Idaho student homicide victim’s parent talks for first time on loss of ‘my only sunshine’
Karen Laramie, mother of University of Idaho student homicide victim Madison Mogen, spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday, saying in an interview with the “Today” show that the pain of her daughter’s loss more than two years ago remains top of mind. But she’s accepted that this is the reality in which she now lives.
“It’s real, but I know where the girls are,” Laramie said. “And faith is really the basis of how you get up every morning when you have a loss this deep.”
She wore her half of a two-ring pair, which Mogen gave to her mother inscribed with the phrase: “You are my sunshine.” Her daughter’s half finished the lullaby’s verse: “My only sunshine.” It’s a song Laramie said she frequently used to sing to Mogen.
Laramie said she dreams about her daughter, sometimes from when she was still a toddler and other times from when Mogen grew into an adult. Laramie said the dreams are a gift, but also difficult.
“Absolutely, it’s hard, because you have to say goodbye again,” she said.
Mogen, of Coeur d’Alene, was one of four college students who died from wounds during a November 2022 knife attack at an off-campus home in Moscow. She was 21. The others three victims were her childhood best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; their roommates Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and stayed over for the night.
The home where Mogen grew up, with Laramie’s husband, Scott Laramie, was free of drama, her mother said. It was an upbringing where doors were never slammed, she explained.
“Madison was a great baby,” Karen Laramie said. “I’m not going to say was. Madison is absolutely amazing and always has been. Like, didn’t have terrible 2s. She had some stubborn 3s, but, even as a teenager, she was just a joy.”
She recalled being amazed by Mogen on a trip together to Seattle after seeing how kind her daughter was to workers at a store when they were out shopping. In another instance, Mogen called one of Laramie’s cousins, who had served in the military, on Veterans Day to thank him for his service to the country.
“She just had that genuine love, that it’s just impossible to describe,” Laramie said.
Her healing process, she said, has been aided by Kristi and Steve Goncalves, parents of Kaylee Goncalves. She is grateful for those relationships and that support, Laramie said.
“Both families had just like this immediate loss of the girls,” she said. “I just absolutely love them.”
The Goncalveses have been critical of delays in the legal process to get the defendant to trial. Bryan Kohberger, 30, a former graduate student at Washington State University, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a count of felony burglary, and is eligible for the death penalty. His murder trial is now scheduled to begin in summer 2025 in Boise.
Laramie, who attended a pretrial hearing in Boise last month, was hesitant to speak about the length of time between the crime that took her daughter’s life and the trial date.
“I would say that I feel like the legal system is not about the victims, and I’ll leave it at that,” she said.
Today, Laramie is a board member with the Made With Kindness Foundation, dedicated to honoring Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle. The Chapin family separately launched the Ethan’s Smile Foundation in his memory.
The nonprofit celebrating the three victims’ lives was co-founded by Ashlin Couch, a sorority sister to Mogen and Kernodle, with her mother, Angela Navejas, who joined Laramie for Wednesday’s “Today” appearance. Laramie said she looked forward to helping choose college scholarship recipients with some of the foundation’s fundraising proceeds.
“We’re missing our kids, and to have something to put your heart into positively, it’s— there are no words,” Laramie said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 3:12 PM.
