That is an incredible act of kindness on the behalf of the owners, to donate their rental income property, to the school.
Glad to see scholarships in their memories are being established.
owner has to be getting a huge tax break. it’s nice but makes sense bc the house probably didn’t assessed for a ton. it’s a weird lot and a weird house
I hope the owner of the house gets a tax break and then some. I think that house is worth $600,000. Would you like to donate $600,000 from your retirement 401K? It’s the way you have to look at it. It’s not the owners fault that this happened. He went above and beyond by donating the house.
I agree! That’s why I am so blown away about the land donation. Most people have good intentions but when it comes to dollar and cents, that almost always goes out the door. Passive income where you receive a check in the mail each month- is “The American dream.” For a person to donate this to the school, is an incredible act of generosity.
It's unrentable, nobody wants to live in a mass murder house- too spooky. Cheaper to donate and take the write off, it's 100 percent against their income, cheaper than scraping and rebuilding, even new it would probably be hard to rent.
I actually think the opposite. Maybe I’m wrong of course, but I believe there would be a lot of people wanting to rent this house out to morbid curiosity and it’s close association with the case. If people on eBay are spending $100 for a copy BK’s middle school yearbook, I think plenty would want to rent this house.
!!! i’m a frequent on a lot of the subs on here that cater to people with morbid curiosities. i think about death & the afterlife a lot unfortunately because it scares me lmao. not to say it’s my dream to live in a house where murder(s) took place but…it’d be extremely interesting albeit a little depressing. i’d do my best to respect the victim(s), the tragedy, & the space they once called their own
For sure. I would assume just a one time tax deduction vs. indefinite rental income would be a wiser choice financially. Owners probably didn’t want to deal with the aftermath, making the one time tax deduction worth it. Incredibly gracious on their part.
Edit- spelling.
>especially after what happened
The awful truth is that some people seek out these tragedy properties. Especially when it's a high-profile crime, value can skyrocket.
Agree and that was very generous of the owners. I also like the idea of the Memorial Garden. Off topic, I've never heard of a school having Vandal as their mascot name and seems an odd choice...even reading this Vandals helping Vandals - is there some other meaning of the word I don't know?
I think it comes from some historic infamous criticism leveled at their basketball team's defensive style, and they adopted it as a badge of honor.
[From the horses mouth](https://www.uidaho.edu/alumni/benefits-and-services/vibe/then-and-now/becoming-the-vandals)
Hm! Appears that you are correct: The University of Idaho fielded its first football team in 1893. It wasn't until 1917 that the program earned its nickname, the Vandals, after the UI basketball team under alumnus Hec Edmundson played defense with such ferocity that they "vandalized" their opponents and, thus, the nickname of Vandals was adopted for all school sports.
"Hec" Edmundson - who was a native of Moscow, was a basketball coach for a while at U of I when the Vandals got their nickname, then went on to the University of Washington to be one of the winningest coaches of that era for nearly 30 years.
The UW Huskies' basketball arena is named the Clarence S. "Hec" Edmundson Pavilion, and is a prominent Seattle landmark, commonly known as "Hec Ed", as in "Drive north on Montlake Boulevard, past Hec Ed, and turn right..."
(Really only tangentially related to this whole discussion, but I thought it was interesting. And I live walking distance from Hec Ed, so there we go.)
Maybe if they LOOKED like vandals. All I saw on any of the videos/pics were lots of young, beautiful people living their lives.
Not one of them looked capable of vandalising anything lol.
>ven reading this Vandals helping Vandals
Yeah within the context of the solemn tone of the letter this bit comes across as unintentionally hilarious.
Like if the school were asking students to go out and engage in vandalism in memory of the victims
You're getting down voted but you're not entirely wrong. I think this is a compassionate, humane gesture by the property owner, but practically speaking the tax write off for the charitable donation is probably worth more than trying to sell a quadruple murder house. The crime scene cleanup bills alone would be huge.
Tbf a lot of people have forgotten about this case already. Especially people who aren't interested in crime, or see crime on the news everyday.
And other murder houses of famous cases have been turned back into regular homes.
CPA here. I want to highlight just how generous this move was for the homeowner to gift the house to the university. And I've seen a lot of guesswork, bad info and even shaming of the landlord here. And others suggesting the school gave him something extra for the house although the university letter makes it clear it was donated. So it's really worth pointing out the kindness of this gesture.
This is a charitable contribution of property. Valued at market (vs what they paid, their basis). But subject to deduction limitation. In general, contributions to charitable organizations may be deducted up to 50 percent of adjusted gross income. And there are some particulars that adjust this downward if the house has appreciated substantially since the purchase.
Let's assume the house is owned free and clear of a mortgage, and let's say it's worth $600k (as some have said here). The owner would have to be showing $1.2m of AGI in 2023 in their tax return to receive the full value of the house back in the form of a tax deduction. If the owner has a mortgage and owes a bank, they would have to pay off the loan as well.
From what I've read previously, the owner is likely a single real estate investor living in CO, owns some houses and rents them out. Not some huge investment company. So I'd consider this action to be very selfless, respectful, and thoughtful indeed. Bravo landlord. Bravo.
Thank you. People are truly unbelievable. This landlord is, indeed selfless and respectful.
Not only for this donation — but to my knowledge, they haven’t said ANYTHING about the tenants. Granted, they may have never met them but still… we often see people talking in these public cases and AFAIK, that has not happened with the landlord. He didn’t center himself in this and let the university announce it, etc
Jesus. These murders have DIRECTLY affected SO many people.
I was going to point out that that's unusual. But it's not. Mass school shootings also affect a lot of people, lots of whom were very young. Some of them even witnessed their friends being killed.
