The father of the victim of murder of the University of Idaho, Kaylee Goncalves, is launching the plea agreement offered to Bryan Kohberger, accusing Mishandling’s prosecutors and hastening the agreement.
“We were not prepared for this, we had no idea that this was going to happen,” Steve Goncalves told ABC News hours after the guilt agreement was announced.
Kohberger-who was accused of four first-degree murder positions and a robbery office in relation to the murders of November 13, 2022 of the fourth-fourth Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle and Kernodle’s boyfriend and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, are sentenced to four life sentences for the murder and the maximum account of 10 years.
A photo without date of Kaylee Goncalves.
Courtesy of the Goncalves family
The plea arrives only weeks before the Kohberger test began. Opening arguments were scheduled for August 18.
Before Kohberger’s acceptance of the proposed agreement, prosecutors met at the end of last week with some of the victims’ relatives and obtained their opinion on whether that guilty agreement should be proposed to the defense team, sources told ABC News.
Steve Goncalves told ABC News that the issue of a possible guilt agreement was first approached at the end of his Friday meeting.
“Until that time, we had never considered it,” he said. “I was described as, as, due diligence. We are going to look at this option, see if I could fit.”
“At least, justice begins with a families interview to ask what justice is. And we didn’t understand that,” he said.
During the weekend, Latah County prosecutors said in a letter to families who planned to make an offer that took the death penalty out of the table in exchange for guilty statements of the four murders and an agreement to fulfill life imprisonment without the possibility of Parole, according to the letter reviewed by ABC News. The Idaho Law requires that the State provide to the victims of violent crimes or their families the opportunity to communicate with prosecutors and to be informed of any proposed guilt offer before holding an agreement, but the final decision falls only to the prosecution.
By explaining their decision to make the offer, prosecutors cited the risks of going to trial even in a case in which the State trusted the force of its evidence. Among those concerns was a null trial, a jury hung or the potential of an acquittal. The State also referred to the heavy one -month judgment could impose on families, as well as the possibility of long appeals, even if Kohberger were convicted and convicted of death, according to the letter reviewed by ABC News.
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four students from the Idaho University, is escorted to the Court for a hearing in the District Court of County of Latah, on September 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho.
TED S. Warren/AP
But Steve Goncalves criticized prosecutors for being willing to negotiate with Kohberger.
“We cannot let people come from other states and come here and kill our children while they sleep, they receive an education, and then only negotiate with such people,” he said. “It’s sad, it’s disgusting, and I can’t pretend that I feel this is justice.”
Prosecutors acknowledged that some of the family members may disagree with the resolution of the case through a guilt, but argued that the most realistic path for closing is through the entry of guilt statements.
On Monday, prosecutors sent another letter to the families that informed that Kohberger had accepted the proposed terms of the agreement and would be guilty of a change of guilt hearing on Wednesday.
“Suddenly,” said Steve Goncalves, “the trial ends. Two and a half years of your life have ended.”
Steve Goncalves talks to ABC News, June 30, 2025.
ABC News
“It is the opposite of what we wanted and it is the opposite of the majority of what families wanted,” he said.
The Goncalves family is also frustrated with the little time they were allowed to prepare mentally, and make travel arrangements, for Kohberger’s Wednesday audience.
“A miracle has to happen in 24 hours to obtain justice,” said Steve Goncalves.
In Monday’s letter to families, prosecutors qualified the agreement as a “sincere attempt to seek justice for their family.”
“His views weighed a lot in our decision -making process, and we hope he can appreciate why we believe that this resolution is the best for justice,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors anticipate that the sentence will take place at the end of July, while Kohberger enters the guilty statement as expected on Wednesday, according to the letter.
As part of the agreement, Kohberger, a native of Pennsylvania who was Ph.D. Student of the Washington State University at the time of crimes: he will renounce everything right to appeal, according to the agreement. The State will also seek restitution for victims and their families for funeral expenses and the reimbursement of the compensation of crime victims, according to the agreement.
