Ethan Chapin, one of four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in the fall of 2022, had a lighthearted, sometimes goofy presence his family still feels today.
The 6-foot-4-inch student rarely took things too seriously, they said, making their loss staggering and their recovery a daily battle against the weight of darkness.
“The days do get better,” Stacy Chapin, speaking alongside her husband, Jim, said for the couple’s first major sit-down interview, airing Monday morning on “TODAY.”
The Chapins were present July 2 when defendant Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder under an agreement that will skip a painful trial, a godsend for the Chapins. He’ll remain behind bars until his last breath.
“It was cold and calculated and weirdly, like an automated phone message,” Stacy Chapin said of seeing the defendant in person for the first time. “I mean, it was just like you expected some, I don’t know, remorse, emotion, something. And there was zero.”
His plea has so far come without an explanation or a disclosure of a motive, but nearly three years after the violence, the Chapins say they don’t need an explanation anymore.
“If I could physically do a handstand, I’d probably do one, because I am so ready,” Jim Chapin said. “I’m ready for my kids to move on. I’m ready for us to move on. I mean, it’s been almost 2½ years, and it’s, just, it’s over.”
Sentencing is July 23 in Boise.
The Chapins say that, even with the deal, it’s possible that Kohberger will never explain what drove him to 1122 King Road early on Nov. 13, 2022, when he entered a home not his own and fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students before a surviving roommate saw him leave wearing a ski mask, she said.
Ethan Chapin was a 20-year-old freshman studying recreation, sport and tourism management. His minors? Bud Light Lime and Taco Bell, his parents say.
In many ways, Kohberger contrasted his victims’ optimism and fun with a demanding demeanor that got him into trouble at Washington State University Global Campus in Pullman, about 8 miles from King Road.
Students there and other sources said Kohberger, a doctoral student in criminology, was under fire for his attitude in his teaching assistant role, grading papers and counseling students. Some students complained, they said, and he was called in for meetings.
Kohberger’s social media surfing in the fall of 2022, reviewed by NBC News, showed he binged on the imagery of some of the friends and followers of the three women killed in the attack.
One of them, Xana Kernodle, 20, was Chapin’s girlfriend and the reason he was at King Road that morning, authorities have said. Housemates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, were also slain.
Motive might ultimately end up locked up for good with Kohberger, who hasn’t spoken about it.
“I don’t believe that we will ever learn that, and I don’t need to know,” Stacy Chapin said. “It doesn’t change the outcome. It’s a horrific event. We’ve gotten through it. I mean, as best as we can, as we continue to heal every single day.”
The plea agreement saved their surviving children, Maizie and Hunter, born alongside Ethan as triplets, from possibly having to testify about him at trial, the Chapins said. The deal raised eyebrows among some of the victims’ parents.
“Our first, our initial response was like, the eye, an eye for an eye,” Stacy Chapin said.
But after speaking with prosecutors and family, the Chapins concluded “this was a better deal,” she said.
“He gets put away, and there’s no appeal system to it, and there were so many kids, including our own, that had been subpoenaed that no longer have this hanging over their heads,” Stacy added.
Jim Chapin said locking the defendant away will prevent him from killing anyone, including college students, again.
“I really don’t care what happens to the guy,” he said. “He’s off the streets. He can’t hurt any more kids.”
For the Chapins, the deal is done, and they’re now happy with it. They’re not even planning to attend sentencing because they feel the case wrapped the minute the defendant said “guilty.”
It was the point at which the couple was finally ready to move on, Jim Chapin said.
“There’s big-time closure,” he said.
Maizie and Hunter recently completed undergraduate studies at the University of Idaho, the couple said, and took part in commencement ceremonies as the Chapins beamed.
Their parents hated the possibility of their children having to testify and endure “memory lane” style displays of imagery from Ethan’s childhood, a painful prospect, they said.
A successful prosecution wasn’t guaranteed, opening up the possibility of a second trial and more pain, they said. And even if Kohberger were found guilty of capital murder, executions can take decades and involve hearings that would bring the Chapins right back to their ringside seats to relive their greatest loss.
While relatives of other victims were unhappy with the way the plea agreement with the defendant was rolled out, the Chapins were ready to say goodbye to all of it. Their appearance on the Prime Video docuseries “One Night in Idaho: The College Murders,” which debuted over the weekend, was calculated, the couple said.
“We got to control the narrative when it comes to Ethan,” Stacy Chapin said. “This is our version of Ethan, who was incredible. We set out consciously to make sure that it was our story, our Ethan.”
Directors Liz Garbus and Matthew Galkin “knocked it out of the park” in portraying Ethan’s airy outlook, Jim Chapin said.
The Chapins’ loss nearly paralyzed the couple: “Crying in your coffee” every morning is how Stacy Chapin described their life. But the two consciously dug themselves out of sorrow and misery and eventually were able to establish a foundation in Ethan’s name, Ethan’s Smile, which has given scholarships to more than 80 students.
And Stacy got moving literally, on her treadmill, step by step.
“You hike your demons out,” she said.
It’s clear that the couple have emerged and that they are happy not to have the daily tribulations of a trial filling up their heads. They’ve let go of much of that, but they say Ethan will always resonate in the household.
“He just could just blow into any room and had something funny to say,” Stacy said. “Elevated everything, you know, just the energy in a room. His Jeep is here. His things are here. He’s here.”