specific location at a specific time; at this time there is not a specific witness to say precisely where [my client] was at each moment of the hours between late night November 12, 2022, and early morning November 13, 2022. He was out, driving during the late night and early morning hours of November 12-13, 2022.”
Part of the evidence that led to the suspect’s arrest, mentioned in a previously unsealed probable cause affidavit, showed that police were able to narrow the timeframe of the crime to between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. and reviewed video footage taken in the area in the time before and after the murders are believed to have occurred. The footage showed a white Hyundai Elantra without a front license plate (front license plates are required in Washington and Idaho, but not in Pennsylvania, where the car was registered) in the area between 3:29 a.m. and 4:20 a.m.
The vehicle can be seen passing the off-campus residence three times before returning a fourth time around 4:04 a.m. and attempting to turn around on the road. The vehicle was next seen around 4:20 a.m. traveling away from the direction of the off-campus residence at high speed, heading in the direction of a road that eventually leads to Pullman, Washington, where the suspect attended Washington State University (WSU).
Video footage from the WSU campus showed a white Hyundai Elantra leaving the area and heading toward Moscow at around 2:53 a.m. This vehicle was again observed on five cameras in Pullman and the WSU campus at around 5:25 a.m.
Police pulled records for white Hyundai Elantras registered at WSU on November 29 – just over two weeks after the murders were committed – and found one belonging to the man who was eventually arrested. Police reviewed the owner’s Washington state driver’s license and determined he matched the suspect’s physical description provided by one of the surviving roommates.
Police matched the suspect to the vehicle through two previous traffic stops in the months before the murders. They also learned that the suspect registered his car in Washington and received Washington plates on November 18 – five days after the murders.
In a previous filing, the suspect’s attorneys claimed that DNA found at the crime scene may have been planted by police.
“The State’s argument asks this Court and [the suspect] to assume – is that the DNA on the sheath was placed there by [the suspect], and not someone else during an investigation that spans hundreds of members of law enforcement and apparently at least one lab the State refuses to name,” the suspect’s defense attorneys wrote.