Page 131

Moscow, Idaho

D emolition day is finally here, despite the Goncalveses’ best efforts.

Last night Shanon Gray released a statement from the Goncalves family with the headline “Please Stop the Demolition of the King Road Home!”

“We feel that the University of Idaho and the court has put us in a horrible position to have to voice our opinions,” the statement read.

“We all along have just wanted the King Road home to not be demolished until after the trial and for us to have a trial date so that we can look forward to justice being served. Is that really too much to ask?”

The Chapins have not commented. Nor has Ben Mogen.

But Kristi and Steve are not ready to so easily say goodbye to the last place Kaylee had been on this earth.

Behind the scenes, Alivea, who is back in California and due to give birth to her fourth child shortly, has been trying to get her parents to back down and let it go. “This is not the hill you want to die on,” she’s told them. “We will have other more important battles.”

On the other hand, Alina Smith, the cofounder of the University of Idaho—Case Discussion Facebook page, goes to great effort to join the protest.

She’s flown in from Texas, arriving at 1122 King Road long before dawn.

But she cannot get close to the house. There’s police tape everywhere.

“They had it so blocked off over there that nobody could get through,” she said.

And other than the media, there’s no one around—not even protesters.

“They put warnings out a good week or so ahead of time on these little billboards everywhere that if you think you’re going to show up and protest, we’re going to arrest you on the spot,” she said. “They scared everybody away.”

The demolition is scheduled for seven a.m., but the crew starts two hours early.

By the time the sun is up, the house is in pieces on the ground.

Kristine, the other cofounder of the Facebook page, is back in Rochester, New York. She is annoyed that she can’t fly to Moscow to watch and take a video of the demolition with Alina, but she’s got her family to deal with over the holidays.

Earlier in the month, the university stated—for the third time—that it planned to knock the house down on December 29, while the students were home for the holidays.

UI president Scott Green told the Idaho Statesman, “While we appreciate the emotional connection some family members of the victims may have to this house, it is time for its removal and to allow the collective healing of our community to continue.”

“That quote really stung,” Alivea said.

Green’s stance raised the demolition debate to a fever pitch. Members of the Facebook page are split, some for and some against.

Sympathizers with students who are distressed by the sight of the house debate those who favor preserving the premises for potential use in a trial.

(In the recent trial of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, the jury visited the family plantation where Murdaugh’s wife and son had been found murdered.)

On December 20, Kristine and Alina did a TV segment with NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield to talk about the controversy around the demolition, and when Alina gets to Moscow, she tells Kristine that the trip is proving to be good PR for the page.

She’s done a bunch of press, and she’s met fellow cybersleuth Olivia Vitale, the creator of “Chronicles of Olivia” on TikTok. Olivia was the person to whom the Goncalves family gave their first in-depth interview a year earlier.

Alina tells Kristine, “I think we have an opportunity with her. She’s, like, she didn’t know half the stuff that you and I know. She’s so interested in us.”

Kristine is excited to learn this because she thinks that with all the work she and Alina have put into launching their podcast series, they are nearly ready.

On December 8, she posted on the Facebook page a photograph of Alina and herself captioned: Your lovely administrators want to let you know our first podcast is in the works!! Enjoy your weekend but don’t cause Alina and I to drink too much.

By now Kristine has refined their podcast concept: “Two Sleuths, One Crime.”

Alina, however, returns to Texas to bad news. Her husband has lost his job of twenty years.

Something is going to have to change, she thinks.

Unlike Kristine, Alina doesn’t have a paying job. Running the Facebook page—and nine others like it—has been all-consuming for her. But she’s got three kids, one with a disability, and she needs to carry her family while her husband gets back on his feet.

So she’ll look for the right opportunity.

Kristine, she’s sure, will understand.