U. of Idaho to raze murder house
4 students were stabbed to death in off-campus home in Nov.
The house where four University of Idaho students were murdered last year will be torn down, the school announced Friday.
Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in the off-campus house on King Street in the city of Moscow on Nov. 13.
“The owner of the King Street house offered to give the house to the university, which we accepted,” said university president Scott Green in a statement. “The house will be demolished. This is a healing step and removes the physical structure where the crime that shook our community was committed.”
Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle lived in the home with two roommates, who survived. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was spending the night after all four students enjoyed an evening out in Moscow.
The university said tearing down the house would prevent people from using it to “sensationalize the crime scene.” School leaders did not say what they planned to do with the property after demolition was complete.
“We are evaluating options where students may be involved in the future development of the property,” the university said.
The school is hoping demolition will be completed by the end of the spring semester, a spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman.
Idaho is planning to create an on-campus memorial to the four victims and hopes to fund scholarships in each of their names.
“While the memorial will be a focal point of a garden, the garden will also be a place of remembrance of other students we have lost and a place of healing for those left behind,” the school said.
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the case. Kohberger was arrested in December 2022 at his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania after a nationwide search.
Kohberger reportedly followed at least one of the female victims on Instagram and sent her several direct messages weeks before the attack.
A police source told People magazine that Kohberger had a picture of one of the young women on his cellphone.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for June.