- Steve and Kristi Goncalves were among those who delivered victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing for Bryan Kohberger
- Alivea Goncalves, the older sister of murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, also delivered powerful remarks in which she belittled and mocked Kohberger
- She instructed Kohberger to “sit up straight” as she spoke to him and called him “pathetic” in her remarks, which ended in an ovation from the courtroom
For the first time in the nearly three years since their daughter’s murder, the parents of Kaylee Goncalves were able to confront their daughter’s killer face-to-face in court.
Steve and Kristi Goncalves were among those who delivered victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing for Bryan Kohberger in Ada County District Court.
The victim’s sister, Alivea Goncalves, also spoke, looking directly at Kohberger and saying: “You want the truth? Here’s the one you’ll hate the most. If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f—ing ass.”
Alivea kicked off her remarks by telling her sister’s killer: “Sit up straight when I talk to you.”
She then launched into her statement, which ended in an ovation from the entire courtroom.
“Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take,” Alivea said, going on to speak about how she considered both girls to be her sisters.
She later said of the two: “They were everything that you could never be — loved, accepted, vibrant, accomplished, brave and powerful.”
Alivea also belittled Kohberger throughout her remarks, saying at one point: “The truth is, the scariest part about you is how painfully average you turned out to be.”
She later told Kohberger: “You aren’t profound, you’re pathetic.”
Kohberger showed no emotion as Alivea spoke in court, much like he did when surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen delivered her remarks earlier the day.
The Goncalves family had expressed frustration with Kohberger not facing the death penalty, and the family never getting an explanation for why he killed their daughter.
“[I]f your 21yr old daughter was sleeping in her bed and BK went into her house with the intention to kill her and he did, by stabbing her MANY times, as well as beating her in the face and head while it was clear that she fought for her life…what would you want?” Kristi wrote on Facebook the day after Kohberger’s plea hearing.
That post shared a number of new details about Goncalves’ death while also giving critics of her parents an idea of the couple’s mindset as they continue to grapple with the loss of a child.
It is the first time there has been any mention of Kohberger beating his victims, while confirming the fact that he had targeted some of the four students he confessed to murdering in court on Wednesday, July 2.
“BK literally is too afraid to die, but he wasn’t afraid to kill. BK wanted a plea deal and he was given one. Kaylee wasn’t offered a plea deal,” Kristi went on to say in that same post.
She added, “The state is showing BK mercy by removing the death penalty. BK did not show Kaylee ANY mercy.”
While his motive is still unknown, Thompson did detail how he likely carried out the murders during his plea hearing on July 2.
He said that after breaking into the victims’ home through a second-floor door, Kohberger walked up to the third floor and murdered Goncalves and her best friend, Madison Mogen, 21, rather than target any of the three people sleeping in the two bedrooms on the second floor.
Kohberger did ultimately kill two of those people — Xana Kernodle and boyfriend Ethan Chapin, both 20 — after one of the two crossed his path as he tried to exit the residence, Thompson said in court this week.
He then spared the other roommate on the second floor, Dylan Mortensen, who told police she stood just a few feet away as the man who murdered her best friends walked out of their home early in the morning.
