Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Idaho college murders
Fox News correspondent Matt Finn reports the defense team is asking the state to share the evidence given to the grand jury that indicted Bryan Kohberger.
MOSCOW, Idaho – EXCLUSIVE: Work crews were photographed entering and exiting the King Road home Tuesday where four University of Idaho students were killed in a 4 a.m. home invasion on Nov. 13, 2022.
The six-bedroom rental home was once a staple in the university's Greek Life scene, situated near a row of fraternity and sorority houses, which are all on school property.
It was slated for demolition after the victims' landlord donated the property to the school, which plans to erect a memorial garden somewhere on campus that has not yet been made public.
"We are beginning to prep the house by removing all the personal items for families to claim, if they wish," the University of Idaho's senior director of communications, Jodi Walker, told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "This will take a couple weeks."
Work crews are parked outside 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. The property was slated for demolition after the landlord donated it to the University of Idaho. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Trucks pictured outside the home Tuesday were labeled "Disaster Response" on the side and appeared to be from the same company that had previously planned to clear out the interior before a court ordered prosecutors to keep the crime scene intact pending a visit from defense investigators on Dec. 30.
Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle all died from multiple stab wounds, according to the Latah County coroner, Cathy Mabbutt. Some of them may have been sleeping at the start of the brutal attack.
The house has been under 24-hour surveillance for more than six months, and authorities eventually boarded up the windows and installed temporary fencing around the property.
A makeshift memorial outside 1122 King Road. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Two housemates were spared in the attack, including one who told police she saw a masked man escape out the back door.
Crews boarded up the building in February.
"The owner of the King Street house offered to give the house to the university, which we accepted," University of Idaho President Scott Green said in a statement at the time. "The house will be demolished. This is a healing step and removes the physical structure where the crime that shook our community was committed."
A tarp over the back of a truck are parked outside 1122 King Road leads into the house. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER HAD PHOTOS OF VICTIM ON PHONE WEEKS AFTER MASSACRE: REPORT
Green said the demolition would also serve to minimize efforts to "sensationalize" the crime scene. In the same statement, he announced plans for the creation of a memorial and "healing garden" to honor the four victims and other students who have died over the years.
The location has not yet been decided.
Police tape surrounds the property at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
"We are evaluating options where students may be involved in the future development of the property," he added.
The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, was a 28-year-old Ph.D. student studying criminology at Washington State University, about 10 miles away.
Now he faces four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary charge.
Work crews parked outside 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
BRYAN KOHBERGER CASE: STATE TO SEEK DEATH PENALTY AGAINST IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT
In court filings, prosecutors have alleged they recovered Kohberger's DNA from a Ka-Bar knife sheath found next to Mogen's body.
The defense countered that "there is no connection between Mr. Kohberger and the victims."
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates in Goncalves' final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
However, according to a police affidavit, Kohberger stalked the area at least a dozen times before the stabbings and returned once more hours later.
It was unclear, police previously said, whether the target of the Nov. 13 slashings was the house itself — which appeared multiple times on the police blotter for noise complaints and underage partying prior to the murders — or one or more of the victims.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is accused of killing Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, both 20, and Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21. (Latah County Sheriff's Office)
Then, in mid-December, he took a cross-country road trip home to his parents' house in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains with his dad riding shotgun, getting stopped twice on an Indiana highway, resulting in an awkward conversation with police caught on bodycam.
WATCH: Video shows traffic stop in Indiana involving Idaho murder suspect
Prosecutors on Monday told the court and the defense they intended to seek the death penalty in the case.
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Kohberger was due back in court later Tuesday for a hearing on a slew of motions in the case.
Trial was scheduled for Oct. 2 and could take up to six weeks.
In the meantime, Kohberger is being held without bail at the Latah County Jail in Moscow, Idaho.
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