WPBN: On Wednesday, the mother of Madison Mogen, who was murdered at the University of Idaho in 2022, made her first public statement since the murders of her four friends and family members.
On November 13, 2022, Mogen, who was 21 years old, along with three other students, including her best friend Kaylee Goncalves, who was also 21 years old; their roommate, Xana Kernodle, who was 20 years old; and Ethan Chapin, who was Kernodle’s boyfriend and also 20 years old, were all stabbed to death in their home, which was located just a few steps away from the University of Illinois campus.
“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, said on the “TODAY” show on Wednesday in response to a question about whether or not the tragedy of her daughter’s death two years ago felt “real.”
The individual, who is now 21 years old, was described by her as “a joy” when she was younger and as a person who was really kind as she matured into an adult.
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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 remembered. “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 recalled another instance in which Mogen had extended a call to her cousin on Veterans Day in order to express gratitude for his service.
The Made With Kindness Foundation was established by Mogen’s family, Goncalves’ family, and Kernodle’s family two years after the tragedy that occurred at the University of Illinois. The foundation 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.”
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“Partner with colleges and universities to provide scholarship funds, grief wellness seminars, and comprehensive on-campus safety awareness,” is the goal statement of this organization.
“We’re missing our kids, and to have something to put your heart into positively, I have no words,” Laramie stated.
Additionally, Chapin’s family established Ethan’s Smile, a philanthropic foundation that will provide funding for University of Idaho scholarships for kids in Skagit Valley, Washington.
The four students were fatally stabbed in the early hours of November 13, 2022, by murder suspect Bryan Kohbegerger, a 30-year-old former Ph.D. student who was a criminology student at the nearby Washington State University in Pullman. The massacre did not kill the other two roommates.
Kohberger has entered a not guilty plea to the horrific murder, but it is still unclear what his purported motivation was. After several delays brought on by legal issues, his trial is set for August of next year.
When asked how she felt about the drawn-out justice process thus far, Laramie responded, “I feel like the legal system is not about the victims, and I’ll leave it at that.”
In Idaho, Kohberger might be executed if found guilty.
