ECHOES IN THE DARK

After the shocking murder of four Idaho college kids last fall, a media frenzy exploded into their quiet town, boosting the image of upstart news reporters but bringing along a new breed of web sleut conspiracy-minded, vindictive, and often dead wrong

- KATHLEEN HALE

CORNER CLUB OWNER Marc Trivelpiece was starting to hate reporters. As a rule, he condemns violence—anyone who throws punches in the Corner Club gets booted—but three weeks into the media storm surrounding the murders of four college kids in his town, Trivelpiece was beginning to think that people don’t get punched in the face enough.

On November 13, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, and Maddie Mogen had been stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in Moscow, home to the University of Idaho. Trivelpiece’s bar is where two of the victims, Goncalves and Mogen, spent their last evening on earth. When the murders made news, the media swarmed, and Trivelpiece’s business in particular came under siege. “I want the Corner Club to be famous,” he said. “But not for this.”

When reporters barged in, talking about the murders in such a casual way, Trivelpiece was like, “Whatever you guys want to talk about at home is fine. But their friends [the victims’] are sitting right there. So let’s not do this.” He turned down location fees from NBC. Ignored calls from TMZ. Banished journalists from as far away as the London Telegraph. But they kept coming. Someone claiming to be from Fox News had recently followed a Corner Club employee’s roommate to work.

Like other Moscow business owners, Trivelpiece’s workforce and customer base are heavily composed of students, who make up about half the town’s population. After the murders, an estimated 25 to 40 percent of those students fled home. There was a killer on the loose. But Trivelpiece wondered if media harassment played a role in the mass exodus. “How many students aren’t going to come back because Fox News is sitting out in front of their house?”