The older sister of a university student murdered in the US state of Idaho has delivered a powerful statement to the killer, Bryan Kohberger, at his sentencing on Wednesday.
A judge sentenced Kohberger, 30, to four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves (21), Madison Mogen (21), Xana Kernodle (20) and Ethan Chapin (20). All four of the victims were students at the University of Idaho when they were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus home in November 2022.
In early July, Kohberger pleaded guilty to their murders after agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid a death penalty.
In footage that’s since gone viral, Alivea Goncalves, the sister of Kaylee, stands in the courtroom and talks directly at Kohberger, giving a memorable address that received a round of applause from all those present.
“I’m not here today to speak in grief. I’m here to speak in truth, because the truth is my sister Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take,” Goncalves said, adding that the women were everything that Kohberger “could never be”, including “loved, accepted, vibrant, accomplished, brave and powerful”.
“Kaylee and Maddie have always known my love, and they would never ask me to prove it by further victimising myself to a defendant who has shown no guilt, no remorse, no apprehension.”
“I won’t stand here and give you what you want. I won’t offer you tears.”
“Instead, I will call you what you are: sociopath, psychopath, murderer,” Goncalves said.
Tearing down Kohberger’s “inflated ego”, Goncalves bravely goes on to tell him “No one is scared of you today”.
“No one is intimidated by you. No one is impressed by you. No one thinks that you are important. You orchestrated this like you thought you were God. Now look at you, begging a courtroom for scraps.”
“You worked so hard to seem dangerous, but real control doesn’t have to prove itself.”
“The truth is, the scariest part about you is how painfully average you turned out to be. The truth is, you’re as dumb as they come, stupid, clumsy, slow, sloppy, weak, dirty.”
“Let me be very clear. Don’t ever try to convince yourself you mattered just because someone finally said your name out loud,” Goncalves said. “I see through you.”
“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—— ass.”
Other members of the Goncalves family provided statements to the court, as well as loved ones of Mogen and Kernodle and two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke. Chapin’s family did not attend.