News Team
PHOENIX, Arizona (KIFI) – Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to two life sentences with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the two conspiracy cases in Arizona.
You can watch the hearing below.
She was convicted of conspiracy to kill her former husband, Charles Vallow in April and then convicted of conspiracy to kill her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Sam Ross
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) The Mountain View Event Center in Pocatello played host to two nation-traveling circus shows this week.
On Wednesday, traveling performers put on a ‘Circus of Horror’ show for a packed house of around 300 people.
On Thursday, the Circus Troupe transitioned to ‘Circus on Ice’ for a night of entertainment unlike anything seen in the area before.
“Kind of different from what we would normally do up here at the MEC, but kind of a fun show for families and little kids,” said Shelton Robinson, director of operations at the Mountain View Event Center.
After their stops in Idaho Falls and Pocatello, the circus will head to Twin Falls before making its way to Montana.
Sam Ross
CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIFI) – A young martial artist in Chubbuck is channeling his entrepreneurial spirit to raise money for a trip to a national competition.
Twelve-year-old Kimber Berger is a jiu-jitsu athlete who has trained at the gym ‘Pocatello Jiu-Jitsu’ for a few years, winning multiple titles.
But this summer, Kimber can be found behind his family’s lemonade stand on Stuart Avenue, trying to raise money for a trip to a national jiu-jitsu tournament in Las Vegas at the end of summer.
“We’ve been doing this lemonade stand for quite a while now,” said Kimber. “My mom suggested it, and I was like, oh yeah, that could be a good way. So, we just came out. We just came out like two weeks ago. That’s when we first started this summer, and it was doing pretty well.”
Kimber says he’s only around $200 away from his $500 goal.
He’s inviting everyone to stop by his stand for fresh lemonade in multiple flavors and to help him achieve his dream of making it to the national jiu-jitsu competition on August 26.
Sam Ross
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI)– SRD’s Traveling Animals is hosting a ‘Wild Reptile Adventure’ event at Jungle ReTreat Ice Cream in Pocatello on Saturday, July 26.
The event will give people a chance to get up close and personal with snakes, lizards, and turtles rescued from the Pocatello area, while SRD owners walk people through reptile facts and proper care instructions.
“We’re just trying to educate people on what these animals are, what they need, what they take, how to properly care for them so that maybe they won’t end up in the rescue as much,” said Nikki Jorgenson, owner of SRD’s Traveling Animals.
Jorgenson said SRD started rescuing dogs, cats, and rabbits about 20 years ago, but over the past five years they have seen an influx of rescued reptiles brought to them for help.
The Wild Reptile Adventure event will have two shows starting at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person; admission includes a scoop of ice cream from Jungle ReTreat.
For more information on the event, or to purchase tickets, you can visit: https://www.pocatelloevents.com/tickets.
Ariel Jensen
UPDATE: After two days of testimonies from the prosecution and defense, Jeremy Best was given three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The three sentences represent his wife, Kali Best, their son Zeke, and their unborn child.
Judge Dane Watkins, Jr. handed down the sentence Thursday afternoon at the Teton County Courthouse.
Before he was sentenced by the judge, Best apologized to his wife’s family and his own family.
WATCH THE SENTENCING HEARING BELOW:
DRIGGS, Idaho (KIFI)—An emotional morning in a Driggs courtroom as the sentencing hearing continues for Jeremy Best.
He admits to killing his pregnant wife Kali, their unborn child, and 10-month-old son Zeke.
The crime happened in November 2023 and attracted nationwide attention.
Thursday’s sentencing hearing began with Jeremy Best’s defense attorneys discussing his life history. According to court testimony, Jeremy met Kali in 2010, and they married in 2022.
A clinical psychologist said Best has ADHD and a bipolar disorder.
The defense was trying to show the crime was the result of a mental disorder, and prosecutors were pushing back on the psychologist and his findings.
Several witnesses who testified Thursday afternoon said Jeremy and Kali were a loving couple, and none of them saw the murders coming. Jeremy was seen being emotional at times during the testimony.
Victim impact statements will be heard after the defense has finished presenting its witnesses.
This story is still developing. Please return to this page for updates later Thursday.
Noah Farley
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Falls Police Department will host an ice cream social for the community at Reed’s Dairy Thursday night.
Idaho Falls residents who live within the city limits west of South Yellowstone Avenue are encouraged to stop by Reed’s Dairy (2260 W Broadway) on July 24 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Thursday’s event is part of the department’s 4 Beats, 4 Events, 1 Community.
