Idaho students killed to get posthumous degrees.

University of Idaho to Award Posthumous Degrees to Murder Victims

The University of Idaho will honor the memory of four students who were tragically killed in their off-campus home in November 2022 by awarding them posthumous degrees and certificates during the university’s graduation ceremony on May 13.

The Victims

• Ethan Chapin, 20
• Xana Kernodle, 20
• Madison Mogen, 21
• Kaylee Goncalves, 21

Mogen and Goncalves, who were seniors preparing to graduate, will receive a marketing degree and general studies degree, respectively. Chapin, who was a freshman, will be awarded a certificate in recreation, sport, and tourism management, and Kernodle, a junior, will be awarded a certificate in marketing, per the university.

Honoring Their Memory

The families of the victims have also found ways to honor their students. Chapin’s parents, Jim and Stacy, started the Ethan Smile Foundation and created a yellow-and-white tulip mix called “Ethan’s Smile” that is now for sale at the same farm where Chapin worked planting bulbs.

The Trial

Bryan Kohberger, a criminology graduate student from Washington State University, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the deaths of the four students on Nov. 13. He is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing in late June, marking almost seven months since the murders.

During the preliminary hearing, the defense and prosecution will offer up evidence and could even present witnesses in what will be one of Idaho’s most high-profile murder trials. Legal counsel for Bethany Funke, one of the two surviving roommates of the victims, fought a subpoena that is compelling her to testify at the hearing in June. Eventually, Funke agreed to an interview with Kohberger’s legal counsel in Reno, Nevada, where she is from.

Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner.