← The King Road Killings: An Idaho Murder Mystery
The King Road Killings: An Idaho Murder Mystery
Ep. 5: Unresolved
00:41:31
Moscow is trying to move on from these horrific killings -- trying to find its way back to being a place that's more than the one terrible thing that happened here back in November 2022. But the trial of the suspected killer is fast-approaching, and...
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- [00:01]
Kayna Whitworth
Turning down King Road now, looking at 11:22. It looks completely different. All of the windows now are boarded up. The door is also boarded up. It's a little scary looking now. On one of my last trips to Moscow this past May, I returned to the house on the hill. There's an actual fence that has been erected around the house. There's still some caution tape, but growing up, through the caution tape, you can see these yellow daffodils. When we were here before, you could imagine people living here. You could imagine people going in and out. You could see the front door. You could see the wreath on the door. You could see the neon in the house that said good vibes. You could see Maddie's pink cowboy boots in the window. But now all these things, these signs of life are gone, hidden by plywood, returned to the families or carted away as evidence. In the weeks after the murders, there was a constant stream of media trucks coming here with bright lights, big tents. There were reporters doing live shots, sometimes blocking the road to the point that residents couldn't get into their driveways. And it didn't take long for the people in the neighborhood to make it clear they'd had enough. You'd see signs on doors that read no comment and don't park in our driveway. Their lives had been turned upside down. I'm actually watching a student walk into class right now wearing a pink backpack. I mean, imagine what it's like for her having to walk past this house every day, walking by this boarded up, fenced up crime scene. But soon it won't be a crime scene anymore. The house on King Road is set to be torn down in a matter of weeks. And a lot is churning in Moscow. I'm Kayna Whitworth, a correspondent with ABC News. Moscow is trying to move on from the murders, trying to find its way back to being a place that's more than this one terrible thing that happened here. But there's also a date on the calendar that's going to challenge all that work, all that healing. October 2nd. That's when Bryan Kohberger's trial is scheduled to start. In this episode, the last of our first season, we'll look at key evidence prosecutors will use to make their case against the defense. And for the first time, thanks to new documents Coburger's lawyers have filed in court, we'll look at his defense strategy and how they hope to keep him off death row. We'll also spend time with the victims, families and members of the Moscow community to ask, how do you move on. And can you, when a trial is around the corner, one which will surely throw this small town back into the national spotlight. This is the King Road killings, Episode five, Unresolved. When Bryan Coburger goes on trial for four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary, the jury will hear two conflicting stories in court documents. We can begin to see the case the state will bring against him. You've heard about the evidence laid out in the probable cause affidavit released in December when Kohberger was arrested. Remember the knife sheath found at the crime scene? The prosecution will allege it contained traced DNA from Kohberger. Remember the white Hyundai Elantra? They'll point to surveillance footage law enforcement obtained of a car the same make, model and color as the one Coburger owns. They'll say it was seen near the King Road house around the time of the killings. And they'll bring forward records allegedly showing that his phone traveled to Moscow that night. And remember the surviving roommate who told police she saw a masked man inside the house in the middle of the night? Her description of a male, 510 or taller, with an athletic build and bushy eyebrows. They'll point out that roughly fits Kohberger. All this evidence, it adds up to a strong case against the defendant. That's according to ABC legal analyst and former California homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy. He has tried about 250 cases, including eight death penalty cases and the Golden State Killer case.
- [05:01]
Matt Murphy
I've gotten to do a lot of high profile murder cases over the course of my career and I, I can't think of too many where I had more evidence than this.
- [05:10]
Kayna Whitworth
Murphy points out that in addition to the DNA, the Elantra, the physical description from the roommate, the prosecution will have more evidence to present in court.
- [05:20]
Matt Murphy
Remember, they searched Bryan Kohberger's home. And in that there is going to be evidence that we don't know about yet.
