It wasn’t the news Steve and Kristi Goncalves were hoping for. Bryan Kohberger’s murder trial is postponed in August 2023, just six weeks before it was scheduled to begin after Idaho student stabbings suspect waives right to speedy trial. They would have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for their day in court.
Kristi Goncalves says: I was hopeful that we could get this show going since the uncertainty… It’s simply misery. It’s excruciating pain.
Kaylee Goncalves’ parents, Steve and Kristi, haven’t left anything to chance. After the court ordered a gag order on attorneys and police enforcement in order “to preserve the right to a fair trial,” they dug down on their investigation and are now releasing their findings. Steve believes that openness is the greatest way to justice.
Steve Goncalves: We’re not going to sit back and cross our fingers, hoping for justice.
SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS
The families of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison “Maddie” Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin — the four University of Idaho students savagely murdered by a knife-wielding assailant in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022, as they settled down to sleep in their off-campus house on King Road — have endured a long and painful journey.
Do you ever fantasize about your sister, Peter Van Sant?
Yes, Jazzmin Kernodle. I’ve had nightmares about her. There have been moments when I prayed and requested God to allow me to see her again, and it gives me some comfort knowing that she is safe.
Jazzmin Kernodle was a senior at Washington State University who lived only 15 minutes away from her younger sister, Xana. Growing up, they were frequently misidentified as twins, although she claims they were great friends.
Jazzmin Kernodle: She was always entertaining. She was energizing. And she could convert any terrible circumstance into a nice one.
Van Sant, Peter: What was your favorite thing about your daughter, Jeff?
Everything… she cared about people, according to Jeffrey Kernodle. She liked meeting new individuals. She cared about her friends as much as she did about her family.
Xana had fallen in love for the first time in her life… with fellow student Ethan Chapin, a triplet who loved his brothers, boats, and working on a tulip farm.
Jazzmin Kernodle: The most adorable child ever. They were just two joyful individuals, and you can tell just by looking at their movies and images how happy they are… They were fantastic together.
Unfortunately, they will now be permanently joined in death. On Sunday, November 13, Xana’s pals began contacting Jazzmin, claiming that something awful had occurred on King Road.
Jazzmin dashed over to Xana’s.
Van Sant, Peter: And are you attempting to contact your sister while driving the eight, or nine kilometers to the house?
Mm-hmm, Jazzmin Kernodle.
Van Sant, Peter: How often did you call her?
Jazzmin Kernodle: A great deal. I phoned her and Ethan frequently.
Her father was the next person she called. Jeffrey Kernodle had spent the weekend with Jazzmin and was on his way home.
Van Sant, Peter: So you pick up the phone. What do you think you’re hearing?
Jeffrey Kernodle: I hear her weeping and urging me to return to Moscow and meet me at Xana’s house. And, you know, my heart sinks… Immediately return down there.
The residence was blocked off and swarmed with cops. Jeffrey and Jazzmin were led to the Moscow Police Department as soon as Jeffrey stated that he was Xana’s father.
Van Sant, Peter: What does the officer say to you and your father, Jazzmin?
Jazzmin Kernodle: I don’t know – I’m not sure. Only four individuals died, one of which was Xana (in tears).
Jeffrey Kernodle: It wasn’t the worst day of your life; it was merely your greatest nightmare. What do you do when something like this happens? You’re powerless to do anything.
A hundred miles distant, the Goncalves family had also been receiving panicked calls claiming that something had happened to their daughter, Kaylee. But no one knew what it was.
Kristi Goncalves says: “What do I do?” I kept asking myself over and over again. What should we do? “What should we do?”
At approximately 4 p.m., a deputy arrived at their home.
Goncalves, Steve: “What’s going on?” we asked. … “I confirmed your daughter passed away. She’s no longer alive.”
Kristi Goncalves is a Brazilian model. He then stated that there were four victims. And I said, “four?” And he said, “Yes, ma’am.” … “Can you tell us if one of the victims was Maddie Mogen?” I said. And he said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Kaylee’s childhood closest friend, Maddie Mogen.
Peter Van Sant: Can you tell us how close Kaylee and Maddie were in real life?
Kristi Goncalves: I think they had a fantastic connection… the pinnacle of real best friends from the beginning. I mean, they were sisters in every way.
They were utterly intertwined, Alivea Goncalves.
Alivea, the eldest of the five Goncalves children, and her parents started on the hunt as soon as the news broke.
