Healing Garden Opens at University of Idaho with Sculpture in Memory of 4 Students Killed in 2022
Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison "Maddie" Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were murdered in Nov. 2022. Their suspected killer will go on trial in 2025
Courtesy of Chapin Family; Maddie Mogen/Instagram; Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram; Xana Kernodle/Instagram
From left: Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana KernodleA healing garden will open on August 21 in memory of University of Idaho students who have died while enrolled at the school, including four who were brutally murdered in an off-campus house in November 2022.
On Nov. 13, 2022, Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison "Maddie" Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were stabbed to death on the second and third floors of the home where the women lived with two additional roommates and where Ethan was staying the night with his girlfriend Xana.
Related: Chilling Details Revealed as Probable Cause Affidavit is Released in University of Idaho Murder Case
The home was demolished on Dec. 28, 2023 as a "a healing step," the university announced in a statement at the time.
Now, the university is taking another step to memorialize the students.
In a press release shared with PEOPLE, the University of Idaho announced that a dedication ceremony and the official opening of the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial will be on August 21.
“The garden is an incredible reflection of our students and how much they have cared about this project,” Dean of Student Blaine Eckles says in the press release. “It is a legacy that will outlast any of our time here. This student-led project shows the dedication, care and resilience of our student body. It truly showcases what it means to be a Vandal and honors our lost Vandals in a beautiful manner.”
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College of Art and Architecture students at the university designed and built the memorial. In the garden, a sculpture will memorialize Chapin, Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle specifically, the release says. The garden is located on MacLean Field on the university's campus.
Related: University of Idaho Murders, 1 Year Later: Key Things that Have Happened Since
Nearly seven weeks after the quadruple homicide, a suspect — then-28-year-old Bryan Kohberger — was apprehended and charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary. He has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial in 2025.
At the time of the slayings, Kohberger was a criminology Ph.D student at Washington State University, which is approximately eight miles away from the residence in Moscow, Idaho, where the four students were killed. He has no known ties to the victims.
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