- [05:26]
Kayna Whitworth
According to a search warrant, the evidence from Kohberger's apartment in Pullman, Washington, included a computer tower, a disposable glove, multiple hair strands, the dust container from his vacuum, and stains from a pillow and a mattress cover. In fact, the prosecution has collected so much material in this case. Photographs, recordings, phone records, they've turned over 51 terabytes of data to the defense as part of discovery. And remember, as of last week, this is now a death penalty case. There are some states where the death penalty is technically legal, but it's not actually used. In California, for example, there's a moratorium on executions. So Murphy says the death penalty is symbolic there.
- [06:20]
Matt Murphy
I don't envision we'll ever see another execution in the state of California, but.
- [06:24]
Kayna Whitworth
Facing the death penalty in Idaho is far more serious.
- [06:28]
Matt Murphy
Idaho's different. The Supreme Court as well as the governor. It's a very different political landscape.
- [06:34]
Kayna Whitworth
Idaho's last execution took place in 2012 by lethal injection. It's one of five states that has recently brought back firing squads if lethal injection drugs aren't available for execution. So what about Kohberger's defense? What will they present to the jury? Well, we haven't been able to speak with anyone on his current legal team because of the Idaho court's gag order, which prevents attorneys involved in the case from speaking with reporters. But we now know from court filings that not only does the defense maintain Coburger is innocent, but they say he has no connection to the victims in what authorities have long called a targeted attack. And just like the prosecution will try and use DNA to prove guilt, these documents show the defense will use that same DNA to try and prove innocence. In fact, the documents reveal something new and striking about the DNA in this case. Three unidentified male DNA samples were also collected from the King Road house. Samples the defense says haven't been linked to Kohberger. Two samples were found inside the house, court documents say, near where the victims were located. And a third male sample was found on a glove outside the home. Kohberger's lawyers say they aren't aware if any testing was ever done on these samples. And they raised the question, if there was other unidentified DNA at the crime scene, why was there such a laser focus on Kohberger's DNA? Did the prosecution do their due diligence on any other suspects based on DNA evidence? Could someone else have been the killer? Maybe another one of these unidentified males who left their DNA at the crime scene? Kohberger's lawyers are requesting all of the DNA profiles developed during the investigation, as well as all of the state's genealogical records that led them to Kohberger. They allege that by withholding these records, the state is, in effect, hiding their entire case.
- [08:53]
Greg Hampikian
It doesn't look like it, but that says Qiagen on it. That's an extraction robot.
- [08:59]
Kayna Whitworth
Because DNA will be so central to this case, my producer Timmy and I recently paid a visit to the Idaho State Crime lab in Boise. As we said before, over 100 items from the King Road home were sent there.
- [09:12]
Greg Hampikian
This is. Keep in mind, this is a DNA database unit.
- [09:15]
Kayna Whitworth
Matthew Gammit directs the crime lab he explained how they extract DNA using a machine that looks like a small espresso maker you might have on your kitchen counter with an ATM keypad on it. You'd never expect the fate of so many high stakes cases to hang on this small, unassuming device. Gamete showed us around the lab somewhat reluctantly.
- [09:39]
Greg Hampikian
You guys are going to rue the day when you decided to come to a forensics lab. Like, we have so many accreditation rules and oversight entities and things that we're just, we're very skittish. Super sensitive, super sensitive.
- [09:54]
Kayna Whitworth
The lab can't talk about the evidence in this case specifically, but they can talk about the kind of DNA analysis they do.
- [10:03]
Greg Hampikian
So you're going to take a cheek swab, you're going to blot it onto FTA paper. They'll put them in these instruments. It takes a punch, literally like a paper punch, and they'll put it down into a tube of liquid. We'll put it on that instrument and it extracts the DNA from the card.
- [10:20]
Kayna Whitworth
And when it comes to presenting this kind of evidence to a jury, it has to be airtight.
- [10:26]
Greg Hampikian
In a forensics lab, we don't bring anything online until we have developmentally validated it, meaning we've put it through its complete paces, that we know it works in our hands, that it's scientifically sound, that it's robust. We have to defend all of these things in court.
