Nearly a week after four University of Idaho students were found dead in their rental home, a coroner has revealed they were stabbed in their beds.

The three young women and young man were probably sleeping when they were attacked on Sunday 13 November, said Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt.

They were stabbed multiple times with a “pretty large knife”, she added.

No arrests have been made and police in the college town of Moscow have warned the killer may still pose a threat.

More than 25 investigators are working on the investigation with assistance from the FBI and Idaho State Police.

The female victims were named as roommates Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; and Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho.

Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington, was Ms Kernodle’s boyfriend.

After police were alerted by a call to emergency services, the victims were discovered dead on Sunday afternoon. Two other people in the house were found unharmed.

“We cannot say that there is no threat to the community,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said.

“We still believe it’s a targeted attack. But the reality is there still is a person out there who committed four very horrible, horrible crimes.”

Speaking to cable news channel NewsNation, the coroner said: “It has to be somebody pretty angry in order to stab four people to death.”

Moscow Police Department said some of the victims had defensive wounds, adding that there were no signs of sexual assault, the Associated Press reports.

Nor does anything appear to have been stolen from the victims or the house, CBS News reports, and there was no sign of forced entry.

A door was found open by the first police officers to arrive at the scene.

Searches continue for the weapon with the contents of nearby bins examined and local businesses contacted to establish if they recently sold a fixed-blade knife.

Police, who have appealed to the public for help with the investigation, say all four victims had gone out for the night on Saturday – the couple to a party, and the other two women to a bar in town – but were back by 01:45 (09:45 GMT) on Sunday.

CCTV footage from a takeaway truck on Moscow’s Main Street shows Ms Goncalves and Ms Mogen taking photos on their phones and chatting with friends, before they hailed a ride back.

Moscow, a leafy Panhandle town of 25,000 residents about 80 miles (130km) south of Spokane, Washington, had not seen a murder for five years.

Among tributes paid to the victims were a message from the Mad Greek restaurant, where Ms Mogen and Ms Kernodle had worked as servers, and Ms Mogen had been “the face behind” its social media.

“It is with a broken heart and deep sadness to share with you that we have lost two of our own here at Mad Greek,” the restaurant posted on Facebook. “Xana and Maddie… brought so much joy to our restaurant and all of those they encountered.”

The university Is to hold a candlelit vigil for the four victims on 30 November. (BBC: Text, Excluding Headline)

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