Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Bryan Kohberger Faces Sentencing. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 23, 2025 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

SCOTT LARAMIE, STEPFATHER OF MADISON MOGEN: She listened carefully to others and was observant, seeing and caring about the hearts and the minds of all she encountered. She loved music and music festivals.

She had a wonderful sense of humor. She excelled in school. She was an the easy child -- easy child to raise, almost never requiring discipline, and almost always giving us a parental joy.

One time Karen -- one time Karen remembers disciplining Maddie as a little girl, Maddie responded, "You broke my heart," which, of course, melted ours. She had a keen wit, even at that young age.

When she transitioned into teenage years, she prioritized us and extended family over many of the distractions that capture teenagers. She showered us with her presence and love at family events, barbecues, picnics, birthdays, holidays and others.

She spent countless hours with her papa, her uncle David and Nadine (ph) and her other close family and friends. This world was a better place with her in it. As she reached adulthood, Maddie applied her studies to be a marketing professional, entering into an internship at PayneWest and started planning her professional future.

As with all things, she involved Karen and myself in the joy of her journey. As she transitioned into womanhood, Karen and I continued to be astounded at this wonderful and accomplished person we had created. All parents dream of their children accomplishing more than them. We realized this dream.

All we had not become, she was becoming. Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie. Maddie was taken senselessly and brutally in a sudden act of evil. She was taken along with the young, promising, and bright lives of Kaylee Goncalves, Xana, and Ethan.

First, we felt disbelief. Next, we felt disorientation. Then we felt grief overcome us. Our grief has compounded even more for the Goncalves, Kernodle, and Chapin families. We speak of hope and healing, and we do have hope and some healing. But the vast emotional wound will never fully heal.

Since Maddie's loss, there's emptiness in our hearts, home, and family, an endless void. After losing her mother in the car crash, Karen took to grieve -- Karen took years to grieve and recover. The feeling that her life with Maddie and me was perfect helped her to start to heal.

Now this is no longer perfect. After Maddie's loss, Karen felt like she was spinning out emotionally, emotionally collapsing into anxiety and depression. She sometimes asks: "How am I supposed to go on when I have lost my favorite person in the world?"

I felt the same, and we continue to struggle. The loss of Maddie has impacted so many beyond our family. Her second family is her sorority sisters who grieve alongside us. She has so many close friends who suffer from her loss. We will continue to be -- her loss will continue to be felt by the Vandal community, including Vandal Solutions on campus, where she volunteered her time for others.

It helps us to know Maddie is in heaven now, freed from the trials of this Earth. We, however, continue to live on without the grace and support of her presence. We will grow old without our only child, our bright, beautiful friend and daughter.

[11:35:16]

In the end, there are no words that can accurately capture the devastation of losing Maddie. We will endure and we will go on. For Maddie, we will not let our grief consume us. For Maddie, we will continue to love and care for our family and friends, including the families of Kaylee, Xana and Ethan.

We will remain united with them. We can only hope that others out there suffering similar losses can look to us and see that we can overcome hatred, darkness and evil.

We know the law allows us to comment on the defendant and his sentence. As for his sentence, we support to plea agreement. Society needs to be protected against this evil. As for the defendant, we will not waste the words, nor will we fall into hatred and bitterness.

Evil has many faces. And we now know this, but evil does not deserve our time and attention. We are done being victims. We are taking back our lives. We will turn our time, talents and attention to hope, healing and helping others and to the future.

We invite all those who have suffered with us on this to join us in our journey. We can make this world a better place. We can move on from tragedy. Adversity will visit us. Evil will visit us, but we will overcome. We can and will endure.

Karen and I express our gratitude to Your Honor and to the prosecution team for allowing us the opportunity to make this statement. Thank you.

JUDGE STEVEN HIPPLER, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO, JUDICIAL COURT: Thank you so much for your courage, and I am so sorry for your loss. God bless.