This is the first of multiple community events IFPD is hosting over the next few months. Each event is held in one of the department’s police beats.
The events follow the model of Coffee with a Cup, a national initiative meant to help build better communication and trust between police and the community.
IFPD’s upcoming events and locations can be found here.
CNN Newsource
By Kyle Feldscher, CNN
(CNN) — Professional wrestler Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, died on Thursday at the age of 71, according to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Bollea is widely recognized as the biggest wrestling star of all time and helped WWE become the behemoth that it is today. In the 1980s and 1990s, Bollea’s larger-than-life personality – in and out of the ring – made him a household name and a crossover mainstream star, starring in movies and recognized around the world.
“WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s,” the company said in a post on X. “WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans.”
The city of Clearwater, Florida, said in a statement that police and fire personnel were dispatched to Bollea’s home after a report of an individual in cardiac arrest. Bollea was treated by fire and rescue crews when they arrived and was transported to Morton Plant Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. TMZ was first to report the news.
Police said in a news conference that there were no signs of suspicious activity in his death and an investigation is ongoing.
With his boasts of possessing “24-inch pythons” for arms and his reminders to “say your prayers and eat your vitamins,” Bollea was instrumental in wrestling’s 1980s “golden era.” Bollea’s popularity and his rivalries with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, André Rene Roussimoff – known as André the Giant, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and scores of others made professional wrestling a multi-billion-dollar industry in the 1980s and early 1990s.
His decision to leave the then-World Wrestling Federation for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the mid-1990s sent shockwaves around the wrestling world. His “heel turn” – the wrestling term for a hero turning into a villain – in 1996 and his run as “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan is one of the most memorable periods of wrestling history and helped WCW usurp Bollea’s former company in television ratings for 83 weeks – the last time WWE trailed another wrestling company in the traditional measure of popularity.
His time in WCW would eventually turn sour as Bollea took part in the “Finger Poke of Doom,” a moment that exposed professional wrestling’s predetermined nature to a level that had not been seen before. That incident – in which wrestler Kevin Nash flopped on his back after being poked by Bollea, allowing the evil Hollywood Hogan to once again become the WCW champion – sent the company into a period of crisis that turned off fans so much that WWE was able to eventually buy its competition for a relative pittance.
Bollea eventually returned to WWE as a full-time performer in the early 2000s, having a celebrated match with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at WrestleMania X8 in which two of wrestling’s biggest-ever stars created a cauldron of noise at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, then known as the SkyDome.
“The Hulkster” would spend a few more years with WWE before moving over to its competition once again by signing with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling in 2010. His time with TNA would not be nearly as celebrated as Bollea and other older wrestling stars would be featured on the company’s programming to the detriment of younger talent that became disillusioned with the company and its leadership. He eventually left TNA after three years, not having achieved the same kind of success as he had in his early WCW run when he challenged WWE’s supremacy.
The WWE Hall of Famer would return to the company once more until he was caught on tape making racial slurs in a video that surfaced in 2015, a moment that tarnished his legacy among scores of wrestling fans and wrestlers. At the time, WWE ended its contract and removed many mentions of him from its website.
Bollea would apologize for his comments, which were recorded in an “unauthorized sex tape,” according to the Enquirer, and included the n-word in reference to the dating life of his daughter, Brooke.
“Eight years ago, I used offensive language during a conversation,” Bollea said in a statement at the time. “It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it.”
That sex tape was instrumental in the destruction of Gawker, an acerbic website that frequently took on pop culture and governmental figures in the 2000s and early 2010s. The website published the tape on its site, leading to a prolonged lawsuit over the outlet’s invasion of Bollea’s privacy. The $115 million judgment bankrupted the website and became a pivotal moment in media law.
While Bollea reportedly apologized to the WWE locker room for using slurs, many wrestlers never forgave him. His reception at future appearances in the company – he returned in an on-air capacity in 2019 and would make sporadic appearances until his death – received mix reactions and he was sometimes outright booed by the crowds.
Bollea’s death comes a little more than a month before the first event by his new wrestling company, Real American Freestyle. That company seeks to provide a bigger platform for traditional wrestling – the kind one would see in the Olympics rather than WWE’s version – and was set to host its initial event on August 30.
“We lost our commissioner. We lost a friend. And the sport of wrestling lost one of its greatest champions, not just in the ring, but in spirit,” said Chad Bronstein, CEO and co-founder of Real American Freestyle.
