Idaho student murders: Ethan Chapin’s parents speak for first time since son’s death on honoring his memory
Rachel Schilke
Video Embed
The parents of University of Idaho murder victim Ethan Chapin spoke out for the first time since he and three other students were brutally stabbed to death in November 2022, speaking to their foundation, Ethan’s Smile, which is aimed at honoring his legacy.
Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were allegedly murdered by Bryan Kohberger, 28, on Nov. 13, who stabbed them to death in their home in Moscow, Idaho. Kernodle was Chapin’s girlfriend, and Goncalves and Mogen were best friends.
IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS: KNIFE AMONG OTHER ITEMS SEIZED FROM KOHBERGER’S HOME
Now, Chapin’s family is privately grieving his death and looking for ways to keep his legacy alive. To honor Ethan Chapin, his parents, Jim and Stacy Chapin, started the Ethan Smile Foundation. As part of their mission, they created a yellow-and-white tulip mix called “Ethan’s Smile” that is now for sale at Tulip Valley Farms, where Ethan Chapin worked planting bulbs. So far, 80,000 bulbs have been sold, his mother said, and watching them grow has helped bring them a sense of peace.
“It’s just turned into something so special,” Stacey Chapin said in an interview with Good Morning America. “Something tangible that represents him now.”
“We’ve created something good that Ethan would love,” she added. “He loved people, he loved a great adventure, and he was inclusive. If we could touch as many lives as he touched in 20 years in our lifetime, the world would be a better place.”
iFrame Object
As a triplet with his brother Hunter and sister Maizie, Stacy Chapin said her son is struggling to face a world without his “wingman.”
Stacy Chapin said Hunter had called her from school to tell her, “Mom, I just went through the drive-thru by myself for the first time.”
“When you’re a triplet,” she said, “you have spent your whole life together, the three of them.”
She said the first milestone without Ethan will be the triplets’ 21st birthday.
“We’ve talked about the kids’ 21st birthday forever,” Stacy Chapin said. “And that’s going to be tricky.”
The night before Chapin and the others were killed, Chapin took his sister to her sorority formal before hanging out with Kernodle at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, eventually returning to the off-campus home where the murders took place just hours later.
Both parents spoke about their wishes to be able to see Chapin one more time.
“It’s tough, it’s tough not having him here,” Jim Chapin said. “You just always make sure you always hug your kid.”
“I’d love to hug him,” Stacy Chapin added. “I’d give anything to just be able to hug him one more time.”
Investigators arrested Kohberger after a six-week search that involved a nationwide search for a white Hyundai Elantra that matched the car seen in video surveillance of the area near the home. Officers say DNA evidence on a knife sheath and other pieces of evidence helped investigators link Kohberger to the crimes, as well as a description from one of the surviving roommates who said she came face-to-face with the killer before he exited the home.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“You think stuff like that never happens,” Jim Chapin said, with his wife adding, “You think it happens to other people, but I’m telling you, if it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone.”
Kohberger has a preliminary hearing set for June 26, in which the defense and prosecution will offer up evidence and even could present witnesses that may determine the nature of what is gearing up to be one of Idaho’s most high-profile murder trials. The hearing will mark seven months since the murders took place.