Local NewsNovember 14, 2024

Hundreds gather at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial for vigil on the 2-year anniversary of Moscow murders

Rebekah Boyd, center, looks down at the flame of her candle during a vigil held Wednesday at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial to remember the four University of Idaho students murdered two years ago in Moscow.
Rebekah Boyd, center, looks down at the flame of her candle during a vigil held Wednesday at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial to remember the four University of Idaho students murdered two years ago in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students stand in front of their names and the sculpture dedicated to the four lost at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial Wednesday in Moscow.
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students stand in front of their names and the sculpture dedicated to the four lost at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial Wednesday in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial for a vigil find open spaces to leave notes in the alcoves of the garden’s walls Wednesday in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier Moscow.
Those gathered at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial for a vigil find open spaces to leave notes in the alcoves of the garden’s walls Wednesday in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students stretch out into the lawn of the space Wednesday in Moscow.
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students stretch out into the lawn of the space Wednesday in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Two people embrace after placing flowers in front of Xana Kernodle’s plaque during a vigil at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial Wednesday in Moscow. A vigil was held for the four students murdered two years earlier—Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin.
Two people embrace after placing flowers in front of Xana Kernodle’s plaque during a vigil at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial Wednesday in Moscow. A vigil was held for the four students murdered two years earlier—Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students begin to leave the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial after spending time in the space holding candles and writing notes Wednesday in Moscow.
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students begin to leave the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial after spending time in the space holding candles and writing notes Wednesday in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those coming to the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial for a vigil in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier are given candles as they walk in Wednesday in Moscow.
Those coming to the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial for a vigil in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier are given candles as they walk in Wednesday in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Angela Navejas, founder of the Made with Kindness Foundation, shares a few words Wednesday before encouraging those gathered at the vigil to write notes in memory of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier in Moscow.
Angela Navejas, founder of the Made with Kindness Foundation, shares a few words Wednesday before encouraging those gathered at the vigil to write notes in memory of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial write notes to leave in the alcoves of the garden’s walls Wednesday at a vigil in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier in Moscow.
Those gathered at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial write notes to leave in the alcoves of the garden’s walls Wednesday at a vigil in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
A few of those gathered at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial crouch in the space to write notes Wednesday during the vigil in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier in Moscow.
A few of those gathered at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial crouch in the space to write notes Wednesday during the vigil in remembrance of the four University of Idaho students murdered two years earlier in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students begin to leave the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial after spending time in the space holding candles and writing notes Wednesday in Moscow.
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students begin to leave the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial after spending time in the space holding candles and writing notes Wednesday in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Flowers are left Wednesday below plaques of the names of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial at vigil two years after their murders in Moscow.
Flowers are left Wednesday below plaques of the names of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial at vigil two years after their murders in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students stand in front of their names and the sculpture dedicated to the four lost at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial Wednesday in Moscow.
Those gathered for a vigil marking two years since the murder of four University of Idaho students stand in front of their names and the sculpture dedicated to the four lost at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial Wednesday in Moscow.Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News

MOSCOW — Hundreds of University of Idaho students withstood Wednesday’s rain and cold to honor the lives of four fellow Vandals killed in a 2022 tragedy.

The Associated Students of the UI, the university’s student government, organized a candlelight vigil on the two-year anniversary of the quadruple homicide that took the lives of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.

The event was held at the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial, which was built this year to honor those four students as well as other Vandals who have died.

“It really brings us together — the darkness has brought us together and has formed a community and it really means a lot that so many people came out to show support,” said UI senior Whitney Milleson.

Students lit candles and wrote messages to Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin on postcards that were placed in the memorial. Flowers were left below plaques with the names of the four deceased students.

UI junior Gavin Aus stood near those plaques Wednesday as he took in the scene.

“It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate the life that they lived and the memories that they left behind and all the good that they brought,” he said.

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Aus is president of Vandal Solutions, a student marketing organization on campus that helped raise money for the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial.

He called the memorial “really, really wonderful” because it was built by students, for students.

“It’s all encompassing of all UI students,” he said. “It’s not just those we’ve lost but also those that we’ve found because of it.”

The nonprofit Made With Kindness, which was created in memory of the four victims, handed out the postcards to students and reminded the crowd that Nov. 13 is also known as World Kindness Day.

Angela Navejas, co-founder of Made With Kindness, said Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin were known for their “unwavering kindness, infectious laughter and the warmth they brought to everyone around them.”

“Those of us fortunate enough to have known them experienced their extraordinary light,” she said.

As the crowd held a moment of silence, a beacon of light built on the south end of the memorial lit up the dark, rainy sky.

Kuipers can be reached akuipers@dnews.com.

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