- [10:42]
Kayna Whitworth
The example we just ran through, extracting DNA from FTA paper using this extraction robot, it applies to reference samples, like when you collect DNA directly from a person, say a suspect in custody, to either confirm they were at the scene or eliminate them. You swab their cheek, collect a good amount of cells and test those cells. It's a similar process. If you find hair or blood at a crime scene, you can test it and potentially determine who that sample came from. We've seen this on legal and police dramas for decades. But when you find trace amounts of DNA on a surface like a knife sheath, it's a little different. And that type of DNA evidence might not stand up so well in court. To begin with, trace DNA or touch DNA is easy to transfer.
- [11:42]
Unnamed Forensics Expert
Somebody takes my toothbrush and wipes it on the Statue of Liberty, it looks like I was there.
- [11:48]
Kayna Whitworth
Greg Hampikian is an expert in forensics with Boise State University. He's also co director of the Idaho Innocence Project. He's testified in court about the fallibility of DNA evidence and has gotten convicted people exonerated based on his testimony.
- [12:06]
Unnamed Forensics Expert
DNA is great at telling us who it is. Terrible at telling us how it can't tell us how DNA got somewhere.
- [12:18]
Kayna Whitworth
And touch DNA is not as much of a smoking gun as other types of DNA. It often comes from skin cells, which generally contains lower levels of DNA than, say, blood or semen. That makes it harder to determine who the sample came from. Kohberger's defense will raise lots of questions about the touch DNA and how it got there.
- [12:43]
Unnamed Forensics Expert
The defense will be interested in examining how likely is it that this DNA is transferred from something else, something innocuous. So, you know, if I owned a piece of leather, a belt or a knife sheath or something, and I sold it at a tag sale, it would still have my DNA on it.
- [13:05]
Kayna Whitworth
And there's another potential weak point for the prosecution's DNA argument on the King road case, the chain of custody. Remember how the FBI said it first matched the DNA on the knife sheath to Bryan Kohberger's father and then ultimately to Brian? Well, there were several steps to making that match. The knife sheath first went to the Idaho state crime lab in Boise, the one I visited a few weeks ago. They were able to extract DNA from the sheath and then sent a sample of the DNA to a lab they contract with in Texas for more sophisticated testing. One of my law enforcement sources told me a authorities hand delivered the DNA sample and that it was guarded the whole time. But even still, every move that DNA made will be scrutinized in court, and so will the possibility of human error in the testing protocol once the sample made it to the lab.
- [14:01]
Unnamed Forensics Expert
Remember that the DNA that we present in court came ultimately from a swab or a test tube. People mix up tubes, people process evidence at the same time with a swab, sometimes from a suspect. Well, now you have these things close together. So if I spill some of your DNA or I copy your DNA and spill some of the copies on an instrument that I later used to process evidence. It'll look like you're in that evidence.
- [14:29]
Kayna Whitworth
And it's slip ups like that, he says the defense will be looking for. The defense points out that hundreds of members of law enforcement and forensic technicians have handled the evidence. They asked the court how anyone can be sure Kohberger's DNA arrived on the sheath from the defendant himself when so many others had the opportunity to contaminate it.
- [14:53]
Unnamed Forensics Expert
From the defense point of view, we're not looking at the knife sheath. We're looking at a series of actions that resulted in a DNA profile. And anywhere along that chain there could have been transfer or contamination. So they'll look at that Carefully, especially.
- [15:11]
Kayna Whitworth
When they're processing hundreds of pieces of evidence at that lab with this case.
- [15:17]
Unnamed Forensics Expert
And so was it planted? Was it transferred? Was it a direct contact from a killer? You can't tell. And any DNA expert who tries to testify that they know how do you DNA got somewhere is not telling the truth.
