The parents of Ethan Chapin – one of four University of Idaho students killed in November – are speaking out for the first time since their loved one’s death.
In a new interview with ABC newsStacy and Jim Chapin announced that they have created a foundation in honor of their slain son as they work to heal from their pain.
“We did a good thing that we know Ethan would love,” Stacy said while discussing “Ethan’s smile,’ a new foundation that raises money for scholarships.
Ethan, his brother and sister’s eldest triplets, was found dead in November with his girlfriend Xana Kernodle in her off-campus home at the University of Idaho.
Kernodle and Chapin, along with Kernodle’s roommates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, were brutally stabbed to death in the early hours of November 13.
In December, 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger was arrested and has since been charged with the students’ murder. He has not yet filed a plea.
The parents of Ethan Chapin – one of four University of Idaho students killed in November – are speaking out for the first time since their loved one’s death
“We did a good thing that we know Ethan would love,” Stacy said while discussing “Ethan’s Smile,” a new foundation that raises money for college scholarships
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20 were murdered in their off-campus home in November
In their new interview, Ethan’s parents said his younger siblings – Maizie and Hunter – are now coping with the loss of their older brother.
“When you’re triplets,” Stacy said, “you’ve spent your whole life with other people.”
The Chapin family said Hunter, Ethan’s younger brother, is now facing a life without his “wingman.”
The loss was especially shocking to the siblings who also attend the University of Idaho, some 350 miles from their hometown of Conway, Washington.
The parents said they would stay private after the murder to grieve and care for their two remaining children.
Speaking to ABC, Stacy and Jim said they’re not fully recovered yet, but are finding new ways to remember and honor Ethan.
One way is Ethan’s Smile, a foundation founded by the family that offers scholarships to graduates from Conway, Washington and to students at the University of Idaho.
The Chapin family: Maizie (far left), Ethan (left), Stacy (center), Jim (right), Hunter (far right)
In a new interview with ABC News, Stacy and Jim Chapin announced that they have created a foundation in honor of their murdered son as they work to heal from their pain.
Ethan (left) was the oldest of the Chapin triplets. He is pictured here alongside younger siblings Maizie (center) and Hunter (right)
Ethan and Xana in a photo posted to Instagram before they were killed in November
The parents chose to conduct the interview from Washington’s Tulip Valley Farms, where Ethan, Maizie, and Hunter had worked.
A new tulip bulb mix called ‘Ethan’s Smile’ has also been introduced at the local farm.
The sale goes to supporting the foundation.
The farm also currently sells a tulip bulb mix called ‘Forever Sisters’ in honor of Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen.
In a post posted in February, the local flower fields shared that proceeds would also go toward the “establishment of community memorial gardens and similar tributes in honor of Ethan, Xana, Kaylee and Maddie.”
According to Stacy and Jim, nearly 80,000 bulb mixes have been sold so far.
“For everyone, it’s a tangible thing that represents them, and people can grow them in their yards and gardens,” Stacy said.
The grieving mother said she will also often receive photos from people at Tulip Valley Farms where the Ethan’s Smile mix is starting to bloom and that it has made a big impact on her.
Despite the progress made in the nearly five months since Ethan’s murder, the parents said the road ahead is filled with difficulties that may never abate.
“I just miss him,” Ethan’s father said. “I think about him every day.”
“I loved hugging him,” his mother said. “I’d give anything to hug him again.”
“I loved hugging him,” Ethan’s mom said. “I would give anything to hug him again”
The parents chose to conduct the interview from Washington’s Tulip Valley Farms, where Ethan, Maizie, and Hunter had worked
Tulip Valley Farms currently sells a tulip bulb mix from Ethan’s Smile
A row of Ethan’s Smile tulips has been planted at the flower nursery in Washington
Nearly 80,000 Ethan’s Smile bulb mixes have been sold to date, according to Stacy and Jim
“I just miss him,” Ethan’s father said. ‘I think about him every day’
The interview with the family comes months after the students were murdered in their home in Moscow, Idaho, rented by the three young women and two other roommates.
On the night of November 12, Ethan took his sister Maizie to her sorority party.
Then he went back to his Sigma Chi fraternity house before leaving and went to Kernodle’s house where he was killed.
The four students were each stabbed to death, while the two other roommates survived without injury.
In December, Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger was a Ph.D. Ggraduate student at nearby Washington State University.
After Kohberger was arrested, investigators familiar with the case stated that the criminology student allegedly sent a direct message to one of the victims before the murders.
“He slipped into one of the girls’ DMs several times, but she didn’t respond,” a police source says.
Basically, it was just him saying, “Hey, how are you?” But he did it over and over again.’
This is the house in Moscow, Idaho where four students were brutally murdered in November
The four students were found stabbed to death in the Idaho home on November 13
The case received national attention because of the violence and how long it took police to make an arrest
After Kohberger was arrested, investigators familiar with the case stated that the criminology student allegedly sent a direct message to one of the victims before the murders
Kohberger is said to have sent messages to one of the victims via Instagram
The roommate to whom Kohberger allegedly sent the messages has not been identified. It could have been Goncalves who had expressed fears that she was being stalked.
Experts have mention that Kohberger was likely motivated by “excitement” and “hate.”
“He would have been in a heightened state of arousal and that means he was emotionally or even sexually aroused when he killed those girls, and I suspect it was both,” retired FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole told me. FOX.
“It’s a very dark mentality. It’s not very impulsive. It’s not reckless. It’s “I hate this person, they must die,” she said.