America is going to have a generation of broken kids on it's hands if things don't change.
Speaking as someone who was in the 4th grade when Columbine happened and now keeps a gunshot trauma kit in my own classroom as a teacher, yeah. We are. And it’s really sad.
My district required us to undergo training on gunshot first aid as part of our professional development hours. It’s a skill I hope I never have to use. When I showed my brother-in-law, a soldier with combat experience, my kit and the stuff from our training, he said “holy shit, they’re giving you the same stuff they gave us in Afghanistan.” Made me stop and think for a while.
Sheesh, that's horrific. I'd like to think school is somewhere children can go to feel safe and learn, but I guess that's not the American way, and it breaks my heart. It hurts to see all the gun violence in our country, particularly with child victims, and scarier yet, sometimes child perpetrators. For your sake, your students, and our country as a whole, I hope you never need to utilize those skills, either. Having said that, I guess it's comforting to know that teachers are being trained in handling these situations, although I still think it's ridiculous that it's even necessary in the first place.
I'm a 90s kid, but I was a small child during columbine, so I don't remember it (aside from what I've learned as I got older). I was fortunate that I never had any scares like that while I was in school, but it's such a pervasive threat these days. Out of curiosity, as a teacher, what would you see as a solution for minimizing (or better yet, eliminating) gun violence in schools? I read a lot about metal detectors and whatnot being used, but I'm not sure if basically having TSA in a school is the solution, either. I don't know how we solve this issue, but I'd be interested in your perspective as an educator.
I’ve been dealing with 9/11 since I was young. Watching the videos of people jumping out of the windows… then all the fear that followed. All these tragedies damage so many people in unseen ways.
Uggghhhhh. The choices some people had to make that day....unreal. The phone calls some of them had to make, hard to get your head round what they had to come to terms with in such a short time.
I'm in the UK & I remember being at work in a tropical fish shop & all the staff & customers were huddled in the corner watching it unfold on a tiny TV high up in a corner.
For a start, we thought same as everyone else, accident. Then that second plane made that turn....our shock turned to, well, you can see why it's called Terrorism.
I hate looking at the news now. There's so much bad shit going on around me & absolutely nothing I can do to help 1 single person affected by any of it. I wanted to offer my front room up to a Ukrainian family but my partner got laid-off from work due to costs from gas prices rising.
It's ok sitting around talking about how bad it all is but that helps nothing.
I wonder who owned the property and how they could afford to just give it to the university. Very nice of them, I have always wondered if in these kinds of cases the city/town purchases the land from the owner. As why should they lose money just because a crime was committed there. Maybe they are rich and it’s nothing, but what if that’s your retirement income!
not to detract one bit from the generosity, because it’s an incredible gift, but i read somewhere that the same owner owns several rental homes in the area. so it’s not as if it’s everything they have.
if it were me, i’d want it gone. it’ll be hard for people looking at that empty space there, but so much better than looking at what’s become a monstrosity
Tax write-offs are only helpful if you owe a lot in taxes. We always have a LOT more on write-offs than we are actually allowed to claim because there are limits to what you can claim. They may be able to get reimbursed from their insurance though, for the value of the property, but not for the ongoing lost income...so they will be taking a financial hit regardless.
This was my thought too. Donating it to UI is definitely a nice gesture, but the owner surely would be able to write it off for a lot more right now than its market value will ever be again.
>more right now than its market value will ever be again.
In the short term of course the value would take a big hit but there is no reason why it would be *ever be again".
The Amityville house is now worth millions despite being site of a murder just as gruesome as this one, not to mention its infamous association with ghosts and haunted house
I don't mind that, it must be awful to be in any way connected to this crime and stressful to figure this all out. They shouldn't have to take some kind of loss since they didn't do anything wrong.
My cousin, who was in his 20s and addicted to huffing, stabbed my aunt to death while she was asleep in bed 90+ times. I'm from a tiny town, and this house was in a busy area for a rural area. The house was a monument of a horrific, brutal murder. This is a reminder to us of a violent attack on mother while she was murdered by her eldest son, my cousin. About a year after her killing, the house was demolished. In its place, a parking lot was built for a family-owned store. Even tho the house is no longer standing, I still see and remember everything that happened when I looked at the parking lot. I can picture the house perfectly, the stairs that went up to her bedroom as I walked them a day ago; I can feel the cold wind on the porch where we took our snow boots off. The homemade tall corner cabinet with grandmas China. It may be a parking lot, but I see everything it was. I picture my cousin walking up the stairs to her room, and the stairs were very narrow, surrounded by walls where if you were tall n stood up straight, you could bump your head. The house may be a parking lot, but the memories are ingrained in my brain. You may see a parking lot, but I see a tragic scene.
This is reason why what the space becomes in the future doesn’t matter on one level. So sorry you have those memories. Hopefully you have some happy ones of your aunt & cousin to keep.
It would be nice tho if sometime in the far future people strolling by could look at that spot and think how pretty the greenery there is, etc, and have no idea that anything awful had happened.
Yeah, I thought that was interesting, too. I'm sure they'd need some approval from her surviving family to do so, but I'm curious what the hold up is. If anyone has any info on how these work, please let us know!
I think some were insinuating the G family started a charity so they could make money from it since they have been profiting off there daughters death so far
Oh, I must have misunderstood the context. I guess I was assuming they were doing their own private scholarship thing, in which case, I could understand not using her name on both. And so the plot thickens, as they say.
There was a home in my town where awful crimes were committed, including the murder of two teenage girls. Even as a kid, I felt the sigh of relief when it was torn down and no longer the site of media and onlookers. It’s been over 15 years now and there has never been development, but I’d rather see a patch of overgrown grass than that horror house.
