Here's what Madison Mogen's parents said during Bryan Kohberger ID sentencing
BOISE, Idaho - Bryan Kohberger, who confessed to the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, was sentenced on Wednesday, July 23.
Bryan Kohberger (left) and Idaho murder victims Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves (right).
During his sentencing hearing, the parents of the victims – Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 – delivered emotional impact statements directly to Kohberger.
Here's what Madison Mogen's parents said during the Bryan Kohberger sentencing
On July 23, 2025, both of Madison Mogen's parents testified at Bryan Kohberger's sentencing hearing. Additionally, Madison's stepdad and grandmother delivered statements.
Ben Mogen (Madison's dad)
"I'm Benjamin Mogen and Maddie's dad. First, I just want to say thanks to all the people that helped bring this all to a close. I know it's not the resolution that everyone wanted, but I think that everyone worked so hard and we really appreciate all their efforts. It was such a hard thing to go through for everybody.
"Maddie was my only child that I ever had. It was just the only great thing I ever really did, and the only thing I was really ever proud of. And... I thought we would have the rest of our lives together to… be together and know each other, and I really took for granted the times — you know — she was in college and I thought, oh, well, we'll have the rest of our lives to — to say — to do all the stuff that we're supposed to do. And she was just about done. She actually earned all of her credits for her college degree. And Karen and Scotty and I got to go and get her diploma that she actually earned. She served every bit of that. And I thought that was going to be just the beginning of a long life together, and we never got that.
"Karen and Scotty did such a great job raising her after. Her and I split up, and I'm so thankful for Scotty and the role that he played in her life when I wasn't able to. But we got to spend a lot of great times together.
"Maddie and I, she was my favorite person to go to a concert with. We got to see some fun shows together, and I told her, if there's ever a show that you want to go, let me know, and we'll... I'll get you tickets for you and your friend, or if you want to go together, we'll make it happen. My favorite memory with her was when the Mac Miller show sold out here in Spokane, and everyone wanted tickets. No one could get them, and on the last day before the show, they did a radio thing, and I got four meet-and-greet tickets for Maddie and her friends and me to go and see the show. And that was her favorite artist at the time, was Mac Miller. He's gone now too, and my little cousin Zach drove us all there that night, and he's gone too, tragically, you know.
"Anyway, I — the last thing that she ever wrote to me was this Father's Day card. And I'm so glad I still have it. I'm just gonna read what she said. It says, 'Happy Father's Day. I hope you have the best day. I can't wait till we can hang out again soon. I'll be in Coeur d'Alene 6/24 to 7/4. Hopefully we can find time then. I love your birthday card that you sent me, by the way. Maybe we can see a concert sometime soon. I'd love to see the Gourds when it's not so smoky out. I hope you're doing well. I'm proud of how far you've come. Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. Love you lots and lots. Love, Maddie Mae.'
"She did encourage me to — not just to do my best — but to live on. I went through a lot of… issues with addiction and with substance abuse. And when I wasn't wanting to live anymore, she was what would keep me from just not caring anymore and knowing that she was out there and that she was just such a beautiful person. Kept me alive a lot.
"A lot of rough moments, and… I'm so glad that she was able to meet Jake. He was the only one that actually ever got to take her to the Gorge. They went and saw Watershed together and yeah, they had a heck of a time. I'm glad she got to — that's a really special place for me. And I always wanted — she always wanted to work out there with me in the summer sometime. Man, she never got to, but at least she got to see it once with Jake. He was such a great guy. He is such a good guy. And I really wanted to see what a future with them would have looked like.
"Uh... I... I'll never... I'll never be able to replace her, you know. I wrote a bunch of stuff, I don't... I just don't know what to say right now. I just miss her so much, and I just love her more than anything.
"This shouldn't happen, and... A death sentence is one thing — you know when it's going to happen and it's gonna be all gentle and stuff. A life without parole with a room building full of people that all just want you to not be around anymore. Winking at every morning, not knowing if that's the day they're gonna pull your card. I mean, that's not a very nice sentence either, so... You know, I don't. I just love you, Maddie, and I wish you were still here."
Featured
Here's what Kaylee Goncalves' family said during Bryan Kohberger ID sentencing
Bryan Kohberger, who confessed to the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, was sentenced on Wednesday, July 23.
Scott Laramie (Madison's stepdad)
"My name is Scott Laramie, I'm Maddie Mogan's stepfather and the husband of Maddie's mother, Karen Laramie. I will read this victim impact statement on behalf of Karen and myself.
"Maddie was our gift of life, our purpose, and our hope. Maddie quickly became Karen's joy, identity, and purpose in life. I joined Maddie's life when she was two and a half years old. Experience transformed me into a life of joy, love, and family. Maddie was bright, beautiful, kind, empathic. She listened carefully to others and was observant, seeing and caring about the hearts and the minds of all she encountered. She loved music and music festivals. She had a wonderful sense of humor. She excelled in school.
"She was an easy child, a cheesy child to raise, almost never requiring discipline, and almost always given us parental joy. One time, Karen remembers disciplining Maddie as a little girl. Maddie responded, you broke my heart, which of course melted ours. She had a keen wit even at that young age.