- [15:30]
Kayna Whitworth
We anticipate the defense team will question the other evidence, too, like all the video footage of the white Hyundai Elantra seen driving by the King Road house the night of the killings. The prosecution's affidavit doesn't say that Bryan Kohberger could be seen driving the vehicle. In all that nighttime footage, is any of it good enough to to reveal the driver? We don't know. In the recent filing, Kohberger's lawyers question whether the killer's car was an Elantra at all. They say precisely how the police came to believe the car was an Elantra is still unknown. The cell phone data isn't a slam dunk for the prosecution either. As we know. Authorities say records show coworker driving from Pullman to Moscow the night of the murders and turning his phone off and on. This kind of cell phone data is considered too broad to convict someone. It'll be picked apart as not precise and specific enough to place the defendant at the scene. And another thing that could raise doubt for the jury, the timeline that the cell phone pings and surveillance video create is surprisingly tight. According to the affidavit, police believe the killings happened between 4am and 4:25am but there are two other timestamps that make that window even narrower. Zanna's doordash food Delivery arrived around 4am and her phone data showed she was on TikTok around 4:12am the white Hyundai Elantra is then seen by driving away from the King Road house at a high speed. Again, according to the affidavit, at 4:20am that leaves just eight minutes to commit a quadruple homicide and escape. Two minutes per victim. And we know some of the victims had defensive wounds. They fought back. If Kohberger was in fact the killer, would he have had enough time to commit these murders? Former homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy says in addition to raising procedural questions about how evidence was obtained or how the trial is being conducted, the defense will likely also be focused on how they present their case and how Coburger comes off to the jury. Because now that the death penalty is on the table, the defense's ultimate goal will be to keep their client alive. That means at trial, Murphy says, they'll do Their best to preserve their credibility with the jury, because if they go.
- [18:21]
Matt Murphy
All in on Bryan Kohberger wasn't there, they run the risk, and it's a very real risk of alienating themselves to the jury that's already rejected them.
- [18:30]
Kayna Whitworth
If Kohberger is convicted, the same jury will decide what his sentence will be. Does he deserve to die? Murphy says the defense will want to make sure they haven't created any ill will toward Kohberger in the way they argued their case. And then once it's time for the sentencing hearing, Kohberger's lawyers will present anything from his background that could possibly be seen as sympathetic.
- [18:54]
Matt Murphy
I think that where we're going to see the most effort from the defense on this is, is I believe they'll call Bryan Kohberger's family to talk about how he's voted, son, that he's voted, you know, that every nice thing he pretty much ever did, and it may have some sort of sympathetic effect.
- [19:11]
Kayna Whitworth
Murphy says this is where they'll bring up Kohberger's alleged struggles with mental health, drug addiction, or any abuse he suffered. These things could come into play as mitigating circumstances.
- [19:23]
Matt Murphy
And remember, they only need one juror. So if one juror feels sorry for him or somehow, you know, feels that drug addictions are a horrible thing, that may impact one of them. And I think that's where we will see the defense going.
- [19:37]
Kayna Whitworth
I've had the opportunity to talk with some of the families of the victims to hear what they'd like to see happen if Kohberger is found guilty. Some of them don't like to talk about the crime or the defendant. But Ben Mogan, Maddie's dad, says a life sentence might be punishment enough.
- [19:55]
Greg Hampikian
Life in prison is no easy task. And he's still pretty young, so that would be a lot of years. And that's a lot of days to have to think about how terrible of a thing you did and how many lives you just ruined and how many people were affected by this.
- [20:18]
Kayna Whitworth
Kaylee's parents, Steve and Christy Gonzalez, see it differently. What is justice for you?
- [20:25]
Greg Hampikian
Too swift, fast, you know, but the truth. I want the right person to be held. I don't. I don't want any scapegoat. I want it to be the right person. I want it to be clear. I want the whole community and everyone to agree that that's. That's a guilty person.
- [20:43]
Kayna Whitworth
Those kids did nothing, nothing to deserve what happened to them at all. And his life needs to be taken. He took lives and, And. And. And he needs. He needs to die. That's justice for you. Yes, the death penalty.
- [21:03]
Greg Hampikian
He chose Idaho. So Idaho has the responsibility to stand by, say, you know, if you wanted to come here to do this, well, then we're going to do this all the way to the very end.
- [21:21]
Kayna Whitworth
As the trial draws closer, victims, families and the larger community grapple with another open question. What should become of the once beloved house that became a grisly crime scene?
- [21:40]
Greg Hampikian
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milke, host of ABC's Daily News podcast Start here. You chose to hit play on this podcast today.
- [21:49]
Kayna Whitworth
Smart choice.