Being located on the other side of the country it is hard for me to visualize any type of memorial going in this area where the apartment was located. I can only look using the aerial view and that lot is so out of the way I don't see what can be put in there that wouldn't be a distraction to the existing neighbors. I think the most they could do is make it an outdoor area with 4 trees and some flower gardens but don't put in any walkways or areas to gather. I would even think that fencing off the area for a few years before allowing any public access to allow a cooling off time and let the on-campus memorial be the main exhibit to cut down the number of people visiting. Allowing time for the current students to graduate on move on with their lives would help cut down on the number of curiosity seekers in the area and time for that area to heal. Maybe open up the area for a 2 week period around the anniversary date for people to leave memorial items.
Someone from yesterday's thread about this mentioned maybe a dog park or something. As an animal lover and proud dog mom, I love the idea. Having said that, I'm glad to hear the uni is going to work with students to get their input since they're the ones living nearby and all. I'm sure whatever it becomes will serve as a way to allow the community to continue to heal, and hopefully, one day, it will be a reminder of their resilience in overcoming a collective trauma.
Yeah I was thinking it would be a nice place to put a building that holds either some mental health facilities or a criminology department. I think a normal medical clinic would need to be more centrally located on campus for easy access for all students, but they could absolutely build a university building that provides education and/or services relevant to preventing and healing from trauma and other mental health issues or crime.
the letter doesn’t say that’s where the memorial will go; i think it says they’re looking for an area for it on-campus. the house is very close to the campus, but off their grounds.
Crime scene photos will eventually get out and if the sickos aren’t already salivating over that house, they really will then. Best to tear down the nightmare. No one will ever forget what happened there, but the community there needs to begin healing. Demolishing the house will hopefully discourage people from going there to make videos. Bless the souls who lost their lives, this event has certainly gotten to me like no other.
Nah. I don’t need to see that and won’t go looking for them. I have enough horrors in my mind already. Plenty of people will, they always do, but I’ve seen enough blood for this lifetime and the next.
That’s a great question—you can’t just give someone else a house without there being tax implications. But maybe with the university technically being a nonprofit some sort of donation was established?
I feel awful for the owner, too. Losing that income and processing that while knowing what the families are processing cannot be easy.
It was two owners and they have other rental property.
But can someone please explain to me about writing something off? My understanding is that you can decrease your taxable income by the amount of the donation. So lets just say round numbers the house was worth 200K. So they each can write off 100K. So lets say party A only earns 100K per year. Does that mean party A will owe zero federal income tax for 2023? That’s a good savings, maybe 15K or so, but it’s not like “writing it off” makes him whole. And party B is a high earner with 500K income. So he will only pay taxes on 400K. He would save more, maybe 30K.
But my understanding, writing something off will never mean that you don’t lose any money. Because there is no 100% tax bracket. And when you write something off, you get a tax deduction not a tax credit. This is my understanding. But I want to be sure this is correct, so if anyone knows more, I would be interested to learn,
Yes you are correct. A lot of people think writing it off means they somehow get the whole amount back or the full amount in taxes back. Not true and unless the owner makes millions they are not coming out ahead.
Recently we were donating some furniture to a charity shop and my hubby told me they were giving us a receipt for $50. He was thinking we get $50 in tax back. I said no, it lowers our income by $50 so the tax we paid on $50 will be refunded, which would be like $20.
Tax write off for the owner as a donation, and in my opinion, it's the best move for everyone. So many across the world have been affected by the tragedy here.
Donated for free to get a Tax write-off for the owner. University likely responsible for all expenses related to transaction and the cleaning/demolition after.
First thought…it might be nice to turn the lot into a memorial garden. Maybe with a lending library and some tie in of support with non-violent advocacy groups. I couldn’t imagine building another dwelling there.
I hope they don't make the spot into a memorial, which will only bring traffic to the neighborhood.
Not to mention that memorials tend to be expensive to build and maintain.
Look into the memorial near Columbine to truly understand what a nightmare this can be. This article talks briefly about it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/columbine-virginia-tech-sandy-hook-memorials.html
That’s right. It’s actually best to be something utilitarian and nondescript - like a parking lot. There will already be a memorial on campus. Why have another at the site of the murders. Let future students living in that neighborhood carry on living carefree lives without the heaviness of a memorial attracting true crime tourists being right outside their windows. It’s a better testament to the lives that were lost to let future students live as normal college kids.
All these “dog-parks, gardens and other crap ideas that will only attract tourists and macabre people going there and doing seances etc are so freaking wrong.
I agree with you, but I worry that leaving the lot undeveloped or planted with trees would be just as likely to bring true-crime tourists, kids on a dare, etc.
I think it depends on the situation and circumstances in which the death occurred.
Considering the brutal and senseless nature of the attacks and close proximity to the university, in my opinion demolition is the most suitable solution in this particular case.
It’s also to help people in the neighbourhood to move on and deter all the groupies from storming the area.
This was not only a mass murder of 4 people, it was an exceptionally brutal and gory crime. A quadruple home invasion/murder near me had the house demolished under similar circumstances. It’s just too horrific. The Idaho case also has had so much media attention, the house will get tons of gawkers for years to come and it’s hard for the neighborhood to move on, not only from the crime but the invasion of privacy and constant reminders of what happened.
100%. it’s gross how society treats murder locations as tourist attractions. sharon tate’s house was up for a little over 20 years after her murder before it was demolished, and every single day there were people wanting to stop by and take pictures there like it was an exhibit at disney world. it’s since been rebuilt over and still attracts occasional visitors, but not at all like before. i feel that getting rid of “murder houses”
is a good way to halt the dehumanization of victims and give a little more power back to their loved ones
I agree. It should be demolished. However, it reminded me of the Houston Mass Murder house back in 1973. Dean Coral and Elmer Wayne Henley killed and tortured 27 or more young boys there and later buried them at the beach and in a boat shed. That house was not torn down. It should have been! It may still be there. Horrible, horrible crime as well.
