Idaho murder police sift through hundreds of hours videos for clues

Police say they are combing through hours of video and examining the hands of four students murdered in Idaho last month, as frustration grows in the town over the lack of an arrest.

Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were found stabbed to death in a rental home they shared early on Sunday 13 November.

All four were students at the University of Idaho in the town of Moscow, in the northern part of Idaho.

Police have received thousands of tips.

The FBI is helping local police sift through them.

In a video statement on Monday, Roger Lanier of Moscow Police said an "army of analysts" was looking at videos from all over the town that have been uploaded by residents and business owners.

"As you can imagine, there's hours and hours and hours of video, so it does take a lot of time," he said.

Police are still looking for a white Hyundai Elantra that was seen near the home on the day of the murders.

Also on Monday, Fox News reported that police had bagged the victims' hands at the crime scene in an effort to save possible clues, including skin, hair or DNA evidence.

The case has attracted the interest of thousands of amateur web detectives, and dozens of Facebook groups and Reddit threads have been dedicated to the case, but Capt Lanier warned against reporting online speculation to the official tip line.

"Tracking down rumours and quelling rumours about specific individuals or specific events that may or may not have happened is a huge distraction for investigators, and oftentimes is the result of social media propagation," he said in the video statement.

The slow pace of the investigation and lack of arrests or named suspects has prompted criticism from some family members of the victims.

Capt Lanier said police were "still 100 percent committed to solving this crime".

The father of Kaylee Goncalves said on Sunday that the victims had "big open gouges" that were clearly the work of a "sadistic male".

Steven Goncalves said he had asked the coroner how many times the victims were stabbed. 

"She says, sir, I don't think stabs is the right word, it was like tears, like this was a strong weapon, not like a stab," he told Fox News on Sunday. 

Police have not yet specified the suspect's gender, or found the fixed-blade knife they believe was used in the attack.