- [21:50]
Greg Hampikian
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Kayna Whitworth
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- [22:17]
Greg Hampikian
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- [22:31]
Kayna Whitworth
Card has no cash access and expires in six months. Everywhere in Moscow, there are reminders of what happened here. Pulling back up to our hotel. It was really our home away from home while we were here. And they still on the windows have four candles, one for each of the victims. And above it it's written vandalstrong. So that that has not changed since November. Right in front of the King Road house, in plain view of the keep out and no trespassing signs, there's a makeshift memorial to the victims. There are old dried flowers, stuffed animals and a picture of Zanna, Kaylee, Maddie and Ethan. Ethan was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. That frat house is within sight of the King Road Home. I spoke with Gus Elwell, the current president, and Reid Ofstun, the former president. Is it hard to see that house every day?
- [23:36]
Greg Hampikian
Yes, it's definitely weird being able to see the house from our, like right outside my room. I mean, especially at the start, it was just like, wow, that it's right there. I don't even really want to look to my right. I don't want to look that way, you know?
- [23:48]
Kayna Whitworth
Yeah, sort of averting your gaze constantly from your own bedroom, from your own house.
- [23:54]
Greg Hampikian
Oh, yeah, that house, practically. I'd never see it anymore just because I don't look that direction, really. You know, I'll go see friends over across the street, but that for some reason, it's like that just blocked out of my mind. I don't look there anymore.
- [24:05]
Kayna Whitworth
The young men told me a lot of parents of new pledges have asked about safety on campus, and the fraternity is working to fund security upgrades at the house. After the murders, the perception of safety shifted in this town. Some Moscow residents went into high alert.
- [24:21]
Greg Hampikian
For, like, a month. I was dragging my couch in front of my front door before I went to bed and, like, sleeping with, like, all of my guns hidden in my room.
- [24:34]
Kayna Whitworth
Ben DeWitt is going into his senior year at the U of I. And will be the news editor of the student paper next year. He says he was really scared after the murders, but. But that once police arrested Kohberger, his fear more or less dissipated.
- [24:49]
Greg Hampikian
I, like, went out and celebrated just because, like, with a suspect in custody, just a small sense of normalcy could, like, return to Moscow.
- [25:05]
Kayna Whitworth
The sense of physical danger has eased, but there's still an unsettled feeling. People here tell me they're locking their doors now, and I know that might sound ridiculous, but locking doors was not a thing people did here before. Local journalists have stayed on the story, like Julie Scott, who you've been hearing from in this podcast. Julie's a retired journalism professor at the University of Idaho who lives in Moscow. Every time something happens in this community, whether it's a hearing, the grand jury indictment, any kind of document that is released, or anything having to do with Bryan Kohberger opens up those wounds again.
- [25:53]
Unnamed Community Member
It's like a.
- [25:55]
Kayna Whitworth
It's a scab that gets picked and it bleeds. And that is what this community continues to feel. Hard as it is, people in Moscow are trying to move forward at least as much as they can with a big trial looming. Here's Ben DeWitt again.
- [26:15]
Greg Hampikian
I think something this community wants really bad is for all of this to be over and go away and so that the people here don't have to, you know, it's not shoved in their face. And, you know, the trial is scheduled for October 2nd.
- [26:38]
Kayna Whitworth
That's just a week before the University of Idaho's big homecoming weekend.
- [26:43]
Greg Hampikian
It's scheduled to take six weeks. And just attention to the case. It's going to be all over TV, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook. It's going to be all over everything. And you know, almost a year later, people are going to have to be reminded of the tragedy.
- [27:08]
Kayna Whitworth
Ava, a good friend of the victims who you've also heard from before, says she doesn't want their deaths to color everything people know about the town.
- [27:17]
Unnamed Community Member
Moscow is the safest place I have ever felt. It's just home. Home, yeah.
- [27:23]
Kayna Whitworth
Do you still feel like that?
- [27:26]
Unnamed Community Member
I would like to think so. And I do believe this is still my home. And just because this had happened, I.
- [27:35]
Kayna Whitworth
Still have to live here.
- [27:37]
Unnamed Community Member
People still have to go to work, people still have to go to school. And I think it's important for everyone to just know that Moscow was an extremely safe, safe place to be. And just because of this one incident, I don't want Moscow to be portrayed.
