Murder on campus: Students go back to school in Idaho with killings still fresh on their minds

MOSCOW, Idaho — University of Idaho freshman Lauryn Riney has mixed emotions about coming back to campus from winter break.

She's relieved an arrest has been made in the shocking stabbing deaths of four of her classmates that rattled her small-town campus community and captured nationwide attention.

But she's still worried for her safety when classes start on Wednesday.

"Even though they hopefully caught the guy, there are still people out there who have the mentality to do something like this," Riney, 19, said. "There's no way of really knowing who's capable of doing something like this until it actually happens."

Locking doors. Walking in groups. Carrying pepper spray. Rituals that most people typically do in big cities, but now they are on the rise in this normally quiet college town. They're part of the new normal after the Nov. 13 killings in Moscow.

Here and 10 miles away at Washington State University in neighboring Pullman, where classes began on Monday, campus life has a different feel. The once-cozy border colleges have been under the specter of a murder investigation and reporters from around the globe after four students were murdered in their beds by a masked intruder.

"The communities as we knew it will never go back to normal, and that's just a hard realization for all of us," said Washington State student Sandra Kobiesa, 23. "I don't think Pullman and Moscow will ever be the same."

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'It still feels very surreal'

The students' arrival back to both campuses this week comes as suspect Bryan Kohberger, 28, is scheduled to make his second appearance in an Idaho courtroom on Thursday. The former doctoral student at Washington State faces first-degree murder charges in the brutal stabbings of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20 at a rental home near campus two months ago.

Authorities say they used DNA samples and surveillance footage, cell phone tracking software, and tearing through Kohberger's trash at his family's home in Pennsylvania to make an arrest, according to court documents. A status hearing is scheduled for Kohberger on Thursday.

"It still feels very surreal to us all," said Blaine Eckles, the University of Idaho's dean of students. "We're still dealing with the ramifications of the murders and coming to grips with it, but we're also at a place where some students are less stressed and anxious because there is an arrest.

"They want to understand why this happened, eager about what's to come and they want to know more about why these individuals were targeted," Eckles said.

The campus will soon be sending a memo to its community about programs and other resources to help "empower" them, Eckles said. Among them are ongoing counseling, and self-defense and stalking awareness workshops. Students will also be given "safe rides" across campus upon request and offering Birdie personal safety alarms for students who want them, Eckles said.

The school will also conduct a "campus safety lighting walk," similar to one held in the fall to point out "dark spots" on campus and across town, Eckles noted. Campus security will be beefed up and there will be an increased police presence on campus, school officials say.

There will also be a vigilance workshop with Moscow police and campus security this semester to offer suggestions to students about their safety, including traveling in pairs and not wearing earbuds when walking around campus, Eckles added.

"A lot of this may sound like common sense, but we can't stress enough that we want our students to aware of their surroundings," Eckles said.

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'He was so close all the time'

Meanwhile, over at Washington State, a student turned alleged murderer has terrified Kobiesa. She is a doctoral candidate working towards her Ph.D., similar to Kohberger, the suspect. The killings have given Kobiesa a frightening perspective as she lives just two buildings down from Kohberger's apartment complex in Pullman.

"He was so close all the time and I think people are finally realizing WSU is really close to U of I," Kobiesa said. "But then it makes it 100 times more real for me because there probably have been times that I've seen him or interacted with him and I didn't even know."

Students, faculties, and the community at large may be experiencing a range of emotions including fear, anger, sadness, and maybe even hopelessness said Dr. Bertrina Olivia West Al-Mahdi, an Atlanta-based psychologist trauma specialist.

She said while many will feel comfortable coming back to campus, some may continue to live in fear and experience a form of secondary traumatic stress (STS) because the murders did not directly impact them as even the authorities claimed it was an isolated incident.

"However, I believe that due to the intensity of the event, many students and faculties were traumatized vicariously," West Al-Madhi said. "I believe this will lead to many students and faculty being hypervigilant and not feeling safe in their surroundings."

Kobiesa can directly relate to what West Al-Madhi described.

"Pullman, and I'm assuming Moscow too, is such a small town, I don't think I ever locked my front door," Kobiesa said. “Now if I'm at the store and someone stops to chat to me, I'm like, ‘why?’ I never thought Pullman would be that way."

Despite police in Pullman and Moscow reassuring students that there was no threat to the community in the days following the murders, Hayden Stinchfield, 20, a junior at Washington State believes the two communities will never "reach a point where it is fully comfortable."

The community should not feel a complete sense of security and it's fine to have those feelings, West Al-Mahdi said. The psychologist said the holiday break may have given some an "opportunity to reset," and the murders will not be at the forefront of everyone's mind - until it's brought up in university-wide announcements and media.

"Naturally, as young adults in this era, many have moved on, yet some may still be impacted more than others," West Al-Mahdi said.

'It was definitely a terrifying feeling'

Among the impacted includes Finley Kennedy, 18, a University of Idaho freshman from Pendleton, Oregon. Kennedy fell in love with the quaint campus because it reminded her of home.

But that changes as Kennedy recalls the moment she found out about the quadruple fatal stabbings, which ultimately led her to pack her belongings the next day and head home.

"A bunch of my friends got a text message from the school with the Shelter in Place type of deal. I didn't receive one of those," Kennedy said. "It was definitely a terrifying feeling, I didn't leave my room, I was scared to go across the hallway to go to the bathroom and kept my door locked the whole day."

Kennedy was disappointed in the lack of information. She and her parents didn't get much from the university in the days immediately after the stabbing. Her family felt that there was no safety provided at the time, but notes that the university is now doing a “better job.”

“I couldn't see myself living the life I lived before all of this happened," Kennedy said. "So I kind of just decided to take this semester and go to (community college).

Although Kennedy made her decision to transfer before a suspect was taken into custody, with the media attention and Kohberger now being in Moscow, she stands by her decision of transferring for a semester.

Kennedy hopes to return to Idaho this fall, but it will depend on the speed of the case -  as well as her mental health.

“I would love to go back,” Kennedy said.

'Out of tragedy, comes solidarity'

While some students have opted not to return, there has been an outpouring of connection within the area, said Sam Newton, a criminal defense attorney and professor who teaches criminal law courses at the University of Idaho.

"Sometimes out of tragedy comes solidarity, and I think what's happening here," Newton said. "But there's also that sense of unsettling loss."

Newton, who has taught at the university for five years, said his classes will focus on certain legal aspects of the murders, especially concerning the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth amendments.

He said it would "be very hard to ignore what's happening" taking place in a courtroom in the same town.

Eckles, Idaho's dean of students, agrees. Eckles said the university did not get any additional information from the authorities, figuring they wanted to protect their investigation.

"We respected that," Eckles said. "This tragedy and the legal proceedings are going to be ever-present here for some time to come.

"Our job is to be there for our students and staff," Eckles continued. "We're a small, but a strong community that pulls together."

Looking out his office window and seeing several students pass by on a thoroughfare on Tuesday, Eckles said the university has an obligation to its students, but the four victims are never far from his thoughts.

"Losing any student is hard, but when you lose four, it can be overwhelming at times. We are going to roll up our sleeves, lean into our emotions and be there to take the necessary steps to support each other," Eckles admitted. "We're always keeping Xana, Kaylee, Madison and Ethan in mind with everything we do."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: University of Idaho students back on campus despite fears over murders