‘They died together.’ Families, students gather across Idaho to remember U of I victims

Time is precious, said the mother of one of the four University of Idaho students killed in November in Moscow.

At a vigil held inside the university’s Kibbie Dome, Stacy Chapin urged those listening across the state to spend more time with their families. Chapin’s son, Ethan Chapin, was stabbed to death Nov. 13 alongside his girlfriend and two close friends at an off-campus home.

“Make sure that you spend as much time as possible with those people because time is precious and it’s something you can’t get back,” Stacy Chapin said, choking back tears, with her husband Jim also in attendance. “It’s really important.”

More than 1,000 people turned out for the vigil in snowy Moscow, while others lit candles and paid tribute to the four victims at various locations throughout Idaho.

U of I President Scott Green told the crowd he’s touched by the outpouring of love, support and prayers the community has received over the past two and a half weeks. He also thanked Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who was in attendance with First Lady Teresa Little, for providing up to $1 million in emergency aid for the homicide investigation.

The victims were U of I seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, who were close friends; and junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington, who were dating.

Goncavles’ parents attended the vigil, with her father Steve Goncalves speaking with his wife, Kristi, by his side. Goncalves told attendees that Mogen and his daughter did everything together since the sixth grade.

“They went to high school together. Then they started looking at colleges. They came here together,” Goncalves said of the U of I. “They eventually get into the same apartment together. And, in the end, they died together. In the same room, in the same bed. … It’s like a book. It’s like some kind of terrible chapter.”

Mogen’s father, Ben Mogen, lamented a future with his daughter that could’ve been. He recalled bragging to friends about her making the university’s dean’s list — an award demonstrating academic excellence — and about her boyfriend, Jake.

“I’m so glad that she got to just have at least a little taste of what it’s like to be in love with someone,” Ben Mogen said. “I was really proud to call him my daughter’s boyfriend and maybe some day they would have gotten married. It seemed like it at least.”

Since the devastating loss of his daughter, Mogen said he’s been grateful for the love and support he and his family have received from people he hasn’t heard from in 30 years.

Kernodle’s family was unable to attend the vigil, U of I Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said. He said he hopes the university community can find reassurance and comfort in one another.

“I know this crime has impacted not just our students, whom I’ve talked to many, but also our employees, our alumni, our community in Moscow and many more beyond our boundaries of the city, in the state and across this country,” Eckles said. “But it has impacted the families and friends of our lost Vandals the most. Tonight we unite to celebrate and uplift them.”

Synchronized vigils took place across the state at the U of I’s satellite campuses, including Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls and Boise, as well as memorial events in Pocatello and Potlatch.

In Boise, about 150 community members, many wearing knit caps and scarves with the university’s gold-and-black colors, stood together in support on the brick outside the entrance of the university’s six-story Water Center. Joined by Lt. Gov.-elect Scott Bedke and his wife, Sarah Bedke, they watched a livestream of the ceremony in Moscow.

Attendees huddled together for warmth, and to prevent gusts from putting out the slender white candles handed out at the event that they daisy-chained alight in the dark. Others brought their own electric candles from home or used the lights of their cellphones in tribute to the victims and their families.

Carmen Weber, 37, of Boise, attended the U of I, an alumna of its undergraduate landscape architecture and graduate bioregional planning programs. She fought back tears and sniffled through the roughly 45-minute ceremony, but said afterward she felt compelled to brave the cold Wednesday night temperatures to offer her support in the face of the shocking tragedy.

“It’s such a big event that has impacted our whole community — not just the Vandal community, but the whole state,” Weber told the Statesman. “I think there’s a lot of paranoia and uncertainty, and people don’t know if it’s safe,” she added of Moscow, where her younger sister still lives.

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