Bryan Kohberger and the home where prosecutors claim he stabbed Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Maddie Mogen. (Images: Law&Crime Network)
Contrary to the wishes of victims’ families, the University of Idaho demolished on Thursday the home where four students were stabbed to death in their sleep.
University President Scott Green has called the plan a “healing step,” but this put the school at odds with the relatives of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, who argued they should keep the home available throughout the case against suspected killer Bryan Kohberger, 29.
They argued the residence should stand for “basic evidentiary purposes,” such as the vantage points of the surviving roommates, how Kohberger could have broken into the home and escaped, how much a person could hear from inside the home, whether Kernodle might have passed Kohberger while picking up her DoorDash order the morning of the murder, where biological evidence was discovered, and whether the home was targeted.
“There are just a few things that the family has thought of and no one seems to be able to answer about the King Road house,” they wrote in a statement, later adding: “If the home is demolished, will all of these questions be able to answered later on with diagrams/models/technology, etc…if they become an issue at trial? If not then leave the home alone!”
They said they felt that the school and the court have “put us in a horrible position to have to voice our opinions.”
Goncalves and Kernodle families issue last minute statement hoping to stop demolition of King Rd house scheduled for TODAY. 1/3 @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/dp3vOc1PTi
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) December 28, 2023
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Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the University of Idaho that the state will not use the home for a jury view.
“Based on our review of Idaho case law, the current condition of the premises is so substantially different than at the time of the homicides that a ‘jury view’ would not be authorized,” he said. “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.”
This is the email that Latah Co. Prosecutor Bill Thompson sent to @uidaho last week confirming they would not need the house for a jury view. He didn’t believe it would be authorized. The “should be” admissible part is interesting re: exhibits I would hope so @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/yL7LwQrR9D
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) December 28, 2023
Prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, claim that Kohberger, a first-year Ph.D. student in criminology at nearby Washington State University, sneaked into an off-campus home for University of Idaho students on the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022. He allegedly stabbed Goncalves, Kernodle, Maddie Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20, to death. Kernodle picked up a DoorDash order just minutes before she died.
A surviving roommate told police she saw a man in black walking through the home and heard crying. The roommate told police she heard a man saying “It’s OK. I’m going to help you,” according to the affidavit.
Investigators claim they managed to identify Kohberger in part through DNA discovered on a KaBar knife sheath next to Mogen’s body. A detective also said cameras recorded a white Hyundai Elantra near the home starting at 3:26 a.m. Kohberger drove a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra.
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