Idaho student murders: Victim’s father wants death penalty for suspect Bryan Kohberger
Steff Thomas
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A father of one of the University of Idaho students who was murdered said he wants to see the death penalty for suspect Bryan Kohberger.
Steve Goncalves, who lost his daughter Kaylee in the Nov. 13 quadruple homicide, said he wants Kohberger to realize that “he’s not going to be on the planet that long.”
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“I want this guy to be sick of seeing me. Sick of hearing the cases. And I want this case to get stronger and stronger, to the point where he just realizes that he’s not going to be on the planet that long,” Goncalves said on Fox News.
The father, holding back tears, recalled his first look at Kohberger, saying he wants the defendant to realize that he picked the “worst family” to target.
“I can make this man feel like he picked the very worst family to do that to. And every time he turns on the TV, he sees us,” Goncalves said. “And every time he thinks something positive is happening in his case, he sees one of us communicating, and he realizes he has zero hope.”
“That’s what I hope, and that’s what I can do,” he noted, adding that when he looked at Kohberger in the courtroom, the defendant didn’t look confident and refused to make eye contact.
While the Goncalves family has been mulling a push for the death penalty, it isn’t their choice alone, according to Shannon Gray, the family’s attorney.
“I think it’s … [a] decision that will be made by all the families on whether or not the death penalty is something that the state pursues on this case,” Gray said. “I don’t think it’s just a decision for the Goncalves family.”
The four victims — identified as Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 — were killed in their beds due to stab wounds in the chest and upper body with a large knife. Two other roommates who were in the home at the time of the attack were left unharmed.
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The affidavit, released earlier this week, provided a perceived timeline for the homicide case, which went weeks without a suspect.
Information within the document, including DNA evidence and cellphone tracking, makes for a solid case, Gray explained.
“It looks like it has a really great timeline. There’s DNA evidence. There’s the evidence from the cellphones and in the automobile, and that he was aware of the location coming back and forth, so there’s a lot of good information there,” he said.
Goncalves praised the affidavit for painting a picture of the weeks of investigation.
“Knowing that they put all those things together, and the timeline that they wrote, from, like the beginning to the last page was very precise,” he said.
“Each line gave me a little more confidence that we were in a very good position,” Goncalves added.
Police arrested Kohberger on Dec. 30 at his parents’ home on charges of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
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He later appeared in an initial court appearance in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. He waived his right to an extradition hearing and was transported to Idaho on Wednesday.