Mother of one of four Univ. of Idaho students fatally stabbed last year won’t attend trial
Jun 5, 2023, 12:13 PM
Stacy Chapin talks about her son, Ethan Chapin, during a vigil on November 30 for the four students killed in Moscow, Idaho. (Ted S. Warren/AP/File)
(Ted S. Warren/AP/File)
ATLANTA — The mother of one of the four University of Idaho students who were fatally stabbed in an off-campus home last year said she won’t attend the trial of her son’s accused killer.
“It doesn’t change the outcome,” Stacy Chapin, whose 20-year-old son Ethan was killed in the attack, told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie of attending the court proceedings. “It just is energy that doesn’t feel like it’s well spent.”
Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Madison Mogen, 21, were found dead on November 13, sending shock waves through the small city of Moscow, Idaho.
EXCLUSIVE: Stacy Chapin tells @SavannahGuthrie that she will not attend the upcoming trial in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students, including the murder of her son Ethan: “It doesn’t change the outcome. It’s energy that doesn’t feel like it’s well spent.” pic.twitter.com/wToJ10e77h
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 5, 2023
“He was just the greatest kid,” Stacy Chapin said of her son during an interview on the “Today Show” Monday. “Everybody loved him. He was warm. He was inclusive. He was the kid you wanted to hang out with,” she said.
Bryan Kohberger, a graduate student in the Department of Criminology at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in connection with the killings in December and later indicted on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
A judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf during a court appearance last month and he is set to stand trial in October.
Instead of attending the trial, Stacy Chapin said she and her husband are focused on helping their family heal. Ethan Chapin was a triplet and since his death, his siblings have returned to the University of Idaho and finished their semester successfully, their mother said.
“We get up every morning and we just decided that the best thing we can do is put our best foot forward,” Stacy Chapin said.
In the months following the killings, Stacy Chapin wrote a book about her son titled “The Boy Who Wore Blue.”
“He was born happy. He was just magnanimous,” Stacy Chapin said. “What we find more interesting is how many lives he touched that we didn’t even know existed. It’s incredible. I mean, I tell people, if I touch as many lives in my lifetime as he did in 20 years, he just warmed every room. He had a wonderful smile.”
