The mother of one of the four University of Idaho students who were found slain in 2022 shared the story behind the matching ring she had with her daughter, and the foundation created in her honor.
Karen Laramie, the mother of Madison Mogen, showed her half of a two-piece ring her daughter surprised her with while appearing on TODAY on Dec. 18.
“So it’s a two-piece ring, and my half, I think, says, ‘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 house 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 is set to stand trial in Boise, Idaho, in August 2025.
Laramie said she didn’t have a lot of comments on the length of time it’s taken to reach Kohberger’s upcoming trial.
“I feel like the legal system is not about the victims, and I’ll 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 one time, and I’m watching her as an adult, going shopping and being in these stores, and I’m like, ‘You’re just so kind to everybody.’ Like, did I really, did we really ingrain that in you? Like, that’s amazing.”
“One time, she called my cousin on Veterans Day and said, ‘Thank you for your service,’ after she lived with him and like, burned half his pans,” she continued through laughter. “She just had that genuine love that it’s just impossible to describe.”
Navejas explained how the Made With Kindness Foundation, created in March 2024, came to be.
“We just decided that we wanted to start something to be able to remember and honor the girls and how they were — their optimism, empowerment, confidence,” she said. “And so we just woke up one morning and said, ‘Hey, let’s start a foundation in the girls’ honor.’ And I grabbed some flowers and wrote a letter to Karen, and she wasn’t home, so I stuck it on her door, and she got 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, who serves as a community engagement coordinator for the Made With Kindness Foundation, shared what she’s looking forward to the most of being a board member.
“So I think the most important thing is it’s going to 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 them back something,” Laramie said. “Everyone needs a helping hand, and I’m just really super excited to see.”