Alivea Goncalves: We had no information. We had a feeling they were gone.
Alivea accessed her sister’s phone history and began feverishly cold-calling recent numbers. Kaylee was in the Corner Club pub at about 1:07 a.m., according to a friend, and afterward contacted a rideshare driver, whom Alivea was able to locate.
Alivea Goncalves: The ride-hailing driver stated… Kaylee had contacted him at 1:45 wanting a lift from the Grub Truck, the local mac and cheese food truck… to return her to 1122 King, and she was accompanied by another girl.
Alivea then discovered one of the case’s most critical leads. The Grub Truck’s camera, according to the ridesharing driver.
Alivea Goncalves: So, I looked it up and saw Kaylee on the video, and I noticed the girl she was with was Maddie… So I knew Kaylee and Maddie were together at that time. They got into the car, both together and alone, to go home.
Kaylee and Maddie were dropped off at their King Road home at 1:56 a.m., according to the driver, a timetable she claims she validated before the police.
Goncalves, Alivea: I quickly handed it over to the cops… “Here’s her phone number… Here’s… the name of the ridesharing driver.”
Kaylee called her boyfriend at 2:56 a.m., according to Alivea, but he did not respond. Kaylee, according to the Goncalves, fell asleep shortly after.
Kaylee and Maddie were stabbed to death between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m., according to the police affidavit. They were sleeping in the same bed, as they had done since they were tiny girls.
Kristi Goncalves (in tears): I don’t think there’s anything more terrible than what those two closest friends have been through since they were tiny girls. I honestly don’t.
In a handful of minutes, the assassin killed four people. He did, however, leave two surviving housemates, one of whom would offer a crucial description of the invader.
NEW INFORMATION ON THE KILLER’S RAMPAGE
If there is one image that captures the Idaho student killings, it is of six happy college students blissfully ignorant of the impending horror.
Howard Blum: It’s staged in such a manner that it’s almost, in a strange sense, foreshadowing.
Howard Blum, an investigative journalist, has written extensively on the student deaths for Graydon Carter’s web magazine, Air Mail. He is now working on a book on the case.
Mr. Howard Blum: The two survivors are at the far extremities of the image. The victims are in the center… They’re all gathered together.
Kaylee, with a grinning Maddie on her shoulders – lifelong buddies. Young love is in full bloom, with Ethan’s arm around Xana. A recollection that should have been of their lovely college years will forever be a reminder of the heinous murders that sent them to their deaths.
What makes it so awful is… they’re… permanently preserved in this moment… they’ll never be able to escape this time.
The four companions would be slain hours after the photo was shot, their killings so brutal that the home appeared to be bleeding.
Bryanna Fox: Blood was seeping from the house. You could see it on the outside walls.
Bryanna Fox, a CBS News Consultant, is a former FBI agent and criminology professor at the University of South Florida.
Bryanna Fox: The crime scene is so gory and horrible.
The deaths of Xana and Ethan, who was staying over, were discovered in or near her bedroom on the second floor, according to the affidavit outlining law enforcement’s findings.
Kaylee and Maddie’s bodies were discovered on the third floor in the same single bed in Maddie’s room.
Van Sant, Peter: What happened to your — your daughter in that house? What do you think you know?
Steve Goncalves: We have the autopsy results. We know the formal manner in which she died. … She had been beaten and stabbed.
Kristi Goncalves: Several times… Her death certificate is the most hideous, nasty piece of paper you will ever see.
And every line is a horror show, according to Peter Van Sant.
Kristi Goncalves: Each line because there are reasons for death and contributors to death.
Before the gag order was granted, Kristi and Steve visited with Coroner Cathy Mabbutt, who they claim informed them how the two friends were positioned in the bed.
The bed was against the wall, according to Kristi Goncalves. The headboard and the left side of the bed were both touching the wall. And we think Maddie was on the outside while Kaylee was on the inside.
According to Mabbutt, Maddie was the killer’s first victim, says Steve.
Peter Van Sant: And then he went on to your daughter from Maddie. Do you think she awoke at that point?
Yes, Kristi Goncalves.
Steve Goncalves: There is evidence that she awoke and attempted to flee the situation…
Kristi Goncalves: It’s the way the bed was set up –
Steve Goncalves: She was suffocated.
Kristi Goncalves: She was suffocated.
