The mother of slain University of Idaho student Ethan Chapin said her family does not plan to attend the trial of accused killer Bryan Kohberger — and want to spend their energy on keeping his memory alive.
Stacy Chapin said her grieving family will keep the 20-year-old’s legacy alive through “Ethan’s Smile,” a foundation that provides scholarships to students at the school, and her new children’s book, “The Boy Who Wore Blue.”
“[The trial] does not change the outcome of our family and it’s energy that we need to put into healing our kids and getting back to a new family dynamic,” Chapin said Monday on NBC’s “Today” show.
“We let the prosecutors do their job and we do our job in our family,” she said.
“Everyone loved him. He was warm, he was inclusive, he was the kid you wanted to hang out with. He was always game to participate in anything. He was kind,” Chapin added.
She said people who have interacted with Ethan have shared stories about how he touched their lives.
“He was that way from the very beginning. He was born happy. He was just magnanimous. I don’t know how to really explain it,” Stacy said in the family’s first interview since Kohberger pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and burglary last month.
Stacy proudly displayed a tattoo on her left arm that read “I love you Mom,” written in her son’s handwriting.
Chapin, a freshman majoring in recreation, sport and tourism management, his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, 20, and housemates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, were stabbed to death Nov. 13 in an off-campus house in Moscoe, Idaho, in November.
The murder weapon, believed to be a fixed-blade knife, has not been recovered, according to authorities.
Kohberger, a doctoral student of criminology at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in late December at his family’s home in Pennsylvania and charged with the brutal crime.
Stacy called her book “The Boy Who Wore Blue” “the best I can do for [Ethan],” saying the writing process was “like a country artist who goes through a break-up and writes their greatest hit. It literally just came to me in the middle of the night.”
The main character, who mirrors her son’s life, was born as a triplet, loved sports and wearing blue, and worked at a tulip farm as a young adult.
“Life is so short, so give it your best,” the book reads.
Ethan was the first to be born among his triplet siblings — brother Hunter and sister Maizie, who attend the University of Idaho.
When asked where Stacy and her family get their strength after the unimaginable loss, she said on ”Today”: “It has its moments, of course, but we get up every morning and we just decided that the best thing we can do is put our best foot forward, mostly for Maizie and Hunter.”
She added: “They didn’t deserve this. They deserve still the best life that we can give them. And that is the strength that drives us.”
Kohberger, 28, who is being held without bail in the Latah County Jail, last month exercised his right to remain silent rather than make a verbal plea, prompting the judge to enter not-guilty pleas on his behalf.
His trial is expected to start in October.
Prosecutors have until late July to provide notice if they will seek the death penalty.