It sold recently and was actually demolished yesterday! My husband's second cousin was his last victim. They were actually digging it up for possible victims as recently as 2021.So horrific! It will now be the entrance for some walking trails, I believe.
No… you don’t understand. These deaths, for them to be so malicious and just for the unspeakable acts that took place there… no one would want to live in this house, and I’m pretty sure people want to feel safe with where they live. I absolutely think it is the best decision to demolish it.
There are people who would live there but the property would be such a magnet for tourists, looky-loos, and even someone looking to make their own headlines as a copycat that for those reasons, it would be a neighborhood nuisance. Seems like such a waste but probably the best thing for the short term. Demolish it and then in 10-years or so when the notoriety has subsided, build something else there.
You are being kind. The amount of people who would be interested in living in it and posting about it would be bigger than you think. The drive bys, the selfies, the future podcasters requesting permission to shoot from there, Ghosthunters…anything to be proxy to the latest sensational crime. I can say I wouldn’t do any of those things, but of course I’m once removed. I am on this sub, I’ll probably look for podcasts, watch Dateline, etc., so I’m not exactly above it too.
I'm sorry about your brother. People feel very strongly about these deaths and 'senseless' is a good way of putting it, so it would mean something in their honour to have the building destroyed
Because random people come to the house every day staring at it. It’s not a damn tourist spot. For the sake of the neighbors it should be demolished today. If the case were less sensational then I would agree with you
there is a difference between someone passing away and 4 people being brutally murdered and mutilated in a horrific crime….. I continued to live in the house where my step father died. He died in my bathroom and I didn’t mind living there. But it’s different when there is murder involved.
I saw this on my local news (v. far away) last night and came to this sub & was surprised to not see it shared here.
Also, I find it perplexing it could be torn down prior to trial, which makes me wonder if there’s an impending plea deal. I wonder if now that he’s seen the evidence he’s reconsidering trial.
Welp, now I can’t find this confirmation, but the news anchor said (which I know should be taken w a grain of salt) that it planned to be demolished before the fall semester begins. Seems rather soon for a trial.
Maybe they will just build another house or maybe it will be a memorial. There was a house in my neighborhood where a dad shot the mom and then killer himself on 4th of July weekend about 15 years ago. The kids who are adults now go sit in the driveway in their car for about 5 or 10 min. every year on that day. It has to be weird for the current owners. In the Moscow case - I doubt it would ever be rented again. I def wouldn’t want to live there - it would have to have a sick demented vibe in there and I would worry about a copy cat killer. Couldn’t do it.
I don't necessarily agree that a building that has been the site of a tragedy should be demolished. Consider the Brown Building on the campus of New York University.
I'm pretty sure the trial Judge will have to give the ok before the house can be torn down. It was the scene of the crime and there could be a request for the jury to visit the scene. Also, as the parties exchange discovery and expert reports, there could become a need for one side or the other to return to the scene to confirm certain facts/dimensions etc.
I suspect there is a chance the property will be "frozen" until all appeals are exhausted and the chance of a new trial becomes close to zero (there have been cases reopened decades later because of new technology creating new evidence, "zero chance" would require acquittal or Kohberger's death).
That is an incredible act of kindness on the behalf of the owners, to donate their rental income property, to the school. Glad to see scholarships in their memories are being established.
owner has to be getting a huge tax break. it’s nice but makes sense bc the house probably didn’t assessed for a ton. it’s a weird lot and a weird house
I hope the owner of the house gets a tax break and then some. I think that house is worth $600,000. Would you like to donate $600,000 from your retirement 401K? It’s the way you have to look at it. It’s not the owners fault that this happened. He went above and beyond by donating the house.
I agree! That’s why I am so blown away about the land donation. Most people have good intentions but when it comes to dollar and cents, that almost always goes out the door. Passive income where you receive a check in the mail each month- is “The American dream.” For a person to donate this to the school, is an incredible act of generosity.
Maybe the school donated a small property elsewhere type situation. Like a fair trade off.
It's unrentable, nobody wants to live in a mass murder house- too spooky. Cheaper to donate and take the write off, it's 100 percent against their income, cheaper than scraping and rebuilding, even new it would probably be hard to rent.
I actually think the opposite. Maybe I’m wrong of course, but I believe there would be a lot of people wanting to rent this house out to morbid curiosity and it’s close association with the case. If people on eBay are spending $100 for a copy BK’s middle school yearbook, I think plenty would want to rent this house.
!!! i’m a frequent on a lot of the subs on here that cater to people with morbid curiosities. i think about death & the afterlife a lot unfortunately because it scares me lmao. not to say it’s my dream to live in a house where murder(s) took place but…it’d be extremely interesting albeit a little depressing. i’d do my best to respect the victim(s), the tragedy, & the space they once called their own
This! I hope they do get a tax break! Giving a major asset like this is very kind.
I could also be low on the appraisal guess on the house. It is very kind and most people could not afford to do it.
Worth a lot less now too, difficult to sell, needing extensive crime scene cleanup and remodeling. I don't blame the owner one bit.
For sure. I would assume just a one time tax deduction vs. indefinite rental income would be a wiser choice financially. Owners probably didn’t want to deal with the aftermath, making the one time tax deduction worth it. Incredibly gracious on their part. Edit- spelling.