- [27:54]
Kayna Whitworth
In a really bad light. While the town tries to go back to normal. What does moving forward look like for the victims families? As I've covered this story, I've been reaching out to the families of the four victims and following their leads on what, if anything, they're willing to talk about. I want to hear their stories about who their children were, hear about their full lives, not just their last day. I want them at the center of the stories I tell. Each family's boundaries are totally different. And what I notice is that they're all moving forward in the way they think their kids would have wanted. In April, another family was ready to.
- [28:44]
Greg Hampikian
Talk now to the University of Idaho murder case.
- [28:46]
Kayna Whitworth
The family, the Ethan Chapin, one of.
- [28:48]
Greg Hampikian
The four students killed in an off campus house last November, is speaking for the first time. Kayna Whitworth has the story. Good morning, Kayna.
- [28:55]
Kayna Whitworth
Yeah, George, good morning. Jim and Stacey Chapin say they've been receiving supportive messages from people around the world. I went and met them at the tulip farm where Ethan spent his summer summers working to see how they're honoring their son's memory. I flew to Seattle and drove up to the Skagit Valley. It is field after field of brilliantly colored tulips surrounded by mountains. Jim and Stacy Chapin met me at Tulip Valley farms where Ethan worked.
- [29:24]
Unnamed Community Member
So he has his own little find.
- [29:26]
Kayna Whitworth
Yeah, let's go take a look.
- [29:27]
Unnamed Community Member
Which is super cute.
- [29:28]
Kayna Whitworth
We walked out to the tulip fields to see a yellow and white bulb mixed. It's called Ethan's smile. It's named for the thing nearly everyone I talked to mentioned about Ethan, his bright smile. Ethan's tulips had just started blooming.
- [29:45]
Unnamed Community Member
So you can see, look at, see the yellow tulips?
- [29:47]
Greg Hampikian
Yeah, there they are.
- [29:48]
Unnamed Community Member
Those are Ethan's Tulips. Yeah, that's cute. But they weren't yellow yesterday.
- [29:52]
Kayna Whitworth
They were.
- [29:53]
Unnamed Community Member
No, they have popped up today.
- [29:55]
Kayna Whitworth
So moments before our interview, something happened that Jim and Stacy say now happens all the time.
- [30:02]
Unnamed Community Member
Did you guys see that couple that stopped and talked to us over there? It's crazy. I mean, they're just. They're. They just had driven in from. Just because they watched it on the news. They knew somebody who knew somebody who knew us, and they were like, we just had to come. And everybody hugs. They're like, we just literally need to, like, hug you.
- [30:21]
Kayna Whitworth
On this podcast, we've talked a lot about the negative aspects of all the publicity that's followed this case. But the Chapins have also found some of this attention healing.
- [30:32]
Unnamed Community Member
We've heard from strangers from the beginning. It's been very interesting to have your social media kind of blow up. I mean, for me, Jim still has a flip phone, so.
- [30:45]
Kayna Whitworth
Good for you, Jim. Stay strong. Stay strong.
- [30:48]
Greg Hampikian
Totally. Right?
- [30:49]
Unnamed Community Member
I'm kidding. We've had people from around the world honestly send us a message of just, there's something about this story or the picture of your son or something. There's just something here that's different than everything else, and we're touched by it.
- [31:07]
Kayna Whitworth
And it's not just strangers who come up to them. Jim and Stacy have heard an outpouring of stories from people who knew their son.
- [31:15]
Unnamed Community Member
I can't even begin to tell you how many people. And we can see it in their faces. They walk up to us and say, you don't know me, but I have a story to tell you about your son.
- [31:26]
Kayna Whitworth
Often it's about how kind Ethan was. For one girl in high school, she told the Chapins that Ethan was the only person who was nice to her.
- [31:35]
Unnamed Community Member
We knew he was a great kid.
- [31:37]
Greg Hampikian
But, yeah, I don't know. He's just a.
- [31:42]
Unnamed Community Member
He's one of million.