"As she transitioned into teenage years, she prioritized us and extended family over many of the distractions that capture teenagers. She showered us with her presence and love at family events, barbecues, picnics, birthdays, holidays, and others. She spent countless hours with her papa, her uncle David, and our other close family and friends. This world was a better place with her in it.
"As she reached adulthood, Maddie applied her studies to be a marketing professional, entering into an internship at Payne West and started planning her professional future. As with all things, she involved Karen and myself in the joy of her journey.
"As she transitioned into womanhood, Karen and I continued to be astounded at this wonderful and accomplished person we had created. All parents dream of their children accomplishing more than them. We realized this dream, all we had not become, she was becoming. Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie.
"Maddie was taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil. She was taken along with the young, promising, and bright lives of Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan. First we felt disbelief. Next, we felt disorientation. Then we felt grief overcome us. Our grief has compounded even more for the Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin families.
"We speak of hope and helaing, and we do have hope and some healing. But the vast emotional wound will never fully heal. Since Maddie's loss, there's emptiness in our hearts, home and family, an endless void.
"After losing your mother in a car crash, Karen took the grief. Karen took years to grieve and recover. The feeling that her life with Maddie was perfect, helped her to start to heal. Now, this is no longer perfect. After Maddie's loss, Karen felt like she was spinning out emotionally collapsing into anxiety and depression. She sometimes asks, how am I supposed to go on when I've lost my favorite person in the world? I felt the same, and we continue to struggle.
"The loss of Maddie has impacted so many beyond our family. Her second family is her sorority sisters, who grieve alongside us. She has so many close friends who suffer from her loss. We will continue to be… Her loss will continue to be felt by the Vandal community, including Vandal Solutions on campus, where she volunteered her time for others.
"It helps us to know that he is in heaven now, freed from the trials of this earth. We, however, continue to live on without the grace and support of her presence. We will grow old without our only child. Beautiful friend and daughter. In the end, there are no words that can accurately capture the devastation of losing Maddie.
"We will endure, and we will go on. For Maddie, we will not let our grief consume us. For Maddie, we'll continue to love and care for our family and friends, including the families of Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan. We will remain united with them.
"We can only hope that others out there suffering similar losses can look to us and see that we can overcome hatred, darkness, and evil. We know the law allows us to comment on the defendant and the sentence. As for a sentence, we support the plea agreement. Society needs to be protected against this evil.
"As for the defendant, we will not waste words, nor will we fall into hatred and bitterness. Evil has many faces, and we now know this, but evil does not deserve our time and attention. We are done being victims. We are taking back our lives. We will turn our time, talents, and attention to hope, healing, and helping others, and to the future.
"We invite all those who have suffered with us on this to join us in our journey. We can make this world a better place. We can move on from tragedy. Adversity will visit us. Evil will visit, but we will overcome. We can, and we'll endure. Karen and I express our gratitude to your honor and to the prosecution team for allowing us the opportunity to make this statement."
Karen Laramie (Madison's mom)
Mogen family attorney Leander James read a statement for Maddie Mogen's mother, Karen Laramie:
"Karen has asked me to read the statement into the record.
"I thank my husband, Scott, for his statement, his courage, and his unending love and support during this dark time. While words are inadequate to capture the impact of this horrific crime on our family, he expressed it as best anyone could. For Maddie's sake, I will add my supplement statement that incorporates additional impact in the context of my extended family. I am grateful to Matt – his great uncle, Brian Caulfield, for assisting me with a difficult, difficult task of putting our pain into words.
"For me and my extended family, Maddie was our hope and our light. Her beauty, both outside and in, shone its light upon everyone with whom she came in contact. She carried that hope and light into the future for our entire family.
"We have memories of our Maddie and grief and pain at her being taken from our presence. Any one of us would have given our own light to have been outshone by hers. We now look to our creator to know that her light continues where we look to see her in his presence.
"Those who commit evil for their own twisted gains and purposes truly defile the efforts and sacrifices of mothers, fathers, families, teachers, clergy, public servants, service members, and all those who commit themselves to the greater good, freedoms and the future light of our nation.
"Condemnation falls heavily upon those who squandered the lives of our future hopes and dreams. Some may offer forgiveness for what the defendant has done. However, we cannot at this time, or perhaps ever, nor will we ask for mercy for what he has done. His acts are too heinous, the agony and grief he has caused too great. But we will waste no further words or thoughts on him.
"For Maddie's sake, we will move on. We will do our best to carry Maddie light into this world and make it a better place. I thank the court and the prosecution for allowing me the opportunity to make my statement."
Featured
Here's what Xana Kernodle's family said during Bryan Kohberger ID sentencing
Bryan Kohberger, who confessed to the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, was sentenced on Wednesday, July 23.
Kim Cheeley (Madison's grandma)
"My name is Kim Cheeley. I was Maddie Mogen's paternal grandmother. As Ben Mogan, her father, is my son. I'm here today with my sister, Lori Cheeley, Maddie's great Aunt, and my son, Ben Mogen, and my daughter-in-law, Corey Hatrock.
