Idaho murder victim’s mom breaks silence two years after daughter’s killing

University of Idaho murder victim Madison Mogen’s mother spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday since the quadruple homicide in 2022.

Mogen, 21, and three other students, including her 21-year-old best friend, Kaylee Goncalves; their roommate, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle; and Kernodle’s 20-year-old boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in their house just steps from the U of I campus on Nov. 13, 2022.

“It’s real, but I know where the girls are, and faith is really the basis of how you get up every morning when you have a loss this deep,” Karen Laramie, Mogen’s mother, told the “TODAY” show on Wednesday when asked if the gravity of her daughter’s death two years ago feels “real.”

She described the 21-year-old as “a joy” in her younger years and a genuinely kind person as she grew into adulthood.

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“We never had slammed doors in our house. … There was one string cheese fight one time when she was eight because she wouldn’t eat dinner. She would snack, snack, snack,” Laramie recalled. “And I said, ‘Honey, no, you cannot have string cheese because I’m making dinner.’ And she slammed it on the counter and marched to her room, and my husband Scott and I looked at each other like, ‘What just happened there?’ That was so out of character.”

“She just had that genuine love that’s just impossible to describe.”

— Karen Laramie

She recalled another time when Mogen called her cousin on Veterans Day to thank him for his service. 

Two years after tragedy struck U of I, Mogen’s family, Goncalves’ family and Kernodle’s family came together to create the Made With Kindness Foundation, which is described on its website as “a non-profit organization that stands as an overarching beacon of hope created in remembrance and in honor of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle” with a mission to “partner with colleges and universities to provide scholarship funds, grief wellness seminars, and comprehensive on-campus safety awareness.”

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“We’re missing our kids, and to have something to put your heart into positively, I have no words,” Laramie told “TODAY” of the nonprofit. 

Chapin’s family also started a charitable foundation called Ethan’s Smile, which will fund scholarships for students in Skagit Valley, Washington, to the University of Idaho. 

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Murder suspect Bryan Kohbegerger, a 30-year-old former Ph.D. student who was studying criminology at the nearby Washington State University in Pullman, is accused of fatally stabbing the four students in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Two other roommates survived the massacre.

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Kohberger’s alleged motive remains unknown, and he has pleaded not guilty to the gruesome crime. His trial is scheduled for August of next year after numerous delays due to legal challenges.

“I feel like the legal system is not about the victims, and I’ll leave it at that,” Laramie said when asked her feelings about the lengthy justice process so far.

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Kohberger faces the death penalty in Idaho if convicted.