Parents of slain Idaho student Ethan Chapin say they've found 'big-time closure'

Ethan Chapin, one of four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in the fall of 2022, had a lighthearted, sometimes goofy presence his family still feels today

Ethan Chapin, one of four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in the fall of 2022, had a lighthearted, sometimes goofy presence his family still feels today.

The 6-foot-4-inch student rarely took things too seriously, they said, making their loss staggering and their recovery a daily battle against the weight of darkness.

"The days do get better," Stacy Chapin, speaking alongside her husband, Jim, said for the couple's first major sit-down interview, airing Monday morning on "TODAY."

The Chapins were present July 2 when defendant Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder under an agreement that will skip a painful trial, a godsend for the Chapins. He'll remain behind bars until his last breath.

"It was cold and calculated and weirdly, like an automated phone message," Stacy Chapin said of seeing the defendant in person for the first time. "I mean, it was just like you expected some, I don't know, remorse, emotion, something. And there was zero."