The house where four University of Idaho students were murdered in November 2022 is being demolished on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of slaying Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves, is on trial for four counts of murder for allegedly stabbing the students in the house near the university’s campus. The owner of the rental house donated the house to the university, which announced the demolition plans in February, according to the AP. (RELATED: Man Arrested For Allegedly Shooting, Killing College Student Was Previously Released From Jail For Mental Incompetence: REPORT)
“That is an area that is dense with students, and many students have to look at it and live with it every day and have expressed to us how much it will help with the healing process to have that house removed,” Jodi Walker, university spokesperson, told the AP.
MOSCOW, ID – JANUARY 3: In this aerial view, the University of Idaho campus is seen near the neighborhood of a home that is the site of a quadruple murder on January 3, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
Some of the victims’ families want the house to be preserved until after the trial of Kohberger, according to the AP. A judge entered a not guilty plea for him earlier this year, and his lawyers told the court he had been driving alone when asked for an alibi.
Prosecutors want to try Kohberger in summer of 2024 and informed the university that they didn’t need the house anymore as exhibits for the trial had already been gathered, according to the AP.
Three of the students, Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves, lived in the rental house near campus, and Chapin, who was Kernodle’s boyfriend, was visiting the house when the attack occurred, according to the AP.
“With the demolition, our community can continue its collective healing,” Walker told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The prosecution has no further use for the house and has clearly stated that a jury visit would not be possible due to the substantive changes in the site. With that knowledge, we are relieved to have this very visual reminder of the horrific crime removed. We will not forget, but we can move forward.”
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