The university’s president said on Wednesday that delaying demolition of the home where four college students were fatally stabbed until October was the “right thing to do.”
The University of Idaho’s president, Scott Green, issued a statement that read, “We know that every action and decision around this horrific incident is painful and invokes emotions.”
Because of this, “we have considered the families of the victims and our students in every decision we have made so far.”
The proposed demolition of the property was attacked last month by a lawyer for the family of victim Kaylee Goncalves, who claimed that school officials had sought the relatives of the victims for their thoughts on what to do with the house but “then proceeded to ignore those opinions and pursue their own self interests.”
“Honoring the families wishes and supporting the judicial process if the home is needed in the future by the prosecution, defense, or jurors by delaying the demolition of the King Road home until after the trial,” said attorney Shanon Gray in a statement.
The home itself is the largest and one of the most significant pieces of evidence in the case and has enormous evidentiary value.”
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle, clockwise from top left.
Gray wrote in an email on Wednesday, “Thank you to the University of Idaho for following the families’ desires by not demolishing the King Rd. house.
The six-bedroom, three-story home’s owner earlier donated it to the university following the killings. It is located less than a mile from the school’s main campus in Moscow.
In order to prepare for demolition, workers started removing students’ personal belongings from the house earlier this month, according to the school.
The university stated on Wednesday that it was striving to make such items discreetly and with consideration available to the families in the coming weeks.
On November 13, the bodies of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Goncalves, 21, were discovered.
Bryan Kohberger during a hearing in Moscow, Idaho’s Latah County District Court on June 9. AP pool file provided by Zach Wilkinson of The Moscow-Pullman Daily News Bryan Kohberger, 28, was detained in connection with the killings on December 30 and charged with four counts of first-degree murder in May. Kohberger has entered a not guilty plea.
At the time of his arrest, he was working for a PhD in criminal justice from a nearby university.
The trial is set to start on October 2.
Last month, prosecutors declared their intention to seek the death penalty in the case.
