The mother of one of the four University of Idaho students found murdered in 2022 shared the story behind the matching ring she had with her daughter and the foundation created in her honor.
Madison Mogen’s mother, Karen Laramie, showed off half of a two-piece ring that her daughter surprised her with when she appeared on TODAY on Dec. 18.
“So it’s a two-piece ring, and my half says, I think, ‘You are my sunshine,’ and hers said, ‘My only sunshine,'” Laramie said, adding that she used to sing the song to her daughter . “all the time.”
Laramie was joined by Angela Navejas, the mother of Mogen’s best friend Ashlin Couch. Navejas and Couch co-founded the Made With Kindness Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to honor the lives of Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle.
Mogen, 21, Goncalves, 21, Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 19, were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus home near the University of Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022, shocking the community in the small college town of Moscow. , Idaho.
After a six-week manhunt, authorities charged Bryan Kohberger with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. A judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf in 2023, and he will stand trial in Boise, Idaho, in August 2025.
Laramie said she did not have much comment on the time it will take to reach Kohberger’s upcoming trial.
“I feel like the justice system is not about the victims, and I’m going to leave it at that,” she said.
In addition to the story behind her matching rings, Laramie shared how her daughter’s kindness inspired the nonprofit.
“We were in Seattle once, and I saw her as an adult, going shopping and being in these stores, and I thought, ‘You’re just so nice to everyone.’ Have I really ingrained that in you? That’s great.’
“One time she called my cousin on Veterans Day and said, ‘Thank you for your service,’ after living with him and burning half of his pans,” she continued, laughing. “She just had that genuine love that is just impossible to describe.”
Navejas explained how the Made With Kindness Foundation, founded in March 2024, came into being.
“We just decided we wanted to start something to be able to remember and honor the girls and what they were: their optimism, empowerment and self-confidence,” she said. “And so we woke up one morning and said, ‘Hey, let’s start a foundation in honor of the girls.’ And I got some flowers and wrote a letter to Karen, but she wasn’t home, so I taped it to her door, and she came home from Hawaii, and then, here we are.
The Chapin family has created their own foundation, Ethan’s Smile, in honor of their son.
Laramie, community engagement coordinator for the Made With Kindness Foundation, shared what she is most looking forward to as a board member.
“So I think it will be really fun to be part of the scholarship committee and just watch kids, read what they have to say, what’s in their hearts, and be able to give back to them,” Laramie said. “Everyone needs a helping hand, and I’m just really happy to see that.”
“We have a lot of platforms that we work on, and they’re all positive, and that just brings it back to your heart,” she continued. “We miss our kids, and to have something you can put your heart into, there are no words.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
