Slain University of Idaho student fought back against her attacker, all 4 found murdered in bed

Jeffrey Kernodle, the father of one of the four murdered University of Idaho students, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, said on Thursday that his daughter fought back against her assailant as more details emerge from the autopsy of all four victims.

According to local CBS news, Kernodle said her body showed, "Bruises, torn by the knife," but added, "She’s a tough kid. Whatever she wanted to do, she could do it."

The bodies of Xana Kernodle, her boyfriend 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, along with Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were found Sunday morning after being butchered to death. The bodies were found after police responded to a report of an unconscious person at a rented home on King Road in Moscow, Idaho. No arrests have yet been made. 

CBS reports that Jeffrey Kernodle was too distraught to appear on camera.

Chief of Moscow police James Fry said it is believed to have been a "targeted" attack but noted, "We need to be aware. The individual is still out there" adding, "We cannot say there is no threat to the community." According to police, the four were stabbed to death up to nine hours before, with the killing taking place between 3-4 am Sunday morning.

Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt confirmed to CBS News to that the victims were stabbed to death, described the attacks as "personal," and that the murder weapon, which has still yet to be found, "would have had to be a large knife." It was further revealed that Idaho police were on the hunt for a "Rambo"-style, KA-BAR-style knife.

Speaking to NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield on Thursday, Mabbutt said "It was late at night or early in the morning so it seems likely maybe they were sleeping," noting that the attack happened while the students were in bed.

"There were multiple stab wounds on them and most of them had just one that was the lethal stab wound. The fatal ones were to the chest area, the upper body area," she said. "It was a pretty large knife so it’s really hard to call them puncture wounds. They were definitely stabbings and it has to be somebody that’s pretty angry in order to stab four people to death."

There were no signs of sexual assault and each victim was stabbed more than once, Mabbutt said, adding that she had never handled such a horrific case in all of her 16 years on the job, describing the murder scene as containing a "fair amount of blood."

Photographs released on Wednesday showed blood oozing out of the side of the house, seeming to confirm investigators' descriptions that the crime was among the most gruesome they have ever seen and that there was "blood everywhere."

Jeffrey Kernodle said of the murders, "I have no idea. It doesn’t make sense."

"The door locks with a number code. Every time you go, you have to go around the house because of the number code so they either knew that or went around and maybe found the slider door open," he added.

Reports indicate that the group of friends had been out socializing but authorities believe all four of murdered students had returned to the house by 1:45 am. Fry said, "We're not 100 percent sure if the door was unlocked, but there was no damage to anything and the door was still open when we got there."