“Hulk Hogan believed wrestling was more than just entertainment. He saw it as a brotherhood, a proving ground and a platform for greatness. That’s what Real American Freestyle was built to be, a new stage for the toughest, most passionate athletes on Earth. And Hulk was at the center of it,” Bronstein stated.
Bringing pro wrestling to the mainstream
Professional wrestling, and indeed the world of entertainment, had never really seen anything like Hulk Hogan in the early 1980s.
At the time, professional wrestling was a segmented, regional business. Each company had its own territory, and performers would move between organizations as their characters grew stale with the crowd. Professional wrestlers were big, barrel-chested performers who didn’t move all that much, wore black or other similarly drab colored trunks and often looked like the very crowds assembled in front of them.
Bollea was anything but drab. A tall, muscular blonde who appeared to be carved out of granite, Bollea would strut to the ring with his wild hand gestures and over-the-top personality oozing out of every pore. Clad in his trademark yellow-and-red shirt, ripping it off when he entered the ring, Bollea quickly became a crowd favorite. He made his name in the American Wrestling Alliance, based in Minnesota, and got on Hollywood’s radar with his memorable cameo in “Rocky III,” but it was his move to the then-WWF that helped turn him into “The Immortal Hulk Hogan.”
The gregarious wrestler became the company’s biggest-ever star and his collaboration with Vince McMahon, engulfed in his own scandals as of late and cast off from the company, Bollea turned into a phenomenon. He made professional wrestling a big-time business. Bollea became McMahon’s star, the center of the company from the early 1980s until he departed for WCW in the mid-1990s. Crowned champion for the first time in January 1984, Bollea would frequently be WWE’s leading man.
While he often ruffled feathers backstage by protecting his image and character, he was received with adoration from fans around the world for years. His partnership with Mr. T at the first WrestleMania changed WWE’s fortunes forever, his body slam of André The Giant at WrestleMania III that became one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history, his handshake with Savage to form the Mega Powers, losing the title in a bizarre moment involving an evil twin referee – but Bollea more than fulfilled his promise to let “Hulkamania run wild” over the wrestling world.
The legions of “Hulkamaniacs” that followed their favorite star led to him becoming one of wrestling’s most successful crossover stars.
Bollea’s animated series “Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling” debuted in 1985 during CBS’s Saturday Morning lineup, further cementing Hulk Hogan as a household name to people of all ages. The series ran for two seasons and featured “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett voicing the titular role of Hogan.
The series featured popular WWF stars of the time, as well as James Avery, Lewis Arquette, Jodi Carlisle, Ron Feinberg and Pat Fraley, among others, as voice actors for each of the characters.
Since his early wrestling days, Bollea was immortalized in what have now become collectible action figures, some more rare than others. The figures, depicting the wrestling champ in his signature yellow and red uniform, have taken many forms over the years. Toymakers Hasbro and Mattel have released over time various iterations of the Hogan action figure.
Moving to the competition
Eventually, Bollea’s run in WWE petered out as his “Real American,” the unconquerable good guy character, grew stale with the audience after so many years. He’d eventually make the jump to WCW, joining up with the promotion owned by Ted Turner – CNN’s founder – to try and knock the WWE off its pedestal as wrestling’s biggest company.
But Bollea’s time with WWE was still under scrutiny even as he worked with the competition. In the 1994 trial in which McMahon was accused of providing steroids for his wrestlers, Bollea admitted to taking the supplements during his stint in the WWE but said he was never ordered to do so by McMahon or company leadership.
A noticeably smaller Bollea continued his same character in WCW for a number of years before that act also grew old with the fans of his new company. In the summer of 1996, he did the unthinkable – joining up with villains Nash and Scott Hall to form the New World Order, trashing wrestling fans, WWE and anyone else he could think of during one of professional wrestling’s most famous promos.
The next several years of WCW’s programming were dominated by the NWO, Bollea and the cast of WCW stars attempting to save the company from his nefarious control. The storyline, along with the role of savior played by wrestler Sting, helped fuel the company to its hottest period. WCW’s run helped fuel a shift in how McMahon ran his own company, transitioning to a more extreme and raunchier version of his own programming, which became known as “The Attitude Era.” The battle between WCW and WWE brought pro wrestling to its most popular moment in history, as both companies went head-to-head in a period that became known as the “Monday Night Wars.”
After the so-called Fingerpoke of Doom incident, WCW’s popularity – and Bollea’s along with it – cratered. The company descended into a form of professional wrestling madness as storylines no longer made sense, with the curtain frequently pulled back to expose pro wrestling in a way that was heresy to many longtime fans. Money was spent so haphazardly that WCW went from the most popular company in the industry to insolvent in a little more than two years.
