An Idaho coroner says 'somebody that's pretty angry' stabbed 4 college students to death in their beds, likely while they were sleeping

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt said each victim had been stabbed multiple times with a "pretty large knife."

• The four killed University of Idaho students were discovered in beds, a local coroner said. 
• Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt told NewsNation the victims were likely attacked while sleeping.
• "It has to be somebody that's pretty angry in order to stab four people to death," Mabbutt said. 

The four University of Idaho students who were stabbed to death were discovered dead in beds and were attacked by an apparently "angry" killer likely while the victims were sleeping, a local coroner said. 

"It has to be somebody that's pretty angry in order to stab four people to death," Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt said during an interview with NewsNation on Thursday about the murderer still at large. 

Close friends Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves were murdered early Sunday inside an off-campus rental home about one mile away from the Moscow, Idaho, college. 

The students were killed after they returned to the home that the three women shared with roommates after a night out in the small college town, police have said. 

Mabbutt, who released the autopsy results showing that the four friends were stabbed to death, confirmed during the interview with NewsNation that the victims were discovered in beds. 

"It was late at night or early in the morning so it seems likely that maybe they were sleeping," said Mabbutt. 

The coroner explained that each victim had been stabbed multiple times and most of them had a single injury that was the "lethal stab wound."

"The fatal ones were to the chest area or the upper body area," said Mabbutt, who noted that "a pretty large knife" was used in the attack. The murder weapon has not been found by investigators.

Police have not yet identified any suspects in the killings and have urged the on-edge community to "stay 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 Wednesday press conference. 

Latah County prosecuting attorney Bill Thompson said during an interview on NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that "it certainly is possible" that there was more than one suspect in connection to the murders, which have sent shockwaves through the town.