What to Know About Kaylee Goncalves' Parents and How They're Remembering Their Late Daughter After the Idaho Murders
Kaylee Goncalves' parents, Steve and Kristi Goncalves, have been their daughter's most vocal advocates ever since her tragic murder.
Kaylee was one of the four University of Idaho students who were brutally stabbed to death inside their college home in Moscow, Idaho. Kaylee, 21, and three of her roommates — Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 — were found murdered on Nov. 13, 2022. After an intense investigation, authorities arrested Bryan Kohberger in Pennsylvania in December 2022. Kohberger initially pleaded not guilty, but he agreed to a plea deal just weeks before his trial was supposed to start.
On July 23, he was sentenced to four lifetimes in prison, plus an additional 10 years for a burglary charge. During his sentencing, both Steve and Kristi — as well as their daughter Alivea — spoke out about Kohberger taking their daughter away from them.
"Today, you've lost control. Today we are here to prove to the world that you picked the wrong families, the wrong state, the wrong police officers, the wrong community," Steve said at the sentencing.
Here's everything to know about Kaylee Goncalves' parents, Steve and Kristi Goncalves.
They welcomed five children
Kristi and Steve got married in 1995 and welcomed five children together: daughters Alivea, Kaylee, Autumn and Aubrie, and son Steven.
"Kaylee was our middle child out of five," Kristi said during a memorial service in November 2022, according to KREM 2. "Kaylee was a huge part of our family, the dynamics of our family will never be the same."
Kristi and Steve raised their family in Idaho
Shortly after Kaylee was born, Kristi and Steve moved their family from California to North Idaho, where they continue to reside. There, they welcomed Kaylee's two younger sisters.
Kaylee attended Borah Elementary with Alivea and Steven before moving on to charter school and Lake City High School as a teenager, per her obituary.
They have remained by each other's side throughout Kaylee's murder and the investigation
Throughout the emotional and legal hurdles Kristi and Steve have faced over the last nearly three years, they have handled everything as a couple.
In December 2024, Kristi and Steve celebrated 29 years of marriage and reflected on how their relationship has helped them endure the trauma of losing their daughter.
"Up until losing Kaylee we had it easy. Raised 5 beautiful ,smart ,successful kids," Kristi wrote in a Facebook post at the time. "We have discussed things and treated each other fairly. I believe that is the secret. We have so much respect and love for each other."
The two have remained united throughout the murder investigation and subsequent legal ordeals regarding Kohberger. Since 2022, Kristi and Steve have spoken at memorials, discussed the investigation with media outlets and appeared at court hearings.
They have advocated for the death sentence for Kohberger
In addition to talking about Kaylee's life and legacy, Kristi and Steve have also been advocates for seeking justice for their daughter, which they see as a death sentence for Kohberger.
"Justice is when you leave the planet, and the whole world is able to rejoice and be glad that you're not there," Steve told NewsNation in January 2023, referring to the possibility of Kohberger getting the death sentence if found guilty.
Nearly three years after the four college students were brutally murdered, a trial date for Kohberger was set for Aug. 4. However, Kohberger stunned the families when he changed his plea to guilty and confessed to all four murders on July 2.
Shortly afterwards, both Kristi and Steve slammed the prosecutors for letting Kohberger sign the plea deal. "We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us," Steve wrote in one post.
In another post on Facebook at the time, the two wrote, "After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims' families on the plea's details."Steve later appeared on Banfield on NewsNation where he apologized to Kaylee for the plea deal.
'It's my mistake. I'm sorry Kaylee,' Steve said. 'I'm truly sorry that I didn't get you a prosecutor who really believed what happened to you could only be fixed with life.'
Steve added that he felt "used" by the prosecution and wished a jury had determined Kohberger's fate.
They delivered powerful messages about Kaylee at Kohberger's sentencing
Although Kristi and Steve were upset with prosecutors for agreeing to a plea deal, they still showed up to Kohberger's sentencing hearing to share their emotional victim impact statements.
"You tried to break our community apart," Steve said, according to a transcript obtained by Fox News. "You tried to plant fear. You tried to divide us. You failed. Instead, your actions have united everyone and their disgust for you."
He went on to call Kohberger a "complete joke" for leaving his DNA around the house and being "that careless, that foolish, that stupid."
"We want to all leave in closing one last thing: you picked the wrong family, and we're laughing at you on your trip to Pen," he concluded.
Kristi also took the stand and called out her daughter's murderer for being "someone so devoid of humanity."
"When you murdered my daughter, Kaylee Jade Goncalves, you didn't just take her life, you shattered others," she said. "You attacked what you could never be. And in doing so, you left a trail of devastation far beyond that house. You stole my peace. You've altered my every waking moment, every sleepless night, the way I view the world, people, safety, trust. It's all been changed by your cruelty."
Kristi called her grief "immeasurable" and explained that she feels a "constant ache" for her daughter.
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