Cleanup of Moscow house where students were slain ‘halted’ by court after arrest
A private company hired by property managers started “remediation” Friday morning of the King Road house where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death on Nov. 13, but the cleanup stopped shortly after it had started.
The home, which police said remains an active crime scene, has been at the center of the investigation into the Nov. 13 quadruple homicide that took the lives of seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and two other U of I students had been renting the six-bedroom home since June. One other person was on the lease but was not living there, officials have said.
“Starting Friday morning, we are going to be bringing in a professional cleaning crew to go to the residence and begin cleaning,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said in a video statement on Thursday.
However, a major development in the case — the arrest of suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, of Pennsylvania, who is a Washington State graduate student — altered plans Friday.
“The house cleanup has been halted,” Fry said at a press conference. “And that came by a legal request from the court.”
Merida McClanahan, supervisor at the property management company, told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday that the cleanup would involve removing both biohazardous materials and forensic chemicals used by law enforcement for evidence processing.
The property owner “doesn’t have future plans at this time” for the three-story house, according to McClanahan. Since 2009, the home has been owned by a limited liability company out of Colorado named 1122 King LLC, according to deeds filed through the Latah County Assessor’s Office.
“They are unable to make a decision until after remediation services are complete,” McClanahan said. “They can begin going through the insurance process at that time.”
Reporter Kevin Fixler contributed.
