MOSCOW, Idaho — Several hundred University of Idaho students gathered to remember the victims of the Moscow murders and hear from some of their closest friends, who shared stories and how their lives were changed one year ago.
As bells on campus rang, hundreds of students shuffled silently onto the lawn outside the school's administration building.
“Today, we are gathered a year after an event that shook many of our lives," Madison Whitney, friend of Kaylee Goncalves, said. "No words can make this day any less hard.”
Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin still live on in stories and memories, and those were shared Monday night by those who loved them.
“Kaylee gave me this book her freshman year called 'The Sun and her Flowers,'" Whitney said. "In the book lies a page that states despite knowing they won’t be here for long, they still choose to live their brightest lives, sunflowers. Kaylee’s favorite flower was sunflowers. I think about this quote every day and it almost feels like her future self was trying to tell me something.”
Candles lit the faces of students. They stood for a moment of silence for each victim.
“Evil becomes much more real when it happens so close to home," Zanna Miller, friend of Xana Kernodle, said.
“Seeing how our community has changed forever has been sad at times and has also shown the resilience and love that Maddie embodied every day," Heather Blaschka, friend of Madison Mogen, said.
“Once you lose someone you love, you gain an angel," Darius Myers, friend of Ethan Chapin, said. "We have four amazing angels watching over us every day.”
Students were told to take their candles home and light them every year on this day to remember the four victims.
The full vigil can be viewed below:
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