According to the affidavit, Kohberger’s cellphone pinged 12 times in the vicinity of the residence before the killings. Before the gag order, one of the primary detectives told Steve that they suspect Kohberger was checking out the residence.
Van Sant, Peter: Do you think he was on an intelligence or scouting operation during these visits?
Yes, Kristi Goncalves.
Van Sant, Peter: Who arrived at the house based on their living habits and when they came and went?
Steve Goncalves: Absolutely. Yeah, he had to know when people were arriving and departing.
It makes the Goncalves question if he has ever entered the house.
Kristi Goncalves: I believe he opened the door, walked in, checked the waters, and looked about.
According to Steve, the coroner told him that the killer’s spree began on the third level, where both Maddie and Kaylee had their bedrooms. Kristi believes he was surprised to see the two pals in the same bed.
Kristi Goncalves says: I believe his strategy went astray. I believe you are correct… he wanted to murder one but killed four.
Bryanna Fox believes Xana and Ethan were only bystanders. According to the affidavit, Xana got a DoorDash meal delivery at 4 a.m. and then returned to her second-floor room. According to Fox, it’s plausible that Xana met the killer while still alive.
Bryanna Fox: And she meets someone she didn’t expect to see, and I don’t believe he expected to see her either.
Dylan Mortensen, one of the two surviving roommates, subsequently told authorities that she heard what she believed was sobbing coming from Xana’s room. She overheard a male voice say something along the lines of “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.” According to Fox, this is not something a murderer would say to his targeted victim.
Bryanna Fox: He was probably attempting to make a split-second decision: do I flee, do I kill her, what should I do?… and he made the decision to murder her.
Police say an outdoor security camera less than 50 feet from Xana’s room caught up distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a cry, followed by a loud crash at 4:17 a.m. Dylan, the surviving roommate whose room was near Xana’s, opened the door shortly after.
Howard Blum: When Dylan opened the door, she saw a man dressed in black with a black mask and bushy eyebrows, according to the police complaint. When the cops are making their identification, those bushy brows become quite essential.
Dylan was unharmed as the man with bushy brows continued to stroll to the back of the home.
Mr. Howard Blum: Why wasn’t Dylan killed? Again … There is no conclusive response… He didn’t murder her because he didn’t notice her; he was preoccupied with getting out. He did not murder her because he was satisfied.
Or he was simply too exhausted to murder again, according to Fox.
Bryanna Fox: Even stabbing someone for a minute and a half is not only excessive, but it would also be draining.
Police suspect the murder weapon, which has yet to be discovered, was a military-style KA-BAR knife. The specifics are upsetting.
Bryanna Fox: This is not a normal knife. It was designed to rip bones, ligaments, and organs apart. So… this is incredibly harsh… is something you would never expect a person to walk into and desire to commit unless they enjoyed the savagery of it.
Dylan, the surviving roommate, told detectives she locked herself in her room after witnessing the intruder. It would be nearly eight hours before 911 was contacted, sparking outrage on social media about Dylan’s supposed inactivity. According to Bryanna Fox, it is not uncommon for individuals to freeze or be too terrified to act.
Bryanna Fox: She had no reason to know how to manage herself in that situation.
The individual moved towards the back sliding glass door and likely departed the area, according to the affidavit. But, according to Fox, committing murder and getting away with it are two different things.
Bryanna Fox: To get away with a crime, let alone murder, an offender must bat a thousand. They must be flawless – even if they make one single error, it is enough to ruin everything.
One probable error in this instance might have been the KA-BAR knife sheath – one was discovered on the bed next to Maddie Mogen. It would take detectives to the door of Bryan Kohberger, the accused murderer, who was studying criminology.
INVESTIGATION FROM WITHIN
Van Sant, Peter: Day after day, week after week, and no suspect has been apprehended. How did you feel at the time?
That was the worst, Steve Goncalves.
Kaylee, Maddie, Xana, and Ethan’s families, as well as the rest of the country, waited, mourned, and weighed in for 47 days following the killings.
CHIEF OF POLICE FRY (to reporters): At the moment, we do not have a suspect.
CHIEF OF POLICE FRY (to reporters): People in Idaho and throughout the country who have supplied information have been extremely helpful. Over 19,000 tips were received.
Bryan Kohberger was arrested in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022. His counsel stated at the time that Kohberger was looking forward to being exonerated.
Peter Van Sant: What goes through your thoughts when you see the suspected killer’s face?
Kernodle, Jeffrey: Awe. I’m curious why – who is this? Why, you ask? Never heard of the individual… It is still perplexing. Why?
At this time, the families knew as much about Kohberger as the general public did: he was a Ph.D. candidate researching criminology at Washington State University, barely 10 miles away.
Goncalves, Alivea: I recall thinking that I just had a few minutes… to search up this person and attempt to find any genuine information before things became weird.
Alivea Goncalves was disturbed by some of her web discoveries about Kohberger.
Alivea Goncalves: He had made a few posts on Reddit about organizing a survey of persons in prison or jail who had committed crimes… “How did you choose your victim or target?”
Families and the country were left in the dark for seven weeks.
Bryanna Fox: I believe 47 days is reasonable for this sort of study.
According to criminologist and CBS News contributor Bryanna Fox, the Moscow police kept things moving, beginning with a video canvass that obtained evidence of a white automobile making three passes by the girls’ residence beginning at 3:30 a.m. Investigators said the incident occurred less than an hour later.
Bryanna Fox: They noted that this automobile approached King Road, left, returned, almost executed a U-turn, ultimately went there at approximately 4:06 a.m., and then left in around 25 minutes… and took off.
Multiple surveillance cameras caught the white sedan as it took a less direct route back to Pullman, Washington, arriving at approximately 5:30 a.m.
This information assisted detectives in determining the make and model of the car.
YouTuber James Fry: We’re seeking for a Hyundai Elantra from 2011 to 2013.
Howard Blum: The automobile was discovered parked outside graduate housing by Washington State Police. They obtain the license plate… and they obtain the name Bryan Kohberger… They then get a driver’s license and see the bushy brows that, according to one of the Moscow investigators, must be the killer’s brows.
Investigators obtained cell tower data from that morning, which caught Kohberger’s phone at about 2:47 a.m. near Pullman when it suddenly stopped connecting to the network. This was also approximately the time when cameras showed a white Elantra leaving his apartment complex, according to the affidavit.
Bryanna Fox: There was also evidence that he switched off his cellphone… which is something that many individuals do when they don’t want police authorities to know where they are.
Two hours later, his mobile signal was picked up again south of Moscow as it went back toward his apartment complex.
According to the affidavit, a further dig into Kohberger’s phone history indicated that this was a familiar neighborhood to him dating back many months.
Bryanna Fox: Cell phone data… showed that he traveled to, passed through, and was quite close to the crime site on 12 consecutive times.
And, only hours after the killings, towers caught a 13th journey.
Bryanna Fox: Anecdotally, there are a lot of killers… They enjoy reliving the recollection… of the crime… You know, I won, I got away with it, and you guys won’t find me.
Mr. Howard Blum: They did, however, have one secret weapon to help them prove their case. They had the sheath for the knife… There was also a minuscule speck of… DNA on this. Could this DNA be linked to Kohberger?
According to the affidavit, the DNA was discovered on the sheath’s button snap, but no matches were identified when authorities ran it through the national database.
It’s unclear if Bryan Kohberger was aware of the law enforcement presence when he departed Washington in mid-December. Kohberger and his father, who had flown down from Pennsylvania, returned home in his white Elantra together.
Howard Blum: From what I’ve heard, Kohberger informs his father that he’s in problems with his employment.
Howard Blum: He’s worried about his son enough to want to drive back with him.
They are stopped twice for traffic offenses on the 2,500-mile drive from Washington.
Mr. Howard Blum: It’s also worth noting Kohberger’s response to the cops. He’s cool and collected.
The father and son returned home to Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, where Blum claims detectives launched a covert investigation.
Howard Blum: What they did is they sent a team of Pennsylvania state troopers to Kohberger’s family’s house.
Law enforcement recovered Kohberger’s father’s DNA from the trash outside their home, which tested a high probability it was the biological father of whoever left DNA on the knife sheath.
Howard Blum: So, that was the eureka moment when they decided they could get an arrest warrant.
Bryanna Fox: At that point, they arrested Bryan Kohberger, and they got a separate — essentially a search warrant for his DNA.
And when investigators compared his DNA to the DNA on the knife sheath, they said it was a statistical match, at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be Kohberger’s than anyone else.
POKING HOLES IN THE CASE
Van Sant, Peter: Are you positive, from where you are today, that Bryan Kohberger is the murderer?
Kristi Goncalves: “With what you know.”
Steve Goncalves: Because I don’t trust anyone or anything, I have to see it for myself. I must see everything.
