Families of Two Moscow Victims Voice Frustrations on Facebook

"When the victims can't speak you have to speak for them when you feel someone is hurting the case"

The Goncalves and Kernodle families pleaded Wednesday night in a joint statement published on Facebook before the demolition for it to be paused until after the trial, arguing that valuable evidence could be destroyed in the tear down.

A petition posted on Change.org garnered over 10,000 signatures seeking to “halt the demolition of the King Road house until after trial.” One petitioner identified herself as Xana Kernodle’s mother.

“My daughter was murdered in that house and there is no way they should be destroying any evidence,” her comment read.

Ethan Chaplin’s family, on the other hand, supports the university’s decision. In a statement shared on ABC News they said: “We’re supportive of the decision to take down the King Street House — for the good of the University, its students (including our own kids), and the community of Moscow.”

---

FACEBOOK STATEMENT

This is our family statement that went out to the media yesterday. The house is set to be demolished today. Please pray for our family as this is an extremely emotional day for us.

PLEASE STOP THE DEMOLITION OF THE KING ROAD HOME!

The Goncalves Family has reached out to the Latah County Prosecutors Office and the University of Idaho to stop this madness. When the victim's can't speak you have to speak for them when you feel someone is hurting the case. Let's just answer the question on why the King Road house should stand for basic evidentiary purposes.

1. What were the vantage points of the roommates (Dillon and Bethany)? What could they hear from where they were in the house? What could they see? How far away was Dillon when she saw BK and why didn't he see her? Could the surviving roommates hear a dog barking from the 3rd floor? Screams? Can you hear those same sounds from the bottom apartment?

2. Outside the house. If evidence is presented about BK leaving or watching the house. What windows could he see in from where he was parked? Was he able to view the inside of the house and what was going on from outside sitting in a car or walking by? (Goes towards pre-mediation). How long did it take for him to walk to his car? What points of entry could he have gotten into thehouse?

3. If there is audio evidence? What can you hear standing outside the house? What can you hear inside the house?

4. What was Xana's path in the house to pick up the Doordash? Did she have to walk past different rooms? Could she have walked past BK, where could he have been hiding?

5. All the entry and exit points in the home. How could you get in and out without anyone seeing you? Were the decks potential access points? The decks and landscape features are very close to each other.

6. Any biological evidence? Where was it located in the house? Any proximity to the victims and any trail outside of biological evidence.

7. If the house itself was a target? Which was the theory from the beginning. Which is the supposed reason the University of Idaho called off their campus wide warning while BK was still not apprehended. Why was the house a target and its access/exit points and the driveway configuration for a vehicle to enter/exit/turnaround? Vantage points of other camera evidence pointed toward the house. These are just a few things that the family has thought of and no one seems to be able to answer about the King Road house. The question is? If the home is demolished will all of these questions be able to be answered later on with diagrams/models/technology, etc...if they become an issue at trial. If not then leave the home alone!

PLEASE GET A TRIAL DATE SCHEDULED

It is with disappointment and frustration that we have to ask for this publicly. The Court in this matter has delayed long enough. The hearing for the challenges to the indictment were in October and the Court finally made a ruling in December on those challenges (over 45 days later). The Court still has not made a ruling on the in camera evidence that was presented on December 1, 2023 regarding the genealogy evidence. It is also now our understanding that the Defense has filed a motion for the Court to reconsider the Court's decision on the indictment challenges or stay the proceedings for appeal. This challenge will be given another hearing date another 30 days out. This was filed a day after a scheduling order and trial was requested

All of this affects us the victims families and we can not understand the constant delays. This case has to move forward! We are a year out and the Court just made a decision on the indictment. Now the Court will have to make another decision to reconsider the decision the Court just made which took the Court 45 days to decide. All along not still no trial date.

We feel that the University of Idaho and the Court has put us in a horrible position to have to voice our opinions. We all along have just wanted the King Rd. Home to not be demolished and for us to have a trial date so that we can look forward to justice being served.