The mother of one of the University of Idaho murder victims, Ethan Chapin, shocked a true crime convention with an unexpected and heartfelt speech about her son and the three other slain students.
Stacy Chapin took to the microphone during a Q&A session to introduce herself to a jam-packed auditorium following a forensics expert’s talk on the University of Idaho student murders on Friday in Orlando during CrimeCon 2023, according to Fox News Digital.
“I’m Stacy Chapin, and I’m Ethan’s mom,” she said, receiving a loud gasp followed by applause of endearment from the stunned crowd of around 3,200 true crime junkies.
“I want all of you to know that these were four of the greatest kids, and all of the great things that you read about them [are] legitimately true.”
Jacksonville State University in Alabama applied forensics professor and host of the “Body Bags” podcast, Joseph Scott Morgan, had wrapped up his hour-long lecture titled “The Idaho Murders: An Expert Forensic Analysis” before turning to the crowd for questions.
Chapin revealed she did not sit through the presentation because the breakdown of the murders was “too hard to watch,” but expressed her teary-eyed gratitude to Morgan for his respectful and insightful remarks about the November 2022 killings.
“It’s always been a challenge for me to hear people talk about Ethan who don’t know him,” Chapin said.
Her son, Ethan, 20, was killed alongside his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, 20, her housemate Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and best friend Madison Mogen, 21, at an off-campus home steps away from the University of Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022.
“I can speak on behalf of my own son, who was an incredible human, and we miss them all terribly,” Chapin said.
The mother revealed she was “not a true crime follower” but had been “thrust into the epicenter” of the “incredibly” devoted community.
As she made her final remarks during her brief but moving speech, Chapin asked that the four slain students not be forgotten.
“They were amazing, amazing kids in the prime of their life,” a choked-up Chapin said as another round of applause broke out in the auditorium.
The unplanned moment was so moving that Morgan “knew” he had to let Chapin say her piece.
“I knew immediately that I needed to keep my mouth shut at this point,” Morgan told Fox News Digital.
“This woman, more so than anybody at this conference relative to these Idaho cases, she deserved to have a platform.”
Chapin initially did not plan on speaking, but when the microphone opened for questions, she felt compelled to drive the seriousness of Morgan’s respectful presentation home so it would stick with those in attendance.
“There was something…this overwhelming, I needed to say this story is real and that’s my son,” the mother told the outlet following her speech.
CrimeCon founder Kevin Balfe said he created the convention to allow “consumers of media to engage directly with those impacted by the cases they follow.”
“This was a powerful moment at our event, and we’re proud to have created a forum where these kinds of important conversations can take place,” Balfe told Fox News Digital.
Her son was spending the night with his girlfriend when they were both brutally killed along with Kernodle’s housemate and friends Gonclaves and Mogen after a night out in Moscow, Idaho.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, has been charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths.
Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University, a short drive from the scene of the killings across the state border.
The accused murderer was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022.
Prosecutors arrested him after finding his DNA on the button of a knife sheath discovered under the body of Mogen.
Kohberger pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in June, and his trial was scheduled for October but has been postponed till at least 2024 after he waived his rights to a speedy trial.
He could face the death sentence if found guilty of the gruesome slayings.
