‘A constant reminder’: Home where University of Idaho students were killed is demolished

MOSCOW, Idaho – Media, police, construction workers and neighbors watched in silence Thursday as the creaking and crashing noises from a trackhoe tearing down the home where four students were killed last year echoed through the streets of Moscow.

The home at 1122 King Road was destroyed within 90 minutes. Crews began their work at 6:30 a.m. and were finished by 8 a.m.

The excavator clawed at the front of the home, revealing stairs and doorways inside. It began clearing the first set of debris out of the way and loading it into multiple dump trucks, which quickly backed in and out of the property to drive back down the narrow road just behind campus.

As the trackhoe broke into the second half of the home, the walls fell and dust flew around the air. An upstairs bedroom with white walls near the balcony was exposed with what appeared to be an empty closet. All of a sudden, the home creaked, slanted to the right and crashed to the ground. The sound was heard across campus.

A memorial with candles and teddy bears still sits on the rocks in front of the house, untouched by construction workers. It will not be removed, even when the property becomes a vacant lot, university spokesperson Jodi Walker said at the site. Two hours after the home fell, the area was almost unrecognizable as crews finished clearing the debris.

University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were all stabbed to death in the off-campus house in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Bryan Kohberger, a 29-year-old former Washington State University graduate student, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in their deaths. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The demolition of the house, donated to the university after the students’ deaths, was allowed by the prosecution and the defense, according to a release from the University of Idaho. The university planned to demolish the house in August, but the demolition was delayed until winter break so students would be gone.

The FBI returned to the property in October to conduct final scans of the home and create visual models for trial, and both sets of attorneys completed their final walk-throughs of the house last week.

The Goncalves and Kernodle families have been vocal about their opposition to demolishing the home before Kohberger’s trial, which is postponed because he waived his right to a speedy trial. State prosecutors, however, have requested his trial be set for the summer of next year so students are not in the area.

The families have said they believe it’s important for a jury to be able to see the home and certain vantage points from inside and outside. Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray also said in a statement that the home is “one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the case,” and that there is still evidentiary value to keeping it up. They also started an online petition to protect the home, signed by more than 5,000 people.

Others believe it is just a grim reminder of the tragedy that happened in a close-knit town.

“It’s a constant reminder. This area is very dense with students, students living all around it that live with it, walk by it, be a part of it. You can see it from campus,” Walker said.

The decision to tear down the house now is a step forward in healing, according to the university. The school’s President, Scott Green, said in a previous news release, “While we appreciate the emotional connection some family members of the victims may have to this house, it is time for its removal and to allow the collective healing of our community to continue.”

The home is no stranger to those who view it as a tourist attraction, visiting the property with “nefarious purposes,” Walker said. That’s why a security guard is present in the area at all times.

“We have people trying to access the home or get to the area all the time,” she said.

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson gave the go-ahead, with no objection by Kohberger’s defense, to tear the house down on Dec. 22. He wrote in an email to some university staff that a review of Idaho case law showed the current condition of the property is “so substantially different than at the time of the homicides” that a jury walkthrough would never be approved.

“We appreciate the UI’s help in facilitating the investigators gathering the necessary measurements, etc., to enable creation of illustrative exhibits that should be admissible and helpful to the jury,” Thompson wrote.

Former defense attorney and former Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Jed Whitaker told The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday that it’s extremely rare to have a jury view of the scene so long after the crime with advancements in forensic 3D imaging. He’s tried multiple times to issue a jury walkthrough but has always been denied.

It also could prejudice the jury against Kohberger, which the defense might not want, he said.

“If I was a defense lawyer, I’d object,” Whitaker said. “If I was a prosecutor, I wouldn’t go there.”

Moscow police, who were criticized early on in the homicide investigation for not releasing enough information to the public before Kohberger was arrested, surrounded the streets and kept a close eye on media and onlookers around the demolition site on Thursday. They stood in groups with coffee in hand, observing the scene they were dispatched to over a year before.

When the home fell, some officers standing on the hill above the property dropped their heads.

“They’re just as much a part of our community as anybody,” Walker said. “They are impacted by this as well, not only from the law enforcement standpoint, but because they are community members. They live here, their families are here, their kids go to school here. This is powerful for everybody.”

A healing garden and memorial has been planned by the university for the four students, as well as for other students the campus has lost throughout the years.