The mother of University of Idaho murder victim Madison Mogen spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time since the 2022 quadruple murder.
Mogen, 21, and three other students, including her 21-year-old best friend Kaylee Goncalves; her roommate, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle; and Kernodle's 20-year-old friend Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death on November 13, 2022, in their home just steps from the U of I campus.
“It's real, but I know where the girls are, and faith is really the foundation of how you get up every morning when you have such a deep loss,” Karen Laramie, Mogen's mother, told TODAY on Wednesday ” show when asked if the severity 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 up.
“We had never had any doors slammed in our house. … When she was eight years old, there was a cheese fight because she didn't want to eat dinner. She ate, ate, ate, ate,” Laramie remembers. “And I said, 'Honey, no, you can't have string cheese because I'm making dinner.' And she slammed it on the counter and walked into her room, and my husband Scott and I looked at each other and said, 'What just happened?' That was so out of character.”
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, described on its website as “a nonprofit organization that serves as an overarching beacon of hope “described in memory and honor of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.”
The mission is to “work with colleges and universities to provide scholarship funds, grief wellness seminars and comprehensive campus safety awareness.”
“We miss our children, and having something to be positively involved with is beyond me,” Laramie told TODAY about the nonprofit.
Chapin's family also founded a charitable foundation called Ethan's Smile, which will fund scholarships for students at the University of Idaho in Skagit Valley, Washington.
Murder suspect Bryan Kohbeberger, a 30-year-old former Ph.D. A student studying criminology at nearby Washington State University in Pullman is accused of fatally stabbing the four students in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Two other roommates survived the massacre.
Kohberger's suspected motive remains unknown and he has pleaded not guilty to the gruesome crime. His trial is scheduled for August next year after numerous delays due to legal challenges.
“I feel like the legal system isn't about the victims, and I'll leave it at that,” Laramie said when asked about her feelings about the lengthy legal process so far.
Kohberger faces the death penalty in Idaho if convicted.