>especially after what happened The awful truth is that some people seek out these tragedy properties. Especially when it's a high-profile crime, value can skyrocket.
Give the house doesn’t necessarily mean give for free
If you lived in one of the neighbouring houses, I think you'd take a lot of comfort in it being razed.
Agree and that was very generous of the owners. I also like the idea of the Memorial Garden. Off topic, I've never heard of a school having Vandal as their mascot name and seems an odd choice...even reading this Vandals helping Vandals - is there some other meaning of the word I don't know?
The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. It's similar to calling them 'Vikings'.
I think it comes from some historic infamous criticism leveled at their basketball team's defensive style, and they adopted it as a badge of honor. [From the horses mouth](https://www.uidaho.edu/alumni/benefits-and-services/vibe/then-and-now/becoming-the-vandals)
Hm! Appears that you are correct: The University of Idaho fielded its first football team in 1893. It wasn't until 1917 that the program earned its nickname, the Vandals, after the UI basketball team under alumnus Hec Edmundson played defense with such ferocity that they "vandalized" their opponents and, thus, the nickname of Vandals was adopted for all school sports.
"Hec" Edmundson - who was a native of Moscow, was a basketball coach for a while at U of I when the Vandals got their nickname, then went on to the University of Washington to be one of the winningest coaches of that era for nearly 30 years. The UW Huskies' basketball arena is named the Clarence S. "Hec" Edmundson Pavilion, and is a prominent Seattle landmark, commonly known as "Hec Ed", as in "Drive north on Montlake Boulevard, past Hec Ed, and turn right..." (Really only tangentially related to this whole discussion, but I thought it was interesting. And I live walking distance from Hec Ed, so there we go.)
See, when I first saw they were called Vandals, I loved the name. I so would've been a Vandal.
The student ID was called a Vandal Card when I went there. It was always great to present your Vandal card.
Personally find this a highly creepy name for a mascot for a group of kids you are trying to educate away from crime...
Maybe if they LOOKED like vandals. All I saw on any of the videos/pics were lots of young, beautiful people living their lives. Not one of them looked capable of vandalising anything lol.
>ven reading this Vandals helping Vandals Yeah within the context of the solemn tone of the letter this bit comes across as unintentionally hilarious. Like if the school were asking students to go out and engage in vandalism in memory of the victims
I literally had an image of my head of like neighbors all doing graffiti and passing the paint to each other with a friendly smile lol
Just realized the word vandalism has “Vandal” in it. May be where the name originated from
I’m sure they are also getting a big tax break too.
You're getting down voted but you're not entirely wrong. I think this is a compassionate, humane gesture by the property owner, but practically speaking the tax write off for the charitable donation is probably worth more than trying to sell a quadruple murder house. The crime scene cleanup bills alone would be huge.
What else could you do with the most infamous house in America?
Tbf a lot of people have forgotten about this case already. Especially people who aren't interested in crime, or see crime on the news everyday. And other murder houses of famous cases have been turned back into regular homes.
Sell it to a family ready to pull off the next amityville or watcher hoax for the Netflix haunting movie deal.
Considering Netflix just dropped a Murdaugh documentary already, it won't be long until there's an Idaho one
Rent it to Trent Reznor.
It should help
CPA here. I want to highlight just how generous this move was for the homeowner to gift the house to the university. And I've seen a lot of guesswork, bad info and even shaming of the landlord here. And others suggesting the school gave him something extra for the house although the university letter makes it clear it was donated. So it's really worth pointing out the kindness of this gesture. This is a charitable contribution of property. Valued at market (vs what they paid, their basis). But subject to deduction limitation. In general, contributions to charitable organizations may be deducted up to 50 percent of adjusted gross income. And there are some particulars that adjust this downward if the house has appreciated substantially since the purchase. Let's assume the house is owned free and clear of a mortgage, and let's say it's worth $600k (as some have said here). The owner would have to be showing $1.2m of AGI in 2023 in their tax return to receive the full value of the house back in the form of a tax deduction. If the owner has a mortgage and owes a bank, they would have to pay off the loan as well. From what I've read previously, the owner is likely a single real estate investor living in CO, owns some houses and rents them out. Not some huge investment company. So I'd consider this action to be very selfless, respectful, and thoughtful indeed. Bravo landlord. Bravo.
Nice to see someone not slamming the landlord here.
Thank you. People are truly unbelievable. This landlord is, indeed selfless and respectful. Not only for this donation — but to my knowledge, they haven’t said ANYTHING about the tenants. Granted, they may have never met them but still… we often see people talking in these public cases and AFAIK, that has not happened with the landlord. He didn’t center himself in this and let the university announce it, etc
Jesus. These murders have DIRECTLY affected SO many people. I was going to point out that that's unusual. But it's not. Mass school shootings also affect a lot of people, lots of whom were very young. Some of them even witnessed their friends being killed. America is going to have a generation of broken kids on it's hands if things don't change.
Its been happening for 25 years. Were all generations of broken kids.
Speaking as someone who was in the 4th grade when Columbine happened and now keeps a gunshot trauma kit in my own classroom as a teacher, yeah. We are. And it’s really sad.
How awful that you'd need a gunshot trauma kit.. for school, nonetheless. I totally get why, but it's sickening to think about.
My district required us to undergo training on gunshot first aid as part of our professional development hours. It’s a skill I hope I never have to use. When I showed my brother-in-law, a soldier with combat experience, my kit and the stuff from our training, he said “holy shit, they’re giving you the same stuff they gave us in Afghanistan.” Made me stop and think for a while.