Eventually, McMahon got his ultimate triumph by buying WCW and incorporating it into his own show. That led to a moment that didn’t seem possible not long before – Bollea returning to WWE after years of trying to run his old company out of business.
Soon, that was all water under the bridge. The mega showdown with The Rock, another run with the WWE championship and induction into the company’s Hall of Fame in 2005 made Bollea once again synonymous with wrestling’s most successful company. Even when he left for his stint in TNA, Bollea was thought of warmly in the halls of Stamford, Connecticut, where WWE was based.
In 2005, the wrestler took a page out of rocker Ozzy Osbourne’s book when he and his family starred in the VH1 reality series “Hogan Knows Best.” The series featured him, his then-wife Linda, their children Nick and Brooke and Hogan’s longtime friend and former wrestler, Brian Knobbs. It lasted two seasons and had a spin-off, “Brooke Knows Best,” starring his daughter, which also ran for two seasons.
Controversy and ostracization
Bollea’s ability to stay in the spotlight took a different turn in the middle part of the 2010s.
The exposure of his racist rant disappointed millions of his fans and forever changed how they saw a man whose theme song once boasted, “I am a real American, fight for the rights of every man.” Bollea’s public image never totally recovered.
The protracted Gawker lawsuit also put more of Bollea’s life on display. It was revealed later that billionaire Peter Thiel backed Bollea’s invasion of privacy lawsuit in an attempt at revenge against the company because it had outed him as gay.
The racist rant led to Bollea being fired from WWE and forced him away from the company for years, returning eventually after speaking to the company’s talent and making an apology. Talent at the time said the apology was lacking, leading to many of the company’s top stars to keep Hogan at arm’s length for the rest of his days.
“What I don’t support was the apology that was given in regards to the words and the actions that he exhibited years ago,” said Thaddeus Bullard, who goes by the name Titus O’Neill in the WWE, in a 2019 appearance on the “Busted Open Radio” podcast.
“To me, when you have true remorse for being sorry about doing something, it’s pretty simple. You don’t have to be prepped to say certain things and you definitely don’t want to make excuses. I just feel like the inconsistencies to the time that it came out to last week were so across the board were just like – sitting there, it was uncomfortable for me. I want to give the character, Hulk Hogan, a chance and the man, Terry Bollea, a chance to redeem himself. … He truly let a lot of folks down, both White, Black and everything in between.”
His appearances in later years in WWE were marked by boos, including his last one in January.
Months after that appearance, WWE star Colby Lopez, better known as Seth Rollins, said in an interview on the “Outta Pocket with RG3” podcast that he spoke for many wrestling fans who had grown up as fans of Bollea’s but whose image of him was fundamentally changed.
“He’s someone who’s I think a victim of his own ego a little bit and he doesn’t understand how what he does affects people around him,” Lopez said.
“If you are not a good person and it’s in your moral ethic not to treat someone with the same respect regardless of what they do, where they come from or the color of their skin, I got no time for you,” he added.
Sidling up to Trump – and one last famous tearing of the shirt
Perhaps Bollea’s last big public showing was a surprise appearance in prime time on the final night of last year’s Republican National Convention, ripping off his shirt to expose a red Trump-Vance tank top underneath.
In a speech, Bollea called Trump his “hero” and said he would bring “America back together, one real American at a time.”
He had said in interviews that seeing Trump’s response to his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, had changed his thinking about wading into that year’s election.
“As an entertainer, I try to stay out of politics,” said the wrestler. “But after everything that’s happened to our country over the past four years, and everything that happened last weekend, I can no longer stay silent.”
Trump has long ties to the WWE, having participated in several events and been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
The organization’s former chief executive, Linda McMahon, is now serving as the Secretary of Education.
Trump mourned the loss of his “great friend.”
“We lost a great friend today, the ‘Hulkster,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Hulk Hogan was MAGA all the way — Strong, tough, smart, but with the biggest heart.”
While Hogan endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, his allegiance shifted to Republicans in recent years.
In his post, Trump referred to the famed speech at the RNC.
“He gave an absolutely electric speech at the Republican National Convention, that was one of the highlights of the entire week,” Trump wrote. “He entertained fans from all over the World, and the cultural impact he had was massive. To his wife, Sky, and family, we give our warmest best wishes and love. Hulk Hogan will be greatly missed!”
Vice President JD Vance remembered Bollea as a “great American icon.”
