The killings of four University of Idaho students have 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, were found dead in an off-campus residence near the University of Idaho on Sunday.
Limited information about the investigation has been released, but on Thursday, Latah County Coroner Catherine Mabbutt confirmed in a release shared by the Moscow Police Department that all four students were stabbed to death.
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 told Arizona’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.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Authorities have said there were no signs of forced entry. Jeffrey told the outlet that the front door of the students’ home, where all four victims were found, had a lock with a number code, so the killer either knew the code or went to the side sliding door of the home to check if it was unlocked, he said.
No suspects have been named or arrested at this time. Although Moscow authorities initially called the killings an “isolated, targeted attack” and stated that the public was not in danger, they have since walked backed those comments and stressed that the community should “remain vigilant.”
“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 told KING 5 that 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.”
Jeffrey told the outlet that the autopsy showed that his daughter fought her killer, based on bruises she sustained during the attack.
“Bruises, torn by the knife,” Jeffrey said. “She’s a tough kid. Whatever she wanted to do, she could do it.”