As the months pass, Steve and Kristi Goncalves remain united in their desire for justice, but their wait has given them new views.
Peter Van Sant: Your mind is still open to possibility —
Of course, Steve Goncalves.
Peter Van Sant: Could it have been someone else?
Of course, Steve Goncalves. Yes, I am fully committed to it. Of course.
Van Sant, Peter: Isn’t that not where you are?
No, Kristi Goncalves (looking at Steve).
Steve Goncalves (to Kristi): Okay, alright.
Bryanna Fox: I don’t see any slam dunks.
According to criminologist Bryanna Fox, with the gag order in place, all information on Kohberger’s defense has come through court filings.
Bryanna Fox: It appears like the defense is charging a rush to judgment, that law enforcement made an arrest too rapidly, and that they focused too quickly on their client.
Kohberger’s alibi on the night of the killings was revealed in a defense filing. It just claimed that “Mr. Kohberger was out driving alone.”
Bryanna Fox: The defense doesn’t have to prove he’s innocent; they simply have to create doubts.
Both Fox and Howard Blum believe the defense will be able to discover methods to undermine the prosecution’s case by questioning some of the main evidence mentioned in the affidavit, such as the cellphone location data and the white Elantra.
Bryanna Fox: There are also questions over whether Bryan Kohberger’s vehicle was correctly identified at the start… or if it was changed after learning what Bryan Kohberger drove.
Howard Blum: The mobile data… raises suspicions about Kohberger, but it isn’t compelling… It’s not flattering… It’s placing… someone on someone’s doorstep, it’s putting… someone in someone’s neighborhood.
Mr. Howard Blum: If you can cast doubt on the legitimacy and accuracy of cellular data, I believe you’re halfway there… to obtaining a hung jury or a not-guilty finding in the case against Kohberger.
According to the defense, there’s more.
Bryanna Fox: No DNA or forensic evidence from the crime site was discovered at the apartment, automobile, office, or on Bryan Kohberger’s person. So they were arguing how he could have done such a heinous crime and yet have no proof of it located on him.
Kristi and Steve Goncalves believe Kohberger took a “kill kit” with him after checking with their investigators.
What do you mean by a kill kit, Peter Van Sant?
Steve Goncalves: I believe he was carrying a backpack.
Kristi Goncalves: I need to change my clothing… We’re not sure if it was coveralls, trousers, or a hood.
A defense petition also alleged that unidentifiable male DNA was discovered on the premises.
Bryanna Fox: Three unique male DNA profiles were discovered at the murder site. Two were inside the home, while the third was outside on a glove.
Mr. Howard Blum: The defense is curious… Who are these people, and what function do they have in this entire story?
Mr. Howard Blum: So the defense is now looking for other narratives that make sense.
Howard Blum has written extensively about this case, including an article on a potential alternate defense hypothesis using pharmaceuticals.
Howard Blum: Perhaps someone had cheated on a drug payment, and this was… revenge for individuals not paying for narcotics they had bought.
Van Sant, Peter: I’d like you to reply to something that’s out there… Is it possible that drugs had a role in this attack?
That’s Hollywood rubbish, Steve Goncalves. I immediately rejected it because I understood that our culture likes to believe in some of the movies they see… they don’t have these wild lifestyles where they cross encounters with individuals like that.
They thought they’d identified a plausible connection on Instagram and grabbed screenshots right away. Kristi Goncalves says: That plot about drugs provides folks a reason to wonder why it happened because no one knows. And I believe it happened because he intended it to. That’s exactly what he wanted to accomplish. He intended to murder someone.
Bryan Kohberger’s attorneys contend that there is insufficient proof tying their client to the pupils.
Bryanna Fox: The defense claims that there is no relationship between the defendant, Bryan Kohberger, and the victims. There is no motivation.
The Goncalves family went online just minutes after Bryan Kohberger’s name was made public.
Kristi Goncalves says: When they informed us of the name, we immediately began Googling it.
Kristi Goncalves: Based on our analysis, it looked to be the genuine Bryan Kohberger account.
This account was following Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, as well as other persons with the surname Kohberger.
Goncalves, Steve: However, as we searched through there, we discovered that there were additional family members that were linked to him.
Steve Goncalves, an IT professional, was first suspicious, believing that someone had set up a bogus account in the minutes following Kohberger’s arrest. However, the family claims that they discovered additional possible ties.
