MOSCOW, Idaho – The heartbroken father of slain University of Idaho student Madison “Maddie” Mogen called the loss of his only child “the hardest thing in the world” in an interview Monday with Fox News Digital.
Mogen, 21, was raised in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, by her mother and stepfather, Karen and Scott Laramie, whom she called Daddy.
“It’s still hard to believe sometimes. We wake up in the morning and it’s like, ‘No, this isn’t happening,’ then it kicks in,” Scott Laramie said.
Mogen, her best friend Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in the early hours of November 13 in a rental house near campus.
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One of Madison Mogen’s senior photos.
(Photo by Jessie Frost)
The grisly unsolved murders have rocked the small town of Moscow, leaving the families of the victims devastated with grief.
“We love her and we miss her, and it’s the hardest thing in the world trying to figure out how to live without her,” Laramie said, her eyes brimming with tears. “It’s the hardest thing to imagine right now.”
“We’re angry. Anyone would be. I just hope they come up with something sooner rather than later. I just wish there was justice for these kids.”
His biological father, Benjamin Mogen, previously told Fox News that he doesn’t know how a father “ever gets used to this.”
Mogen, known for her warmth and bubbly personality, left behind the love of her life, boyfriend Jake Schriger, according to her obituary.
Victims of the November 13 massacre at the University of Idaho.
(Instagram @xanakernodle / @maddiemogen / @kayleegoncalves)
“He’s completely gutted,” said Laramie, who has been in contact with Schriger. “He’s having a hard time dealing with this, too. Those two, they were really good together. They really clicked.”
At a memorial Friday, Schriger spoke publicly for the first time about the mass murder and the loss of his girlfriend of nearly two years.
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“She was the first person I spoke to every morning and the last person I spoke to before going to bed,” he said. “She was the person I loved the most.”
Mogen, a marketing student, loved all things pink and sparkly and never got tired of watching the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride,” her father said.
University of Idaho student homicide victims were allegedly stabbed to death.
(Derek Shook for Fox News/Instagram)
“Everyone wanted to be around her,” Laramie added. “She had the world at her fingertips and she could have done anything she wanted to do. We were so proud of her.”
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The Moscow Police Department, which works with the FBI and state police, did not name a suspect or recover the large, fixed-blade knife they believe was used in the attack.
They told Laramie they don’t have any leads, he said.
Madison Mogen owned a pair of pink cowboy boots that still hangs in the window of her rental house near the University of Idaho campus.
(Derek Shook for Fox News Digital/Instagram)
“They update us every day,” he added. “We ask that they contact us whether they have anything or not.”
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Not knowing who did this has compounded the family’s anguish, Laramie said.
“We are angry. Anyone would be,” he told Fox News Digital. “I just hope they come up with something sooner rather than later. I just wish there was justice for these kids.”