- [31:43]
Greg Hampikian
Yeah, he was. He just.
- [31:49]
Kayna Whitworth
What are you thinking about right now?
- [31:52]
Greg Hampikian
I just miss him. I miss him. I miss him every day.
- [32:04]
Kayna Whitworth
One of the things several of the families have told me is that they have to focus on their other children. And since Ethan was a triplet, for Jim and Stacy, it means helping his surviving siblings, Hunter and Maisie, through the grief of losing their brother. Remember, all three attended the University of Idaho together.
- [32:25]
Unnamed Community Member
You realize when you're a triplet, you have spent your whole life together, the three of them, you know, And Hunter.
- [32:33]
Greg Hampikian
He was kind of Ethan's wingman.
- [32:36]
Unnamed Community Member
I remember he called once he went back to college, and he just said, I just went through the drive thru by myself for the first time.
- [32:42]
Kayna Whitworth
For the first time.
- [32:43]
Unnamed Community Member
Right. I mean, they'd been through Taco Bell a hundred times a day, every day of their life, but it was always a package deal. I mean, you just didn't realize it until they called home and was like, I just went through at the drive thru by myself.
- [32:57]
Kayna Whitworth
Jim and Stacey say after losing Ethan, the family spent two months together, just the four of them. Then Hunter and Mazy returned to the U of I for second semester.
- [33:08]
Greg Hampikian
They're so fortunate to have all those kids as friends. You know, it got them back to.
- [33:12]
Unnamed Community Member
School and their friends got our kids back.
- [33:16]
Kayna Whitworth
Right. They know there will be many tough days ahead. All the moments in the future when Ethan won't be there and they'll feel the pain of missing him.
- [33:26]
Unnamed Community Member
We've given ourselves a year. The year of firsts. The one we have coming up first 21st birthday.
- [33:34]
Greg Hampikian
That's going to be.
- [33:34]
Unnamed Community Member
We talked about the kids 21st birthday forever.
- [33:40]
Greg Hampikian
We have.
- [33:41]
Unnamed Community Member
That's going to be tricky.
- [33:42]
Greg Hampikian
Yeah. That is going to be a tricky time. Yep.
- [33:45]
Kayna Whitworth
How do you square it up? Plan. You do?
- [33:47]
Unnamed Community Member
Yeah. Yeah, we already have a plan.
- [33:50]
Greg Hampikian
Yeah, it'll work out.
- [33:51]
Unnamed Community Member
Yep. And yeah, we even have a plan for November 3rd, 13th. So, yeah, you have to.
- [34:00]
Kayna Whitworth
On November 13th, the anniversary of Ethan's death, they're holding an event in their hometown of Conway, Washington to raise scholarship money for Ethan's foundation. They'll try to replace something horrible with something hopeful. What is it like for you to see his tulips blooming?
- [34:19]
Unnamed Community Member
It's just turned into something so special, Right. Like something tangible that represents him now. And people can grow in their yards and gardens and.
- [34:28]
Greg Hampikian
Yeah, it's just. It's good. It's just.
- [34:33]
Unnamed Community Member
It's finally something that felt good.
- [34:38]
Kayna Whitworth
Sales of the tulip bulbs fund scholarships in Ethan's name. Zanna's family also established a scholarship fund. And on what would have been her 22nd birthday this year, Maddie's family asked people to mark Maddie May Day by doing random acts of kindness. Two weeks later, when it would have been Kaylee's 22nd birthday, her family invited people to honor her by doing something they loved with her. In May, the university awarded certificates and posthumous degrees to the victims and their families. Certificates to the two underclassmen and degrees to the two who were set to graduate this year.
- [35:32]
Greg Hampikian
During a private ceremony on Monday, we awarded a certificate in marketing to the family of Zanna Alexia Kernoda. A certificate in recreation, sport and tourism management will be delivered to the family of Ethan James Chapin. In the coming weeks, in our morning commencement ceremony, we awarded a posthumous Bachelor of Science degree in Business to the family of Madison Mae Mogen. Now we will present a Bachelor's degree in General Studies to the family of Kaylee Jade Gonsalves.
