Final Heartfelt Texts from Victim Before Tragedy

The sister of Ethan Chapin, one of the students murdered at the University of Idaho, shared the emotional last messages she received from her brother shortly before his death. Mazie Chapin described feeling uneasy when Ethan, 20, sent her a text saying, “I love you,” after they attended her sorority formal the night prior.

Mazie explained she didn’t have a date for the event, so she invited Ethan to be her escort. She recalled, “Some of Ethan’s friends were going, and he wasn’t,” leading her to ask him to join her, which she considered a fun experience.

On November 12, 2022, Ethan and Mazie left for the formal at 9 p.m., but Ethan stayed out later at his fraternity house with friends. Mazie went to bed, unaware of the tragic events that would unfold that morning at Ethan’s off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. There, Ethan and his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, along with her roommates Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, were violently attacked. Ethan was killed early the next morning.

The suspected perpetrator, Bryan Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student, unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the quadruple homicide, avoiding a trial scheduled for August. He faced the possibility of the death penalty but struck a plea deal, admitting guilt and accepting four life sentences plus an additional ten years.

While some victim families criticized the agreement, with one family expressing anger that Kohberger would not face a trial, Ethan’s family supported the plea. His father, Jim Chapin, told a news outlet that the resolution allows them to begin moving forward.

“I’m ready for my kids to move on. I’m ready for us to move on,” said Ethan’s father, Jim. His mother, Stacy, added that it’s positive that those who would have testified no longer face the distress of a trial, emphasizing that the perpetrator’s sentencing will bring closure without the threat of appeals.

Kohberger is set to be sentenced on the morning of July 23, bringing an end to a dark chapter.