“One of the first people I ever truly admired as a kid,” Vance wrote on X. “The last time I saw him we promised we’d get beers together next time we saw each other. The next time will have to be on the other side, my friend! Rest in peace.”
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Lisa France, Alli Rosenbloom and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Ariel Jensen
DRIGGS, Idaho (KIFI) – A sentencing hearing continues on Thursday for Jeremy Best. Best pleaded guilty back in February to killing his wife Kali, their unborn child and 10-month-old son Zeke in November of 2023.
Best appeared in the Teton County Courtroom where prosecutors presented texts and videos that indicated financial difficulties for Kali and Jeremy.
Texts revealed in court showed Jeremy was pushing for a divorce.
Prosecutors also played a compelling video clip of Zeke playing just a few weeks before the killing. In the clip jeremy says, “We’re not supposed to have kids.”
Prosecutors say Jeremy had a history of mental health problems. They say he left local hospitals feeling he was not getting the treatment he needed.
Jeremy also stopped taking his bipolar medication 17 months before showing up to a convenience store naked.
The judge viewed body cam footage when officers discovered Kali’s body. Those in the courtroom were allowed to hear the audio, but not watch it.
A neighbor reported what he heard the couple arguing outside from across the street the night of the killings. Then he describes what he heard next.
“I then heard gunshots, what sounded to be like three shots, followed by one or two after that. Something to the effect of pop pop pop,– pop,– pop.”
On Thursday, the defense will present its evidence, followed by victim impact statements. Then Judge Dane Watkins Jr. is expected to deliver a sentence in the afternoon.
Max Gershon
RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) — At around 3:37 PM, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at 531 N 4200 E in Rigby to serve a felony warrant.
Shortly after the standoff ended, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying that Bonneville County SWAT, Idaho Falls Police, and Central Fire Ambulance were all at the scene in some capacity during the standoff.
The Sheriff’s Office says at approximately 3:37 Wednesday afternoon, Jefferson County deputies arrived at the home to serve a felony warrant.
That’s when they discovered Patrick Burns had barricaded himself in a bedroom inside the home.
Burns was later taken into custody at 8:08 PM.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office also said Burns has had extensive interactions with multiple agencies in southeastern Idaho, and no law enforcement officers were injured during the standoff.
CNN
CNN
By Eric Levenson, Dakin Andone, Maureen Chowdhury, Antoinette Radford, CNN
(CNN) — The family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four University of Idaho students killed by Bryan Kohberger in 2022, called him a “joke,” “loser,” and “as dumb as they come” in a day of searing victim impact statements.
“If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your fucking ass,” her sister Alivea Goncalves said to him, earning a round of applause from some of those gathered in the Boise, Idaho, courtroom.
The impact statements from the victims’ families were part of a dramatic sentencing hearing that represented the final opportunity for the families to speak in court and reflect on their loved ones, Kohberger and the case’s controversial plea deal.
Kohberger, too, had an opportunity to speak to the court and answer the question that remains frustratingly unclear: Why?
Yet he was as unknowable as ever. Wearing an orange prison outfit, Kohberger kept a flat affect throughout the hearing and did not appear to react to any of the statements. And when he had his turn to speak to the court, he said only three words: “I respectfully decline.”
Earlier this month, the former criminology graduate student admitted to fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students – Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen – in their off-campus home during the overnight hours of November 13, 2022.
He pleaded guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder, and in exchange, prosecutors agreed to a sentence of life in prison, taking the death penalty off the table.
Goncalves family directly addresses killer
Speaking directly to Kohberger, Alivea Goncalves said her sister would “call you exactly what you are: sociopath, psychopath, murderer.”
She called Kohberger “defendant” and asked a series of questions she said “reverberate violently” in her own head.
“Sit up straight when I talk to you,” she said. “How was your life right before you murdered my sister? Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your apartment? Please detail what you were thinking and feeling at the time.”
“If you were really smart, do you think you’d be here right now?”
She dismissed him as a sociopath, a psychopath and a delusional and pathetic loser. He is “as dumb as they come,” she said, adding that “no one thinks that you are important.”
“The truth is, you’re basic,” she said.
“Let me be very clear: Don’t ever try to convince yourself you matter just because someone finally said your name out loud. I see through you,” she said.
Steve Goncalves, the victim’s father, turned the lectern to directly face Kohberger in his impact statement.
“The world’s watching because of the kids, not because of you. Nobody cares about you. … In time, you will be nothing but two initials, forgotten to the wind,” he said.