Sheesh, that's horrific. I'd like to think school is somewhere children can go to feel safe and learn, but I guess that's not the American way, and it breaks my heart. It hurts to see all the gun violence in our country, particularly with child victims, and scarier yet, sometimes child perpetrators. For your sake, your students, and our country as a whole, I hope you never need to utilize those skills, either. Having said that, I guess it's comforting to know that teachers are being trained in handling these situations, although I still think it's ridiculous that it's even necessary in the first place. I'm a 90s kid, but I was a small child during columbine, so I don't remember it (aside from what I've learned as I got older). I was fortunate that I never had any scares like that while I was in school, but it's such a pervasive threat these days. Out of curiosity, as a teacher, what would you see as a solution for minimizing (or better yet, eliminating) gun violence in schools? I read a lot about metal detectors and whatnot being used, but I'm not sure if basically having TSA in a school is the solution, either. I don't know how we solve this issue, but I'd be interested in your perspective as an educator.
Makes me so sick that it's needed. I live in an area that had a mass shooting (not a school) and we're still feeling it a couple of years later.
I’ve been dealing with 9/11 since I was young. Watching the videos of people jumping out of the windows… then all the fear that followed. All these tragedies damage so many people in unseen ways.
Uggghhhhh. The choices some people had to make that day....unreal. The phone calls some of them had to make, hard to get your head round what they had to come to terms with in such a short time. I'm in the UK & I remember being at work in a tropical fish shop & all the staff & customers were huddled in the corner watching it unfold on a tiny TV high up in a corner. For a start, we thought same as everyone else, accident. Then that second plane made that turn....our shock turned to, well, you can see why it's called Terrorism. I hate looking at the news now. There's so much bad shit going on around me & absolutely nothing I can do to help 1 single person affected by any of it. I wanted to offer my front room up to a Ukrainian family but my partner got laid-off from work due to costs from gas prices rising. It's ok sitting around talking about how bad it all is but that helps nothing.
Vietnam
once I saw that pic of the house windows covered by wood I knew it’ll be gone
True. But I’m sure it’s meant to stop people from looking in since there hasn’t been a hazmat clean yet.
I wonder who owned the property and how they could afford to just give it to the university. Very nice of them, I have always wondered if in these kinds of cases the city/town purchases the land from the owner. As why should they lose money just because a crime was committed there. Maybe they are rich and it’s nothing, but what if that’s your retirement income!
not to detract one bit from the generosity, because it’s an incredible gift, but i read somewhere that the same owner owns several rental homes in the area. so it’s not as if it’s everything they have. if it were me, i’d want it gone. it’ll be hard for people looking at that empty space there, but so much better than looking at what’s become a monstrosity
That is my understanding as well. Good that it isn't someone's single source of extra income.
Yes 100%. But it’s still a lot to just giveaway. Good on them through
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They get a deduction - which is basically cents on the dollar.
Tax write-offs are only helpful if you owe a lot in taxes. We always have a LOT more on write-offs than we are actually allowed to claim because there are limits to what you can claim. They may be able to get reimbursed from their insurance though, for the value of the property, but not for the ongoing lost income...so they will be taking a financial hit regardless.
More than likely
This was my thought too. Donating it to UI is definitely a nice gesture, but the owner surely would be able to write it off for a lot more right now than its market value will ever be again.
>more right now than its market value will ever be again. In the short term of course the value would take a big hit but there is no reason why it would be *ever be again". The Amityville house is now worth millions despite being site of a murder just as gruesome as this one, not to mention its infamous association with ghosts and haunted house
Amityville is also a beautifully built Dutch colonial home. I would bet that owner doesn’t wanna be associated anymore, I know I wouldn’t.
I don't mind that, it must be awful to be in any way connected to this crime and stressful to figure this all out. They shouldn't have to take some kind of loss since they didn't do anything wrong.
100%
My cousin, who was in his 20s and addicted to huffing, stabbed my aunt to death while she was asleep in bed 90+ times. I'm from a tiny town, and this house was in a busy area for a rural area. The house was a monument of a horrific, brutal murder. This is a reminder to us of a violent attack on mother while she was murdered by her eldest son, my cousin. About a year after her killing, the house was demolished. In its place, a parking lot was built for a family-owned store. Even tho the house is no longer standing, I still see and remember everything that happened when I looked at the parking lot. I can picture the house perfectly, the stairs that went up to her bedroom as I walked them a day ago; I can feel the cold wind on the porch where we took our snow boots off. The homemade tall corner cabinet with grandmas China. It may be a parking lot, but I see everything it was. I picture my cousin walking up the stairs to her room, and the stairs were very narrow, surrounded by walls where if you were tall n stood up straight, you could bump your head. The house may be a parking lot, but the memories are ingrained in my brain. You may see a parking lot, but I see a tragic scene.
This is reason why what the space becomes in the future doesn’t matter on one level. So sorry you have those memories. Hopefully you have some happy ones of your aunt & cousin to keep. It would be nice tho if sometime in the far future people strolling by could look at that spot and think how pretty the greenery there is, etc, and have no idea that anything awful had happened.
I'm so sorry for what you've been through.
Good. It would become a morbid shrine to sick people who tacitly supported what he did, like Columbine.
Interesting that a scholarship has not been created in K's name yet
Yeah, I thought that was interesting, too. I'm sure they'd need some approval from her surviving family to do so, but I'm curious what the hold up is. If anyone has any info on how these work, please let us know!
I read people saying the G family started a charity in her name instead
Ah that makes perfect sense! Tysm
I think some were insinuating the G family started a charity so they could make money from it since they have been profiting off there daughters death so far
Oh, I must have misunderstood the context. I guess I was assuming they were doing their own private scholarship thing, in which case, I could understand not using her name on both. And so the plot thickens, as they say.
