Murder Victim Kaylee Goncalves' Family Reacts to Bryan Kohberger Plea
Kaylee Goncalves' family is not happy with Bryan Kohberger's apparent plea deal.
The 30-year-old plans to change his plea to guilty for the 2022 murders of Kaylee and three other University of Idaho students, her family and their lawyer shared June 30.
"We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us," the Goncalves posted June 30 on their Facebook page. "Please give us some time. This was very unexpected. We appreciate all your love and support."
The family's attorney Shanon Gray confirmed to NBC News that a plea deal had been "offered and accepted."
In exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table, Kohberger will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years for a charge of burglary, per a letter sent to victims' families obtained by ABC News. He will not be able to appeal.
Kohberger stood accused of fatally stabbing Goncalves, 21, her roommates Madison Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle's boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. A judge had previously entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
The victims' families first found out about the plea deal in a letter they received from Moscow Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson, according to the Idaho Statesman.
“We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family," the letter read, per the Statesman. “This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family. This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals.”
But according to Xana’s aunt Kim Kernodle, her family did not want the state to offer a plea deal, telling TMZ, “They were not trying to spare us."
E! News has reached out to Thompson's office, as well as attorneys for Kohberger and the other victims' families for comment.
Opening statements in Kohberger's trial were scheduled to get underway Aug. 18.
The former criminal justice student at Washington State University was arrested Dec. 30, 2022, after a fraught multi-agency manhunt that eventually tracked him to his family's home in Pennsylvania.
Authorities said they linked Kohberger to the murders through cell phone data, security camera video and DNA found on a knife sheath discovered at the crime scene.
He is due in court for a change of plea hearing July 2, according to Thompson's letter, and prosecutors expect him to be sentenced later in the month.
Here's what else to know about the grisly Idaho murder case:
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were University of Idaho students who lived in an off-campus apartment.
On Nov. 12, 2022—the night before their bodies were found—Goncalves and Mogen were at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin were at the latter’s fraternity party. By 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, the four roommates and Chapin were back at the three-story rental house.
Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. She was expected to graduate in December before heading to Austin, Tex., for a job at a marketing firm, her friend Jordyn Quesnell told The New York Times.
Mogen, who was studying marketing, was best friends with Goncalves since the sixth grade. She had plans to move to Boise after graduation, family friend Jessie Frost shared with The Idaho Statesman.
Kernodle was a junior majoring in marketing, the University said at the time. She and Chapin—who majored in recreation, sport and tourism management—had been dating since the spring, the roommates’ neighbor Ellie McKnight told NBC News.
Two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, had been home at the time of the murders. In text messages that were unsealed March 6, 2025, Mortensen and Funke tried contacting their roommates on Nov. 13 after the former saw a masked man moving through the house, according to documents obtained by E! News.
"No one is answering," Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m. "I'm rlly confused rn."
She continued to reach out to their roommates, urging them to respond. "Pls answer," she texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m. and again at 10:23 a.m. "R u up??"
At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call was placed after Kernodle was found unresponsive, per an additional motion obtained by E! News. A woman named A1 in the transcript described the current situation to the operator.
"One of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up," she said on the phone. "They saw some man in their house last night."
Bryan Kohberger, who has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder, was a doctoral candidate at Washington State University. Over one month after the bodies of Gonclaves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were discovered, Kohberger was taken into custody Dec. 30 in Monroe County, Penn. He was extradited to Idaho Jan. 4.
As for how authorities connected him to the killings? DNA was found on a knife sheath that was left at the crime scene, prosecutors revealed in June 2023 court documents, per NBC News.
When the DNA didn't match anyone in the FBI database, authorities ran the DNA through public ancestry websites to create a list of potential suspects, according to the filings. After learning that Kohberger had driven to his parents' home in Monroe County, local officials then went through their trash and found DNA that tied him to that found on the sheath.
At the moment, a motive for the attack has not been detailed and a gag order prevents many involved in the case from speaking publicly, NBC News reported. However, the unsealed documents provided some insight into their arguments.
Kohberger's attorneys argued in a motion obtained by E! News to strike the death penalty that Kohberger—who could face the death penalty if found guilty on all counts, a judge ruled in November 2024—has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and that executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment."
His defense argued that Kohbereger "displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piecemeal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions."
"Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy," the motion said. "This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability."
Kohberger had a judge enter a not-guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges on his behalf after remaining silent at his May 2023 arraignment. Although his trial was set to begin Oct. 2, 2023, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial in August 2023.
His new trial date—which will take place in Ada County, more than 300 miles from Latah County, where the killings took place—is set to begin Aug. 11, 2025.
Latah County Judge John Judge ruled in favor of the transfer request made by Kohberger's defense in September 2024 based on "presumed prejudice" if the trial remained in Latah County.
Ada County Judge Steven Hippler—who is now presiding over the case—denied the defense's request to suppress key DNA and other evidence, including cell phone and email records, surveillance footage, past Amazon purchases and DNA evidence in the trial.
A selfie Kohberger took the morning after the murders took place was introduced in March 2025. The photograph, which sees him in front of a shower showing a thumbs up, displays how he may fit the description a witness identified as "D.M." gave in filings, who said the perpetrator had "bushy eyebrows."
Steve Gonclaves, the father of victim Kaylee, later reacted to the image calling it a "trophy" in an interview with Fox and Friends.
"I know the timeline, I know that he had just returned to the crime scene and he had come back," Gonclaves said. "He had realized that nobody had called 911."
As he put it, "To him, that’s his little trophy to let him know like, ‘Hey, I got away with it, nobody’s on me.’”
In a Dateline documentary about the murders, a former classmate of Kohberger’s detailed a “peculiar” text she received from him after making his acquaintance at a party.
“I definitely felt a little obligated to chat with him, because to me, he seemed a little awkward,” the student—identified as Holly—explained. “Kind of like you might expect for a PhD student who didn't know anyone at the party and was maybe trying his best to kind of get out there and be social and make friends.”
The following day, Holly said she received a text from him, which she described as overly formal.
“Hey, I am pretty sure we spoke about hiking trips yesterday,” Bryan’s text from July 10, 2022 at 1:19 p.m., read, per Dateline. “I really enjoy that activity, so please let me know. Thanks!”
Elsewhere in the Dateline documentary, Kohberger’s browsing history was found to have included searches for Ted Bundy, Britney Spears’ song “Criminal,” and the term “University of Idaho Murders.”
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