Page 136

Priest Lake, Idaho

I t’s a beautiful day when Stacy Chapin gets the call from Bill Thompson’s office.

Next week there’s a hearing at which finally—finally—the judge will set a trial date.

Thompson would like for it to happen when there are no students around. He’s pointed out to the judge that the high school is opposite the courthouse.

The news is something of a relief to Stacy, the first hint that maybe some sort of end could be in sight. Although by now, she knows better than to count her chickens. “You have to be in for the long haul,” a prosecutor friend of theirs told her. “You have to let the defense put up everything.”

And Stacy has been warned that it’s possible the trial will not happen in Moscow, despite the best efforts of the prosecutors. The defense will continue arguing that the community is too small and too prejudiced to provide Kohberger with an impartial jury.

But where will they go when the trial takes place? Stacy starts to wonder. Will they stay at Priest Lake? Part of her wants to leave the country for three months. She knows that the press coverage will be intense, and that means reliving the horrors of November 13.

But after months of agonizing, she, Jim, Maizie, and Hunter decide they do want to be there to represent Ethan, especially at the opening, when the jury first convenes.

They also want to be in the courtroom to support Hunter Johnson and Emily and all of Ethan’s and Xana’s other friends who will likely have to testify.

It will be a necessary but sorry interruption from the new normal that’s finally emerging. Both Chapin kids are now so busy during the semester that their parents no longer feel they need to visit Moscow every other weekend.

Hunter and Maizie are set to graduate in May 2025.

This summer, Jim is training Hunter to work with him in the machinery construction business.

And Hunter also got his EMT certification.

Maizie has been working as a server at Hill’s Resort.

After college, she’s considering either training as a professional chef or studying nursing.

Public speaking, Stacy is finding, is a positive thing for her to do, provided it’s in an appropriate forum that focuses not on the salacious aspects of the murders but on the family values that are Stacy’s strong suit.

She loves to talk about Ethan, but she’s also beginning to realize that there’s an appetite out there for the positivity that she and Jim are trying to create to remember him by.

In April, Stacy flew to LA to record an episode of The Squeeze, the mental-wellness podcast hosted by the actor Taylor Lautner, who starred in the Twilight films, and his wife, Taylor Dome.

When Lautner asked her what she felt about Kohberger’s trial and the path to justice, Stacy said, “One of the greatest messages I feel like that we’ve done in handling this situation: Nothing changes the outcome.

We cannot bring Ethan back. So you could spend a lot of time there or you can just realize that and figure out how to move forward. ”

And the Chapins are moving forward.

They like to walk around the lake and sit on the wooden bench engraved with their late son’s name. “Ethan would be very proud,” Stacy often says to Jim when they look out at the water and his beloved volleyball court at Hill’s Resort.

They like to come to this bench and sip mimosas as they watch the sun sink behind the mountains. Even better is when Hunter and Maizie are around on weekends. The entire family can all look at the lake and talk about Ethan in what was probably his favorite spot in the world.

They can find peace, even.

“The funny thing is, Ethan would be like, ‘Well, of course my parents knocked it out of the park, that’s just how we roll as a family,’” Stacy says to her husband, who nods in agreement. “We had a motto: ‘Go big or go home.’ And that’s what we’ve done.”