LARAMIE: Thank you, Your Honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your Honor, this is Leander James. He's the attorney for the Mogen family, victim advocate. He will be reading a statement for Karen Laramie.

LEANDER JAMES, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF MADISON MOGEN: May it please the court, counsel, my name is Leander James. I am the pro bono counsel for Karen and Scott Laramie.

Karen has asked me to read the statement into the record.

"I thank my husband, Scott, for his statement, his courage, and his unending love and support during this dark time. While words are inadequate to capture the impact of this horrific crime on our family, he expressed it as best anyone could.

"For Maddie's sake, I will add my supplement statement that incorporates additional impact in the context of my extended family. I am grateful to Maddie's great-uncle, Brian Caulfield, for assisting me with the difficult, difficult task of putting our pain into words.

"For me and my extended family, Maddie was our hope and our light. Her beauty both outside and in shone its light upon everyone with whom she came in contact. Her beauty both -- pardon me -- she carried that hope and light into the future for our entire family. We have memories of our Maddie and grieve the pain at her being taken from our presence.

"Any one of us would have given our own light to have been outshone by hers. We now look to our creator to know that her light continues where we look to see her in his presence.

"Those who commit evil for their own twisted gains and purposes truly defile the efforts and sacrifices of mothers, fathers, families, teachers, clergy, public servants, service members, and all those who commit themselves to the greater good, freedoms, and the future light of our nation.

[11:40:16]

"Condemnation falls heavily upon those who squandered the lives of our future hopes and dreams. Some may offer forgiveness for what the defendant has done. However, we cannot at this time or perhaps ever, nor will we ask for mercy for what he has done. His acts are too heinous, the agony and grief he has caused too great."

But we will waste no further words or thoughts on him. For Maddie's sake, we will move on. We will do our best to carry Maddie's light into this world and make it a better place. I thank the court and the prosecution for allowing me the opportunity to make my statement. And I thank all those who have and will support my family and the families of Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan. Thank you."

HIPPLER: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Laramie. Appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next is Ben Mogen, the father of Maddie Mogen.

Actually, Your Honor, it'll be Kim Cheeley, the grandmother of Maddie Mogen.

KIM CHEELEY, GRANDMOTHER OF MADISON MOGEN: My name is Kim Cheeley. I was Maddie Mogen's paternal grandmother, as Ben Mogen, her father, is my son.

I'm here today with my sister, Lori (ph) Cheeley, Maddie's great-aunt, and my son, Ben Mogen, and my daughter-in-law Korie Hatrock.

I'd like to begin by thanking a number of people involved in bringing this case to closure. In my daughter's words, the plea deal the prosecution team reached this month is one that punishes the perpetrator of this horrendous crime, protects the public from further harm, and allows all of us who knew and loved these kids the time to grieve without the anxiety of the long and gruesome trial, the years of appeals, and potential for mistrials along the way.

My family and I are so grateful to Bill Thompson and his prosecution team for their dedication and painstaking work that forced the perpetrator to admit his guilt. We want to thank the Idaho State Police, the Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and Judge Hippler. We'd also like to thank the University of Idaho officials who treated the families of the victims with such dignity and kindness and who have honored the four victims beautifully.

Maddie was my first grandchild, so, when she was born, all her grandparents had the distinct pleasure of deciding what we'd like to be called. I chose Nana, pretty original, but when Maddie was about a year-and-a-half old, her papa, Ben's dad, and I were planning to visit the new little family in Oregon.

Maddie didn't have an extensive vocabulary at the time, but for some unknown reason, she called bananas ba-deedle-deedles.

(LAUGHTER)

CHEELEY: When Karen and Ben told her Nana was coming to visit, she figured, I say Deedle-Deedle for that word, so I became Deedle-Deedle, shortened to Deedle when she was about 6 or 7, and I was Deedle all her life.

I don't think her stepdad, Scotty, ever knew my given name was Kim.

