Global Courant 2023-04-28 11:00:22
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Jim and Stacy Chapin left the University of Idaho on November 6, 2022 to trade high-fives, satisfaction sinking in that their triplets were “having the time of their lives.”
“We drove out of town that Sunday morning… and we literally gave each other a high five that day,” Stacy recalls. “We were literally congratulating each other. We were like, ‘We did it, we did it. They’re grown.’ “They’re nice. We did it. We can rest easy.”
There was no way they could know what was coming.
Jim and Stacy Chapin pose with their triplets at the University of Idaho parents’ weekend in November 2022, a week before their son Ethan (second from right) was killed (Stacy Chapin)
Just seven days later, their 20-year-old son Ethan was brutally murdered along with his girlfriend, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
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Ethan (center), 20, was killed along with his girlfriend, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle (right) and her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, November 13, 2022 (Instagram/@kayleegoncalves)
Their murders and their aftermath captivated the country and rocked the Chapin family, throwing them into the “depths of hell,” as Stacy describes it.
The Chapins are slowly emerging from those depths, breaking their months-long silence.
Jim and Stacy Chapin stand next to the tulip mix named in their son’s honor at Tulip Valley Farms in Mount Vernon, Washington (Kelley Kramer for Fox News Digital)
Jim stood in a tulip field not far from where his triplets grew up in Skagit Valley, Washington, fighting back tears as he remembered the last time he had spoken to his son.
“We said goodbye in the parking lot on Saturday night,” Jim recalls. “Sigma Chi house. Gave him a hug. Told him to be safe. And that was the last time.”
‘Depths of hell. We’ve gone through the depths of hell.’
The Chapins aren’t mad, they claimed, though no one would blame them. Jim offered a strong and short explanation of why.
“That’s negative energy, and it’s not worth it,” he said.
“It’s an honest answer,” Stacy added. “It’s a tough hand to get dealt, but we can’t change the outcome.”
The Chapin triplets, pictured in April 2021, announced they would be attending the University of Idaho (Stacy Chapin)
Instead, they channeled their grief into a foundation in honor of Ethan, “Ethan’s smile.” It started at Tulip Valley Farms in Mount Vernon, Washington, where Jim and Stacy met Fox News Digital.
Ethan worked for the farm’s owner during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. After Ethan’s murder, the farm created the “Ethan’s Smile” tulip mix. The Chapins founded the foundation with money from the sale of the mix and bulbs.
‘Ethan’s Smile’ funds scholarships for students in Skagit Valley, Washington at the University of Idaho.
It is also the foundation that brought them out of five months of silence.
The Chapin triplets on their 18th birthday (Stacy Chapin)
After the murders, the Chapins went into lockdown. Stacy’s surviving triplets, Jim and Ethan, Hunter and Maizie, shut down and spent two months together.
Deeply etched in Stacy’s mind was the vivid memory of how they navigated that difficult time.
“We just walked out. Talk. Stories told. Cried,” Stacy said. “One day I was walking alone. I cried so hard. I ran into someone. And I thought they were going to call 911.”
Hunter (left) and Ethan (right) Chapin with their father Jim (Stacy Chapin)
Now they look for small wins every day, like how the University of Idaho community has embraced them, making Jim and Stacy recent honorary graduates.
Another “big win” for the Chapins: Maizie was declared the “sweetheart” of Sigma Chi, the fraternity to which Ethan belonged. Her brother Hunter was there when she received the honor.
Maizie Chapin as Sigma Chi’s “sweetheart” at the University of Idaho (Stacy Chapin)
But they know it won’t all be easy.
“I just realized the next milestone will be Mother’s Day. That’s going to be a tough one,” said Stacy.
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Last year, Ethan celebrated his mom by sending her Morgan Wallen’s new song, “Thought You Should Know.” Wallen wrote it for his own mother. The song features the line, “All those prayers you thought you wasted on me must have finally come through.”
“He was like, ‘Mom, that’s pretty fitting for you,'” Stacy recalled. “It will now forever be my most favorite song,” Stacy said. “You wish you could say, ‘Hey, Morgan Wallen, let me tell you how much you’ve touched our lives because of that.'”
Maizie, left; Ethan, second from left; and Hunter, right, pose with their parents Stacy and Jim Chapin at Priest Lake in northern Idaho, July 2022 (Stacy Chapin via AP)
However, the Chapins don’t live with “what ifs.”
Jim says he has “no regrets at all” as he recalls building sand castles with his kids when they were younger and cribbage tournaments in years past.
“I can honestly say that I don’t think we could spend more time with our children and our family, and we have no regrets for that.”
Their family motto: Go big or go home.
They explained how they worked hard for the life they have. Jim has three children from a previous marriage, but fertility issues plagued him and Stacy. Finally, in true “go big or go home fashion,” Stacy was pregnant with triplets.
“I thought it was an interesting gift,” laughed Jim.
The Chapin triplets as newborns (Stacy Chapin)
“We had to work hard to get those kids,” Stacy added.
Stacy gave up her career to become a stay-at-home mom while Jim ran the family business.
The Chapin family (Stacy Chapin)
Ethan’s accused killer, Bryan Kohberger, is due back in court in June. The Chapins don’t intend to be there.
“Negative energy,” suggested Jim.
The Chapins would rather you know this: Give the gift of time to your children.
“We spent 110% of our time with our kids,” said Jim.
“If we had a message to literally give to someone… I mean, I don’t think we missed a basketball game or a sporting event from our kids,” said Stacy.
“They grow up so fast,” Jim added.
Ethan, the son of Jim and Stacy Chapin, was one of four University of Idaho students murdered last November (Hannah Ray Lambert for Fox News Digital)
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“You never know when life is going to throw you a curve ball. … I think we have the worst curve ball,” Stacy reflected.
But she still says, “I wouldn’t know what I know now and change the 20 years I had.”
Kelley Kramer is deputy editor in chief at Fox News Digital. Prior to joining the web team, Kelley spent ten years as a producer for morning television, including the most watched morning news show on cable “Fox & Friends”.