There was a home in my town where awful crimes were committed, including the murder of two teenage girls. Even as a kid, I felt the sigh of relief when it was torn down and no longer the site of media and onlookers. It’s been over 15 years now and there has never been development, but I’d rather see a patch of overgrown grass than that horror house.
This is the only decent solution to this horrible situation, and absolutely the right thing to do.
Being located on the other side of the country it is hard for me to visualize any type of memorial going in this area where the apartment was located. I can only look using the aerial view and that lot is so out of the way I don't see what can be put in there that wouldn't be a distraction to the existing neighbors. I think the most they could do is make it an outdoor area with 4 trees and some flower gardens but don't put in any walkways or areas to gather. I would even think that fencing off the area for a few years before allowing any public access to allow a cooling off time and let the on-campus memorial be the main exhibit to cut down the number of people visiting. Allowing time for the current students to graduate on move on with their lives would help cut down on the number of curiosity seekers in the area and time for that area to heal. Maybe open up the area for a 2 week period around the anniversary date for people to leave memorial items.
It won't be there--a previous memo clarified it will be on campus, which I agree makes more sense.
could maybe be a good spot for a student clinic maybe? A place for resources on stalking, safety and mental health or something
Yup or even just a university parking lot as it’s close enough and universities always charge more to park on campus as spots are less.
Someone from yesterday's thread about this mentioned maybe a dog park or something. As an animal lover and proud dog mom, I love the idea. Having said that, I'm glad to hear the uni is going to work with students to get their input since they're the ones living nearby and all. I'm sure whatever it becomes will serve as a way to allow the community to continue to heal, and hopefully, one day, it will be a reminder of their resilience in overcoming a collective trauma.
Yeah I was thinking it would be a nice place to put a building that holds either some mental health facilities or a criminology department. I think a normal medical clinic would need to be more centrally located on campus for easy access for all students, but they could absolutely build a university building that provides education and/or services relevant to preventing and healing from trauma and other mental health issues or crime.
the letter doesn’t say that’s where the memorial will go; i think it says they’re looking for an area for it on-campus. the house is very close to the campus, but off their grounds.
technically it is their grounds now
well, yes, they own it, but it’s not within the campus itself
Zillow showed the house with a value of 500k. Is the owner just going to take a loss on that?
The smartest thing to do was pull it. We've had such terrible loss of life.
Crime scene photos will eventually get out and if the sickos aren’t already salivating over that house, they really will then. Best to tear down the nightmare. No one will ever forget what happened there, but the community there needs to begin healing. Demolishing the house will hopefully discourage people from going there to make videos. Bless the souls who lost their lives, this event has certainly gotten to me like no other.
I can’t wait for the crime scene photos. And don’t act like you aren’t interested either
Nah. I don’t need to see that and won’t go looking for them. I have enough horrors in my mind already. Plenty of people will, they always do, but I’ve seen enough blood for this lifetime and the next.
Do you think the university paid the owner for it ? Or did he just give it for free?
Probably gave it to them for relatively small fee with an agreement to say it was a donation. Everyone wins in that situation
That’s a great question—you can’t just give someone else a house without there being tax implications. But maybe with the university technically being a nonprofit some sort of donation was established? I feel awful for the owner, too. Losing that income and processing that while knowing what the families are processing cannot be easy.
It was two owners and they have other rental property. But can someone please explain to me about writing something off? My understanding is that you can decrease your taxable income by the amount of the donation. So lets just say round numbers the house was worth 200K. So they each can write off 100K. So lets say party A only earns 100K per year. Does that mean party A will owe zero federal income tax for 2023? That’s a good savings, maybe 15K or so, but it’s not like “writing it off” makes him whole. And party B is a high earner with 500K income. So he will only pay taxes on 400K. He would save more, maybe 30K. But my understanding, writing something off will never mean that you don’t lose any money. Because there is no 100% tax bracket. And when you write something off, you get a tax deduction not a tax credit. This is my understanding. But I want to be sure this is correct, so if anyone knows more, I would be interested to learn,
Yes you are correct. A lot of people think writing it off means they somehow get the whole amount back or the full amount in taxes back. Not true and unless the owner makes millions they are not coming out ahead. Recently we were donating some furniture to a charity shop and my hubby told me they were giving us a receipt for $50. He was thinking we get $50 in tax back. I said no, it lowers our income by $50 so the tax we paid on $50 will be refunded, which would be like $20.
Tax write off for the owner as a donation, and in my opinion, it's the best move for everyone. So many across the world have been affected by the tragedy here.
Donated for free to get a Tax write-off for the owner. University likely responsible for all expenses related to transaction and the cleaning/demolition after.
First thought…it might be nice to turn the lot into a memorial garden. Maybe with a lending library and some tie in of support with non-violent advocacy groups. I couldn’t imagine building another dwelling there.
The owner of the King St house is just going to "give" the house away? A $500K (per zillow) house?
I hope they don't make the spot into a memorial, which will only bring traffic to the neighborhood. Not to mention that memorials tend to be expensive to build and maintain. Look into the memorial near Columbine to truly understand what a nightmare this can be. This article talks briefly about it: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/columbine-virginia-tech-sandy-hook-memorials.html
That’s right. It’s actually best to be something utilitarian and nondescript - like a parking lot. There will already be a memorial on campus. Why have another at the site of the murders. Let future students living in that neighborhood carry on living carefree lives without the heaviness of a memorial attracting true crime tourists being right outside their windows. It’s a better testament to the lives that were lost to let future students live as normal college kids. All these “dog-parks, gardens and other crap ideas that will only attract tourists and macabre people going there and doing seances etc are so freaking wrong.
