The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
The house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year was demolished early Thursday morning.
It marks an emotional step for the victims’ families and a close-knit community that was shocked and devastated by the brutal slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, who were stabbed to death there in November 2022.
The owner of the rental home near the university campus in Moscow, Idaho, donated it to the university earlier this year. It has since been boarded up and blocked off by a security fence.
Demolition began around 7am local time and contractors estimated that it would take a few hours for the house to be razed completely and several more after that to clear the site of debris.
Some of the victims’ families have opposed the demolition, calling for the house to be preserved until after Bryan Kohberger, the man accused in the killings is tried.
The former criminology graduate student at Washington State University in neighboring Pullman, Washington, has been charged with four counts of murder in the slayings.
Prosecutors, who hope the trial will be held 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.
Kohberger’s defense team was given access to the home earlier this month to gather photos, measurements and other documentation. And in October, the FBI gathered at the house to collect data that could be used to create visual aids for jurors at the upcoming trial.
Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves lived together in the rental home just across the street from campus. Chapin — Kernodle’s boyfriend — was there visiting on the night of the attack. All of them were friends and members of the university’s Greek system. The killings left many of their classmates and residents of Moscow reeling with grief and fear.