- [36:16]
Kayna Whitworth
The university is also planning a healing garden. It will be a memorial for all vandals who have died, with some special recognition for these four. The garden will be in a place the four students would have walked by every day. The King Road house will likely be gone soon. Demolished before it was a crime scene, 1122 King Road was a beloved and in demand off campus house. Last winter, the owners gave the house to the university, which originally planned to tear it down this past spring. It called the demolition a healing step and said it would prevent efforts to further sensationalize the crime scene. But there was some pushback, some questioning about whether tearing it down was the right move, and the university held off for weeks. On the one hand, no one wants the house to become a grotesque landmark, a daily reminder of this horrific crime, or some kind of morbid curiosity for true crime tourists. But does tearing down the building really cleanse the site? Can you wash away trauma that easily? Kaylee's mom, Kristi Gonsalves, doesn't want the house demolished, at least not yet. Christy worries possible evidence could be destroyed. The jury might want to walk through it, and tearing it down doesn't feel right to her. For Kaylee, my daughter lived in that home. She lived a happy life in that home. She loved living there with her friends. And for the real story to be like what happened in the house was so horrific that it has to be torn down, that doesn't happen that often. I mean, there's a lot of horrific things that happen out there and they don't go tear down the house. Other communities have had to wrestle with things like this before. When authorities in Newtown, Connecticut, provide proposed demolishing the school where 20 children and six adults were killed in 2012, many parents of children who survived argued against the move, saying their kids wanted to return to their school to reclaim it. The town moved ahead with the demolition anyway, carefully guarding the debris so it wouldn't become creepy collector's items. The home of the shooter was also torn down. But as Christy says, other sites of horrific things have remained standing, like the homes of the Columbine shooters who killed 13 people in 1999. With the passage of time, these houses can become normal pieces of the community again. Last week, the University of Idaho informed the victims families that it would move forward with a demolition of the house where Kaylee, Maddie and Zanna lived. The school acknowledged it was against the wishes of all three families who had sought to preserve the house until after the case is resolved. The university said the court had released the house from the criminal proceedings, and the prosecution and defense had no objection to the house being torn down. According to the university's timeline, the house will likely be leveled by the time students return to campus in the fall. It's an attempt at a fresh start, a reset, a removal of the constant reminder of what happened here. For now, it sits boarded up, a security guard out front, personal items cleared out. Perhaps after it's torn down, it will be easier to remember the real people and the real lives that once held this space. The house on a hill waits for what's next this is the end of our first season of the King Road Killings, but I'm going to stay on this story. I was the first network reporter on the ground at the beginning of this, and I'll keep reporting out until the end. I'll be there to cover Bryan Coburger's trial in October and other important developments in the case as they unfold. There are still a lot of questions about this case I want answered. Questions like what was the motive? Who was the target? Did the killer have a connection to this group of students? And what was going on during those eight hours between the time of the murders and the 911 call? So please keep following this feed. Look for bonus episodes this summer as new information comes to light. And then when the trial starts, I'll be back for Season two of the King Road Killings. Bryan Kohberger on Trial the King Road Killings is a production of ABC Audio. If you value this reporting, please share it with others and write us a review on Apple Podcasts. This podcast was written by Timmy Truong, Meg Fierro, Vika Aronson and me, Kayna Whitworth. Our supervising producer is Sasha Eslanian. Our story editor is Tracy Samuelson. Fact Checker Amira Williams. Original music by Soundboard mixing by Michael Geno. Ariel Chester is our social media producer. Special thanks to Jenna Harrison, Bonnie McLean, Rob Weller, Julie Scott, Laura Lauren Patterson, Lisa Soloway, Sean Dooley, Josh Margolin, Santina Lucci, John Capel, Nick Cerrone, Olivia Osteen, Oriana Bravo and Liz Alessi. Josh Cohan is ABC Audio's Director of Podcast programming. Laura Mayer is our executive producer. 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- [42:42]
Unnamed Community Member
Let's go.
- [42:43]
Kayna Whitworth
And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing. Without freesight, the numbers look good, Brad.
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Greg Hampikian
You're on mute.
- [42:51]
Kayna Whitworth
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