University of Idaho to give victims of stabbing posthumous degrees, certificates

The four victims of November’s deadly stabbing at an off-campus home near the University of Idaho will be remembered at this weekend’s graduation.

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Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022, The Associated Press reported.

Mogen and Goncalves were both seniors and were preparing to graduate.

Goncalves will be awarded a posthumous degree in general studies. Mogen will have one in marketing.

Certificates, which honor credits earned toward degrees, will be awarded to the two underclassmen. Chapin will have one in recreation, sport and tourism management, while junior Kerndole will have an award for marketing.

The university announced the degrees and certificates in a news release this week.

The families of the students will accept their certificates and a brief ceremony will be held before the other members of the graduating class receive their degrees, KREM reported.

“There’ll be a moment where each of them is awarded that degree and then a moment of silence before we head into the rest of the degrees,” Jodi Walker, the university’s director of communications told the television station.

Bryan Kohberger, a Washington State University student who was pursuing a PhD in criminal justice, is accused of killing the four students. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary, the AP reported.

A fifth student who was killed in an unrelated car accident in August 2022 will also be awarded a bachelor’s degree in criminology during Saturday’s graduation ceremony, the university said.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh will deliver the commencement address at the Moscow campus ceremony on Saturday.