"I'd like to begin by thanking a number of people involved in bringing this case to closure. In my daughter's words... The plea deal the prosecution team reached this month is one that punishes the perpetrator of this horrendous crime, protects the public from further harm, and allows all of us who knew and loved these kids the time to grieve without the anxiety of the long and gruesome trial, the years of appeals, and potential for mistrials along the way.
"My family and I are so grateful to Bill Thompson. And his prosecution team for their dedication and painstaking work that forced the perpetrator to admit his guilt. We want to thank the Idaho State Police, the Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and Judge Hippler. We'd also like to thank The University of Idaho officials who treated the families of the victims with such dignity and kindness and who have honored the four victims beautifully.
"Maddie was my first grandchild. So when she was born, all her grandparents had the distinct pleasure of deciding what we'd like to be called. I chose Nana, pretty original. But when Maddie, was about a year and a half old, her papa, Ben's dad, and I were planning to visit the new little family in Oregon. Maddie didn't have an extensive vocabulary at the time. But for some unknown reason, she called bananas ‘Ba-Deedle-Deedles’.
"When Karen and Ben told her Nana was coming to visit, she figured, I say deedle-deedle for that word. So I became Deedle Deedle, shortened to Deedle when she was about six or seven. And I was Deedle all her life. I don't think her stepdad Scotty ever knew my given name was Kim.
"Maddie's and my birthdays were one day apart. And a couple years before she was killed, she gave me this necklace with Deedle and Maddie engraved on it. And I added an angel wing. And it's one of my treasured possessions. I also got an angel-wing tattoo. Never thought I'd see the day. But along with many members of our family, replicating the one that Maddie and her sorority sisters had, I wanted mine where I could see and touch it often.
"From preschool through grade school, I stopped teaching piano lessons early on Wednesdays and picked Maddie up for bubble baths, brownies, and books. It was our special time together. And she went home those nights in her jammies with a pan of warm brownies for her family.
"Although Karen and Scotty raised Maddie and did such a lovely job of parenting, we Mogens were lucky to have her for holidays and many other family gatherings. We'll always have our treasured memories of Maddie growing up in our big, extended, cooperative family. And I thank Karen and Scotty Laramie for being so generous and open sharing Maddie with her Mogen side of the family.
"When the four kids were murdered, the foundation fell out of our world. Initially, the fear was truly debilitating. The first six weeks were excruciating despite the vigils, memorials, candlelight gatherings of students, friends, family, community members. After the arrest in the past two and a half years, my family has lived with grief, with the effects of traumatic grief – of which I was blissfully unaware before all of this.
"I now have a stack of books on grief. I've attended grief classes at hospice. I've tried EMDR, a technique that helps replace disturbing visions with something more comforting. My son, Ben, his two sisters, Maddie's aunts, and I have all experienced depression and anxiety. And sleep disturbance, requiring medical intervention at times. We've all sought counseling off and on.
"The struggle with media attention was extremely difficult, especially for Ben. No one should live through the violent murder of one's child. Some days, it's beyond me how the parents of these kids are still upright. I'm thankful for the strong families and communities that are supporting the survivors. At the time, I could think of only two blessings surrounding the horrific murders. One was that Ben was living with my partner Tom and me at the time and that we could support each other emotionally through it all. Sadly, Tom died a year ago of a rare brain cancer, and he won't be here to see justice served. He was our family's rock. And we all miss him every day.
"A second blessing is that my mother died of COVID several months before the kids were killed and she didn't have to live through the horror. It was difficult to identify blessings. So we've all lost our dear child and a future with her. I ache for the loss of the dreams that she and her true love Jake. And my heart goes out to Karen and Scotty and your side of Maddie's family. You've had more than your share of loss. My heart aches for the kids' roommates and the families of the other victims and also the family of the perpetrator.
"Going forward, we Mogen's are choosing to put our energy and focus into honoring Maddie's too short life and sweet spirit by celebrating Maddie May Day, which my two daughters established. On May 25th each year, Maddie birthday. We encourage folks to do random acts of kindness in Maddie name.
"In my daughter Katie's words, may we all protect our peace in whatever way possible, unite in community and focus on joy. Please do an act in kindness in Maddie's honor during this week, so a glimmer of Maddie slight may live on. Thank you."
This is a developing story.
Featured
Love for murdered Idaho students, condemnation for Bryan Kohberger at sentencing
Friends and relatives of four University of Idaho students murdered in their rental home by Bryan Kohberger delivered powerful statements of love, anguish and condemnation as his sentencing hearing began Wednesday.
The Source: Information in this story comes from Bryan Kohberger's sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025.
MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE
Witness captures video of plane crashing into water near Mukilteo
Fire truck thief goes on rampage in Everett damaging 14 vehicles
Idaho hiker mistaken for Travis Decker tells all
2 men arrested in $600k ATM robbery spree across WA
Gallery: Capitol Hill Block Party rocks Seattle streets
To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.
Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.