Kristi Goncalves: You went to Maddie’s Instagram account and looked at her photos, and he “liked” them… Bryan’s name appeared alongside several of Maddie’s photographs. loved her photos, especially that one, and that one, and that one, and that one. As a result, he was actively browsing the Instagram account.
Van Sant, Peter: What is the significance of that?
Goncalves, Steve: Just digital proof… that this specific account… had some sort of relationship to the victims.
“48 Hours” has not authenticated the legitimacy of this account, which has since been removed, and investigators are barred from commenting.
After months of searching for answers, the Goncalves say they are mentally prepared for trial, no matter when it begins.
Kristi Goncalves: I believe he is finished. He’ll feel all of us gazing at the back of his head. And he’ll recognize us as the Goncalves family. And he is aware of what he has done to our daughter.
MANAGING THEIR ANGER
Goncalves, Steve: How could this happen to a bunch of students who are… doing everything the right way?
Kristi Goncalves says: It is the unknown that keeps you up at night. and that happens every day, all day. It never ends. Why? Why, why, why? There is no reason.
It’s still as mysterious today as it was the day Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were slain.
Jazzmin Kernodle (crying): I want — I wish we had known. They were — all four of them were such wonderful people who had such an influence on the lives of others around them.
For the time being, the families are left with thoughts of what may have been.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST (University of Idaho graduation): Kaylee Jade Goncalves has been nominated… for a posthumous bachelor’s degree. Her family will get a University of Idaho certificate.
On May 13, 2023, precisely six months after the killings, graduation, which should have been a reason for joy, became yet another reminder of what was lost.
Kristi Goncalves (weeping): Seeing all those graduation images makes me feel like they should be here.
Graduation is only one of many overlooked milestones.
Jazzmin Kernodle: She’d have been my maid of honor, and I’d have been hers. And it’s awful to have to go through those life experiences without her.
Alivea Goncalves: The memories we share… we don’t do it lightly, because they are extremely intimate memories, and it sometimes seems like I’m giving up a piece of them. But I do it for the necessity of realizing how severe the loss is… because nothing can bring them back.
Jazzmin Kernodle intended to work alongside her sister Xana to start their own marketing company.
Jazzmin Kernel It just isn’t the same without her since she offered such a completely different spirit than anybody else I’ve ever met.
Kaylee Goncalves’ future was clear. She had taken a position with an IT business in Austin. Kaylee, according to her parents, pushed them as well as herself.
Steve Goncalves: We lost the guy who would drive us to build new memories and to go and take on something that appears to be a bit intimidating at first.
Despite the Goncalves’ tragedy, there was a new member of the family. Alivea gave birth to a baby daughter in February.
Goncalves, Alivea: Theodora MaddieKay is her given name. MaddieKay is obviously after Maddie and Kaylee.
And, if one believes in signs, there were numerous with Theodora MaddieKay’s birth, according to Alive. Her room number at the hospital, 1113, was the same as the day of the murders: November 13. And, curiously, the time of birth, 4:21 a.m., corresponds to the timeframe in which Kaylee and Maddie are thought to have been murdered.
Alivea Goncalves: Birth, life, and firsts… first giggles, first walking… That they’d be there in some way, even if it’s only a nameake.
Kaylee, Maddie, Xana, and Ethan’s families have all looked for methods to live with a terrible new normal, sometimes jointly.
Jazzmin Kernodle: We’re all going to be there for each other, it’s just difficult. We’re all going through it in our unique ways.
Stacy and Jim Chapin, Ethan’s parents, have created a charity, Ethan’s Smile, to raise money for scholarships by selling tulips grown in honor of Ethan, who worked at a tulip farm.
Jim Chapin: Ethan had a wonderful smile that he wore all the time.
So, Ethan will live on via the foundation… that’s what pushes us to accomplish this.
Van Sant, Peter: Jeff, how do you deal with this?
Kernodle, Jeffrey: It is not simple. You simply have to keep going.
Jazzmin Kernodle: I think we’re just living our life the way Xana would want us to. I’m sure she would want us to talk about her life and to be her voice right now.
Kristi Goncalves (examining photos): She had a lovely smile. Maddie and her…
Alivea Goncalves: The memories we share… we don’t do it lightly, because they are extremely intimate memories, and it sometimes seems like I’m giving up a piece of them. But I do it for the necessity of realizing how severe the loss is… because nothing can bring them back.