On Wednesday, the University of Idaho announced it is delaying the demolition of the home where four students were killed until October — around the time their suspected killer is set to stand trial for their slayings.
The college said preparation for the demolition is ongoing — including “lead and asbestos abatement.” A college spokesperson, Jodi Walker, told ABC that “expertise” is required to safely tear down the three-story Moscow home.
Previously, university officials said it planned to raze the home in August before students returned from summer break. Shanon Gray, an attorney representing Kaylee Goncalves’ family, said they oppose this because they want the off-campus home to remain standing for Bryan Kohberger’s trial, which is scheduled to begin in October.
Gray noted that Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle’s families oppose the upcoming demolition as well.
Reports indicated that the homeowner donated the home to the University of Idaho in February, months after the quadruple slaying.
Kohberger, a Ph.D. criminal justice student at Washington State University, was arrested in December in Pennsylvania for fatally stabbing Mogen, Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Kernodle at the women’s off-campus home on November 13, 2022.
Kohberger is believed to have turned off his phone during the murders. However, police claim he visited the area 12 times before the slayings.
Kohberger was arrested after a cross-country trip with his father from Idaho to Pennsylvania. During their trip, Indiana police pulled over the pair twice.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Prosecutors filed court documents detailing their intent to pursue the death penalty as they deemed the four slayings were “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.”
Kohberger remains jailed without bail as he awaits trial.
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[Featured image: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File]
