Idaho house where four students were slain is demolished
MOSCOW, Idaho — The house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year was demolished Thursday, marking an emotional step for the victims’ families and a closeknit community that was shocked and devastated by the brutal stabbings.
The sounds of construction equipment pierced the early morning air as an excavator started tearing down the front part of the house. The former walls formed a large pile of crushed and smashed wood on the ground as debris was picked up and loaded into a dump truck. A few onlookers joined dozens of members of the news media.
After about three hours, the home was fully demolished, and its concrete foundation had been broken up. Multiple dump trucks continued to remove debris from the site.
The owner of the rental home near the university campus in Moscow donated it to the university earlier this year. It has since been boarded up and blocked off by a security fence. Students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves were fatally stabbed there in November 2022.
Some of the victims’ families have opposed the demolition, calling for the house to be preserved until after the man accused of the slayings has been tried.
Bryan Kohberger, a former criminology graduate student at Washington State University in neighboring Pullman, Washington, has been charged with four counts of murder. A judge entered a not-guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf earlier this year.
The concerns from victims’ families previously prompted the university to push back its timeline for the demolition. After initially announcing the plan in February, the school in July said it would pause the process and revisit it in October.
Prosecutors, who hope to try Kohberger next summer, told university officials in an email that they don’t anticipate needing the house any further, as they were already able to gather measurements necessary for creating illustrative exhibits for a jury.