He called Kohberger a “joke” and described how easy it was to track him down.
“Police officers tell us within minutes they had your DNA. Like a calling card. You were that careless. That foolish. That stupid. Masters degree? You’re a joke. Complete joke,” he said.
A roommate explains her survivor’s guilt
Bethany Funke, a roommate of the four slain students, wrote a statement – read aloud by a friend – about her survivor’s guilt and her regrets about not immediately calling 911.
“I was still out of it and still didn’t know what happened. If I had known, I of course, would have called 911 right away,” Funke wrote. “I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what had happened and not calling right away, even though I understand, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“That was the worst day of my life, and I know it always will be,” she added.
“Why me? Why did I get to live and not them?”
Another roommate says she was ‘shattered’
Dylan Mortensen, who also lived with the victims, read aloud her statement through tears, describing what the perpetrator had taken away from all of them.
“He didn’t just take their lives, he took the light they carried into every room. He took away how they made everyone feel safe, loved, and full of joy. He took away the ability for me to tell them that I love them and that I’m so proud of them.
“He took away who they were becoming, and the futures they were going to have. He took away birthdays, graduations, celebrations, and all the memories that we were supposed to make,” she said. “All of it is gone. And all the people who loved them are just left to carry that weight forever.”
“He didn’t just take them from the world, he took them from me. My friends, my people who felt like my home. The people I looked up to and adored more than anyone. He took away my ability to trust the world around me. What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break.”
Mortensen said she has panic attacks “that slam into me like a tsunami out of nowhere” and send her heart racing.
She also said she had a dream last year in which she was able to say goodbye to her slain roommates.
“I told them I won’t be able to see you again, so I need to tell you goodbye. They all kept asking why, and all I could say was I can’t tell you but I have to,” she said. “When I woke up, I felt shattered and heartbroken but also strangely grateful, like maybe in some way that dream gave us the goodbye we never got. Still, no dream can replace them, and no goodbye will ever feel finished.”
Mogen’s parents and grandmother reflect on her loss
Scott Laramie, Mogen’s stepfather, read a statement on behalf of him and Mogen’s mother, Karen Laramie, saying their daughter was “our gift of life, our purpose and our hope.”
Laramie said the tragic loss of their daughter has left a “vast emotional wound” that will “never heal.”
“Since Maddie’s loss, there’s emptiness in our hearts, home and family. An endless void,” Laramie said. “We will grow old grow without our only child.”
Ben Mogen, Mogen’s father, said she was much more than his only child.
“She was the only great thing I ever really did. And the only thing I was ever really proud of.”
He described struggling with addiction and substance abuse and how her daughter helped him.
“When I wasn’t wanting to live anymore, she was what would keep me from not caring anymore. Knowing that she was out there and was such a beautiful person kept me alive in a lot of rough moments,” he said.
Mogen’s grandmother, Kim Cheeley, told a charming story about how Mogen, her first granddaughter, gave her an unusual nickname.
Mogen, then a 1.5-year-old, called her grandmother the same way she mispronounced “banana” – “ba-deedle-deedle.” From then on, Cheeley became known as “Deedle,” she said.
A couple of years before her death, Mogen bought Cheeley a necklace with “Deedle and Maddie” engraved on it, which has become one of her “treasured” possessions, she said. Following her granddaughter’s death, Cheeley added an angel wing to the necklace, she told the court.
“It’s one of my treasured possessions,” she said.
Several members of the family now have an angel wing tattoo in honor of her granddaughter, Cheeley said.
“I wanted mine where I could see and touch it often,” she said, rubbing her left forearm.
‘I have forgiven you,’ Kernodle’s aunt tells Kohberger
Kim Kernodle, the aunt of Xana Kernodle, said the loss of her niece at first spurred anger within their family but recently has brought them closer.
“You united us with your actions,” she said. “We have family and friends now that we never knew we had.”
Unlike many of those who spoke in court Wednesday, she offered Kohberger absolution.
“Bryan, I am here today to tell you that I have forgiven you, because I can no longer live with that hate in my heart, and for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you,” she said.
“And anytime you want to talk and tell me what happened, you have my number. I’m here, no judgment, because I do have questions that I want you to answer. I’m here. I’ll be that one that will listen to you, OK?”
Jeff Kernodle, Xana Kernodle’s father, offered his own regrets. On the night the students were killed, he said he almost went to his daughter’s home but he had been drinking, and she told him not to drink and drive. Now, he said, he wishes that he had.
“You would have had to deal with me,” he told Kohberger.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