(LAUGHTER)

CHEELEY: Maddie's and my birthdays were one day apart, and a couple years before she was killed, she gave me this necklace with Deedle and Maddie engraved on it, and I added an angel wing, and it's one of my treasured possessions.

I also got an angel wing tattoo, never thought I'd see the day, but along with many members of our family, replicating the one that Maddie and her sorority sisters had,. I wanted mine where I could see and touch it often.

[11:45:04]

From preschool through grade school, I stopped teaching piano lessons early on Wednesdays and picked Maddie up for bubble baths, brownies, and books. It was our special time together. And she went home those nights in her jammies with a pan of warm brownies for her family. Although Karen and Scotty raised Maddie and did such a lovely job of

parenting, we Mogens were lucky to have her for holidays and many other family gatherings. We will always have our treasured memories of Maddie growing up in our big extended cooperative family. And I thank Karen and Scotty Laramie for being so generous and open and sharing Maddie with her Mogen side of the family.

When the four kids were murdered, the foundation fell out of our world. Initially, the fear was truly debilitating. The first six weeks were excruciating, despite the vigils, memorials, candlelight gatherings of students, friends, family, community members.

After the arrest, in the past 2.5 years, my family has lived with grief, with the effects of traumatic grief, of which I was blissfully unaware before all of this. I now have a stack of books on grief. I have attended grief classes at hospice. I have tried EMDR, a technique that helps replace disturbing visions with something more comforting.

My son, Ben, his two sisters, Maddie's aunts, and I have all experienced depression and anxiety and sleep disturbance, requiring medical intervention at times. We have all sought counseling off and on. The struggle with media attention was extremely difficult, especially for Ben.

No one should live through the violent murder of one's child. Some days, it's beyond me how the parents of these kids are still upright. I'm thankful for the strong families and communities that are supporting the survivors.

At the time, I could think of only two blessings surrounding the horrific murders. One was that Ben was living with my partner, Tom, and me at the time, and that we could support each other emotionally through it all. Sadly, Tom died a year ago of a rare brain cancer, and he won't be here to see justice served.

He was our family's rock, and we all miss him every day. Our second blessing is that my mother died of COVID several months before the kids were killed, and she didn't have to live through the horror. It was difficult to identify blessings.

So we have all lost our dear child and a future with her. I ache for the loss of the dreams that she and her true love, Jake, held. And my heart goes out to Karen and Scotty and your side of Maddie's family. You have had more than your share of loss. My heart aches for the kids' roommates and the families of the other victims and also the family of the perpetrator.

Going forward, we Mogens are choosing to put our energy and focus into honoring Maddie's too-short life and sweet spirit by celebrating Maddie May Day, which my two daughters established. On May 25 each year, Maddie's birthday, we encourage folks to do random acts of kindness in Maddie's name.

In my daughter Katie's (ph) words, may we all protect our peace in whatever way possible, unite in community, and focus on joy. Please do an act in kindness in Maddie's honor during this week, so a glimmer of Maddie's light may live on. Thank you.

HIPPLER: Thank you. And appreciate your courage and bless you and your family.

[11:50:02]

CHEELEY: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now it's Ben Mogen, Maddie Mogen's father.

BEN MOGEN, FATHER OF MADISON MOGEN: I'm Benjamin Mogen. I'm Maddie's dad.

And, first, I just want to say thanks to all the people that helped bring this all to a close. I know it's not the resolution that everyone wanted, but I think that the everyone worked so hard. And we really appreciate all their efforts. It was such a hard thing to go through for everybody.

Maddie was my only child that I ever had. She is the most, the only great thing I ever really did and the only thing I was really ever proud of. And I thought we would have the rest of our lives together to be together and know each other.

And I really -- I took for granted the times. She was in college, and I thought, oh, we will have the rest of our lives to do all the stuff that we're supposed to do. And she was just about done. And we -- she actually earned all of her credits for her college degree. And Karen, Scotty and I got to go and get her diploma that she actually earned.

