An undated photo of Lyubov Botvina used at her memorial service held on July 23.

The trial of Conner Schiermann, the 25-year-old man charged with the murder of Lyubov Botvina, an SPU student, her sister Olga Milkin, and her two nephews Justin and Andrew, has been pushed back to begin Sept. 5.

The Seattle Times reported in February that the reasons for the postponement were due in part to a delay in analyzing forensic evidence.

The bodies of Botvina and her family were found by firefighters at Milkin's Kirkland home on July 17. Following the murder, the house was burned down. A memorial service took place at The City Church in Kirkland on July 23.

The King County prosecuting attorney, Norm Maleng, who died last Thursday of cardiac arrest, was seeking the death penalty for Schiermann. According to The Times, Milkin was Maleng's next-door neighbor.

A tree was planted in Botvina's memory outside the Science Building on the SPU campus during winter quarter.

Botvina had been a linguistics major. Botvina and her family moved to the United States from the Ukraine in 1993.

"She was very friendly and very unique," said Chrissy Heerschap, Botvina's former roommate. "She cared so much about others."

Botvina saw her ability to speak two languages as a gift that she wanted to use to help others, Heerschap said.

Katya Nemtchinova, associate professor of Russian at SPU and friend of Botvina, described her as a God-loving person.

"When one would say 'I thought about it,' she'd say 'I prayed about it.' When one would say 'I decided,' she'd say 'God told me.'" Nemtchinova said.