Murdered Idaho students honored as campus hopes to 'bring that light back' nearly two years later
On a bright Wednesday afternoon at the University of Idaho, students and staff unveiled a new garden memorial to honor the four students killed Nov. 13, 2022, and other students the school has lost since.
The Vandal Healing Garden, created by students at the University of Idaho College of Art and Architecture, opened two days after fall classes officially began this week.
"It was so well done, and it was a day meant to recognize the time and effort of the kids who built it," Stacy Chapin, whose son Ethan Chapin was among the four Idaho students murdered in 2022, told Fox News Digital.
One side of the memorial is dedicated to Ethan, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, while the other side is a place for all University of Idaho families who have experienced loss to reflect on their loved ones, Chapin explained.
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Stacy Chapin said she felt "amazing" support from her son's fraternity brothers, her daughter's sorority sisters, the university and the community as a whole.
Part of the November 2022 side of the memorial includes a structure that reflects all four students' favorite colors, Chapin explained.
Ethan's friend and fraternity brother, Drew Giacomazzi, was one of the students tasked with helping to create the memorial.
Giacomazzi told Fox News Digital the garden was an 18-month project, completely funded by the community, that involved lots of meetings between students, school staff and design professionals. He said he was "at a loss for words" when he saw the final outcome this week.
In his speech Wednesday, he said the university felt "dark, cold and distant" after the murders, and "the intent of the Healing Garden is to build a unique space that unites University of Idaho students, alumni and the Moscow community."
"Do more of what you love to honor Kaylee. Spread that love with random acts of kindness to honor Maddie. Be silly and do something spontaneous and fun to honor Xana. And tell stories with an abundance of laughter to honor Ethan," Giacomazzi said in his speech.
The University of Idaho said in a statement posted on Facebook that the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial was "designed, vetted and built" by students with guidance from faculty and alumni. The memorial is "a testament to the inspirational response from our community and a symbol of" the university's strength as a community, the statement said.
The school added that the garden "is a space to come together in moments of grief and reflection and to honor the Vandal students" that the school has lost.
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Nov. 13 will mark two years since 20-year-old Kernodle and Chapin and 21-year-old Goncalves and Mogen were murdered in a student rental home just yards from campus in the middle of the night.
Giacomazzi said he knew all four victims but was closest to Ethan, who was the kind of person to brighten an entire room with his laughter and make others feel "welcome." He was in the airport visiting his sister in New York when he heard Ethan had died, and he recalled being in a state of shock when he found out what had happened.
"It was a really scary moment, and coming back it was surreal seeing news cameras there, and we just didn't know what to do. Our fraternity didn't know what to do. I think the university was just kind of stunned and didn't know what to do. It was a weird time in Moscow," Giacomazzi recalled.
The memorial will help students "go through those emotions" of grief "and feel safe while doing it," Giacomazzi added. "There are obviously buildings and areas of campus like that before, but there was nothing purposefully designed and dedicated to those kinds of emotions, and this Healing Garden is just an area to bring that light back to campus."
University of Idaho President Scott Green said in his remarks Wednesday that the tragedy provided the "impetus" for the garden memorial.
"We lost four shining lights full of life and promise. This garden memorial is dedicated to them and the University of Idaho," Green said. "It's a reminder that even in times of sadness and darkness, we can always find light."
Suspect Bryan Kohberger, a 29-year-old criminology Ph.D. student at the neighboring University of Washington in Pullman, is suspected of stabbing the four students in their rooms in the early morning hours of that Sunday. He pleaded not guilty and is expected to stand trial next year.
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Kohberger is asking for his trial to be moved out of Latah County, the close-knit college community where the murders took place.
"A fair and impartial jury cannot be found in Latah County owing to the extensive, inflammatory pretrial publicity, allegations made about Mr. Kohberger to the public by media that will be inadmissible at his trial, the small size of the community, the salacious nature of the alleged crimes, and the severity of the charges Mr. Kohberger faces," Anne Taylor, Kohberger's lead defense attorney, wrote in a February court filing.
The defendant's efforts to change the trial venue are ongoing.
Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.