MOSCOW, Idaho — The off-campus house where four Idaho college students were brutally murdered is being demolished Thursday morning. School officials are calling it an important step toward finding closure.
However, some family members disagree.
The off-campus house where four Idaho college students were brutally murdered is set to be demolished Thursday morning.
In a new statement, the families of Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle argue the King Road house is also a critical piece of evidence saying, “When the victims can’t speak, you have to speak for them when you feel someone is hurting the case.”
“I think the world agrees with them and the home also has a significant emotional value to it,” said Shanon Gray, the Goncalves family attorney.
The families say having access to the house could eventually help with key questions such as, “Could the surviving roommates hear a dog barking from the 3rd floor? Screams? Can you hear those same sounds from the bottom apartment?”
Goncalves, Kernodle, Ethan Chapin and Madison Mogen were found stabbed to death in the home in November last year.
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Prosecutors allege Pennsylvania native Bryan Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, broke in and killed them.
He did not offer a plea so the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
The FBI recently canvassed the home in October, gathering data to create visual aids that can be used during the trial.
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“Visual aids, they provide more information that allows for the understanding of photographs and videos. They can provide measurements. They can provide the location of walls, for example, or the directions of cameras,” said homicide prosecutor Jarrett Ferentino.
The University of Idaho owns the home and says it represents a grim reminder of the murders, saying, “It is time for its removal and to allow the collective healing of our community to continue.”
Meanwhile, a trial date for Kohberger has still not been scheduled, which is an added frustration for the victim’s families.
The demolition of that house is set to begin Thursday morning. Neither the prosecution nor the defense objected.
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