And she deserved every bit of that. And -- but I thought that that was going to be just the beginning of a long life together. And we never got that. Karen and Scotty did such a great job raising her after Karen and I split up. And I'm so thankful for Scotty and the role that he played in her life when I wasn't able to.

And -- but we got to spend a lot of great times together, Maddie and I. We -- she was my favorite person to go to a concert with. We got to see some fun shows together. And I told her, if there's ever a show that you want to go to, you let me know and I will get you tickets for you and your friend. Or if you want to go together, we will make it happen.

And my favorite memory with her was when the Mac Miller show sold out here in Spokane and all -- everyone wanted tickets and no one could get them. And they -- on the last day before the show, they did a radio thing, and I got four meet-and-greet tickets for Maddie and her friends and me to go and see a show.

And that was her favorite artist at the time was Mac Miller. And he's gone now too. And my little cousin Zach (ph) drove us all there that night. And he's gone too tragically.

And, anyway, I'm sorry. The last thing that she ever wrote to me was this Father's Day card. And I'm so glad I still have it. I'm just going to read what she said. It says: "Happy Father's Day. I hope you have the best day. I can't

wait until we can hang out again soon. I will be in Coeur d'Alene 6/24 to 7/4. Hopefully we can find the time then. I love your birthday card that you sent me, by the way. Maybe we can see a concert sometime soon. I'd love to see the gorge when it's not so smoky out. I hope you're doing well. I'm proud of how far you have come. Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. Love you lots and lots. Love, Maddie May."

[11:55:07]

She did encourage me to -- not just to do my best, but to live on. I went through a lot of issues with addiction and with substance abuse. And when I wasn't wanting to live anymore, she was what would keep me from just not caring anymore. And knowing that she was out there and that she was just such a beautiful person kept me alive a lot of rough moments.

And I'm so glad that she was able to meet Jake. He was the only one that actually ever got to take her to the gorge. They went and saw the watershed together. And, yes, they had a heck of a time. And I'm glad she got to -- that's a really special place for me. And I always wanted -- she always wanted to work out there with me in the summer sometime.

Man, she never got to, but at least she got to see it once with Jake. He was such a great guy. He is such a great guy. And I really wanted to see what a future with them would have looked like.

I will never -- I will never be able to replace her. I wrote a bunch of stuff. I don't -- I just don't know what to say right now. I just miss her so much. And I just love her more than anything. And this shouldn't have happened.

And a death sentence is one thing. You know when it's going to happen. And it's going to be all gentle and stuff. You know, life without parole with a room, building full of people that all just want you to not be around anymore, waking up every morning, not knowing if that's the day they're going to pull your card, I mean, that's -- that's not a very nice sentence either.

So, I don't -- I just love you, Maddie. And I wish you were still here.

HIPPLER: Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your Honor, next will be members from the Kaylee Goncalves family. First will be her father, Steve Goncalves.

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF KAYLEE GONCALVES: Today, we are here to finish what you started.

Today, you have lost control. Today, we are here to prove to the world that you picked the wrong families, wrong state, the wrong police officers, the wrong community. You tried to break our community apart. You tried to plant fear. You tried to divide us. You failed. Instead, your actions have united everyone in their disgust for you. I

just learned from these lead investigators, to their shock, they worked in an investigation and actually worked with Pennsylvania police officers and the federal FBI. You united everyone. Everyone was united after you.

None of us are divided. We are united in our disgust and our love for these children. Today, you have no name, because, when this all started, we all came together and we said let's stop even talking about his name and just use initials. So, even the media just called you B.K. That's all you are.

Looking back when the police officers knocked on my door, told me what happened to my child, told me what happened to Maddie May, I don't think he was even out of the driveway before my kids turned around and looked at me and said, "What do we do, Dad?"

I told them, "You get to work."