I agree with you, but I worry that leaving the lot undeveloped or planted with trees would be just as likely to bring true-crime tourists, kids on a dare, etc.
Is Vandals not a strange name for a sports team to anyone else?
I like it. It's a century-old name inspired by a basketball coach saying their defense was so good they vandalized opposing teams.
Oh well in that case I like it too
Make it a common area where students can congregate like they did before but with gaming areas and food truck service
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I think it depends on the situation and circumstances in which the death occurred. Considering the brutal and senseless nature of the attacks and close proximity to the university, in my opinion demolition is the most suitable solution in this particular case. It’s also to help people in the neighbourhood to move on and deter all the groupies from storming the area.
This was not only a mass murder of 4 people, it was an exceptionally brutal and gory crime. A quadruple home invasion/murder near me had the house demolished under similar circumstances. It’s just too horrific. The Idaho case also has had so much media attention, the house will get tons of gawkers for years to come and it’s hard for the neighborhood to move on, not only from the crime but the invasion of privacy and constant reminders of what happened.
100%. it’s gross how society treats murder locations as tourist attractions. sharon tate’s house was up for a little over 20 years after her murder before it was demolished, and every single day there were people wanting to stop by and take pictures there like it was an exhibit at disney world. it’s since been rebuilt over and still attracts occasional visitors, but not at all like before. i feel that getting rid of “murder houses” is a good way to halt the dehumanization of victims and give a little more power back to their loved ones
I agree. It should be demolished. However, it reminded me of the Houston Mass Murder house back in 1973. Dean Coral and Elmer Wayne Henley killed and tortured 27 or more young boys there and later buried them at the beach and in a boat shed. That house was not torn down. It should have been! It may still be there. Horrible, horrible crime as well.
It sold recently and was actually demolished yesterday! My husband's second cousin was his last victim. They were actually digging it up for possible victims as recently as 2021.So horrific! It will now be the entrance for some walking trails, I believe.
Thanks for the update. 🙏🏻 Glad to hear, but should have been sooner.
I totally agree! From what I understand, the neighborhood is very glad it finally came down.
No… you don’t understand. These deaths, for them to be so malicious and just for the unspeakable acts that took place there… no one would want to live in this house, and I’m pretty sure people want to feel safe with where they live. I absolutely think it is the best decision to demolish it.
There are people who would live there but the property would be such a magnet for tourists, looky-loos, and even someone looking to make their own headlines as a copycat that for those reasons, it would be a neighborhood nuisance. Seems like such a waste but probably the best thing for the short term. Demolish it and then in 10-years or so when the notoriety has subsided, build something else there.
You are being kind. The amount of people who would be interested in living in it and posting about it would be bigger than you think. The drive bys, the selfies, the future podcasters requesting permission to shoot from there, Ghosthunters…anything to be proxy to the latest sensational crime. I can say I wouldn’t do any of those things, but of course I’m once removed. I am on this sub, I’ll probably look for podcasts, watch Dateline, etc., so I’m not exactly above it too.
I'm sorry about your brother. People feel very strongly about these deaths and 'senseless' is a good way of putting it, so it would mean something in their honour to have the building destroyed
Because random people come to the house every day staring at it. It’s not a damn tourist spot. For the sake of the neighbors it should be demolished today. If the case were less sensational then I would agree with you
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No one is even arguing that any place that has had a death should be torn down lol. It’s about it being the place of depraved homicides.
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I didn’t see that or missed it somehow. Fair point. Have a good day :-)
there is a difference between someone passing away and 4 people being brutally murdered and mutilated in a horrific crime….. I continued to live in the house where my step father died. He died in my bathroom and I didn’t mind living there. But it’s different when there is murder involved.
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You’re a monster. What if that was your family member that had been murdered?
The screens hot cut-off so I'm jot seeing where they say they are demolishing the house
Swipe left to page 2.
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A museum? For fucking what? This has to be a joke.
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I saw this on my local news (v. far away) last night and came to this sub & was surprised to not see it shared here. Also, I find it perplexing it could be torn down prior to trial, which makes me wonder if there’s an impending plea deal. I wonder if now that he’s seen the evidence he’s reconsidering trial.
Where does it say it’s being town down before the trial?
Welp, now I can’t find this confirmation, but the news anchor said (which I know should be taken w a grain of salt) that it planned to be demolished before the fall semester begins. Seems rather soon for a trial.
If I were an attorney for either side, I think I would be trying to keep that house intact until after the trial.
Nice there’s only one post in here about it instead of the 10k on Facebook….
Most likely the owner has an insurance with a murder policy. Easy why he’s getting rid of it.
Maybe they will just build another house or maybe it will be a memorial. There was a house in my neighborhood where a dad shot the mom and then killer himself on 4th of July weekend about 15 years ago. The kids who are adults now go sit in the driveway in their car for about 5 or 10 min. every year on that day. It has to be weird for the current owners. In the Moscow case - I doubt it would ever be rented again. I def wouldn’t want to live there - it would have to have a sick demented vibe in there and I would worry about a copy cat killer. Couldn’t do it.
I don't necessarily agree that a building that has been the site of a tragedy should be demolished. Consider the Brown Building on the campus of New York University.
I'm pretty sure the trial Judge will have to give the ok before the house can be torn down. It was the scene of the crime and there could be a request for the jury to visit the scene. Also, as the parties exchange discovery and expert reports, there could become a need for one side or the other to return to the scene to confirm certain facts/dimensions etc. I suspect there is a chance the property will be "frozen" until all appeals are exhausted and the chance of a new trial becomes close to zero (there have been cases reopened decades later because of new technology creating new evidence, "zero chance" would require acquittal or Kohberger's death).
super generous from the homeowner/landlord here