Kaylee Goncalves’ youngest sister speaks publicly for first time after Idaho murders documentary
The sibling of one of Bryan Kohberger's victims has spoken out for the first time since the horrific murders that rocked Idaho four years ago.
Aubrie Goncalves, 20, paid tribute to her 'bubbly' sister Kaylee, who was one of the three students who were horrifically stabbed to death on 13 November, 2022.
In an emotional interview, the grief-stricken young woman explained why she has kept quiet for so long - and this comes just days after she slammed Kohberger's bid to withdraw his guilty plea in an impassioned social media post.
Kaylee's life was tragically taken at the off-campus home she shared with her friends and fellow University of Idaho students, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen nearly four years ago.
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The man responsible - Kohberger, 31 - is locked up at a maximum security prison and is serving four life sentences for the 2022 murders after striking a plea deal last year.
He has never revealed the reasoning behind his disturbing crimes and as the case never went to trial, his motives were never examined or questioned in court. Confessing his guilt allowed him to avoid the death penalty.
However, the criminology graduate made a bombshell announcement last week and revealed that he was seeking to challenge his conviction.
Kohberger has claimed that his plea 'hinged on false promises and blatant disinformation', insisted it 'must be withdrawn' and moaned that 'justice was not served'.
This development coincided with the release of the Netflix documentary titled The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, which re-examined the case which stunned the world.
Despite largely staying quiet since the death of her sister Kaylee, Aubrie furiously addressed Kohberger's latest legal move in a statement shared to Facebook on the same day it hit the headlines.
"I wasn’t planning on saying anything today," she wrote. "But after seeing that the man who admitted in court to murdering four innocent people now wants to withdraw his guilty plea, I couldn’t stay silent.
"For him, this may be another legal filing. For me, it’s another day without my sister. Why should the person convicted of taking their voices continue to have one?"
Aubrie continued: "This isn’t a Netflix documentary. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This isn’t entertainment. This is my life. These were real people.
"And every time this case is dragged back into the spotlight because of another filing, another theory, or another attempt to rewrite history, families like mine are forced to relive the worst day of our lives."
Closing her moving message, Aubrie added: "Why should the man convicted of taking four innocent voices continue to have a platform loud enough to reopen old wounds, while Kaylee, Maddie, Xana, and Ethan will never get another chance to tell the world who they were?"
Accompanied by her parents Kristi and Steve, the 20-year-old then appeared on the Today show on Tuesday (4 August) to publicly discuss her sister's passing for the first time.
"When everything happened, I was a sophomore in high school," Aubrie said. "I was only 16-years-old.
"And at the time, I kind of just decided no words are going to bring back either one of my sisters, so I didn’t feel like saying anything."
Aubrie went on: "And now that I’ve gotten older, almost four years has passed, I realised still that no words are going to bring back my sisters - but words are going to keep their memories alive.
"I’m not really one to put myself in a situation like this, I don’t really like to, but I know that I have to keep Maddie and Kaylee’s name alive, and that’s why I’m here today."
Describing Kaylee as the 'bubbliest human ever', Aubrie said of her late sibling: "I think you could see how Kaylee was as a person just by looking at pictures of her.
"She was always down to have a fun time, she was always looking at the positives, she was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. And to this day, that is a huge thing that provides me with a constant need to keep going.
"Because I know that Kaylee would be doing the same thing had she still been here, and I really am just trying to do half as much as I know that she would have."
Kaylee's older sister Alivea also shared her frustrations about Kohberger's legal bid and told Today: "The fact that someone locked behind bars still has the ability to revictimise their victims, that’s something that isn’t just very easy to get over. This will never be over for us until the defendant is no longer breathing on this earth."
Heartbreakingly, their late sister's dog, Murphy, was present at the property when Kaylee, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison were killed.
The pup was seen in bodycam footage that featured in The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare and a lot of viewers were left wondering what happened to Kaylee's beloved pet in wake of her passing.
She owned the dog alongside her former boyfriend Jack DuCoeur and he know shares heartwarming updates of the Goldendoodle on Instagram, while also posting tributes to Kaylee.
A timeline of the Idaho murders
12 November 2022
Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, attend a party at Chapin’s fraternity Sigma Chi. Meanwhile, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, go to sports bar the Corner Club.
13 November 2022
1.45am - Kernodle and Chapin return home to their house on King Road
1.56am - Goncalves and Mogen arrive home
2.44am - Kohberger’s Hyundai sedan is spotted by a CCTV camera at Washington State University. Shortly afterwards, the car is seen again heading towards a road that connects Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, where the victims live.
4am - Bryan Kohberger is believed to have entered the property
4.17am - A security camera reveals the sound of a barking dog, voices and what sounds like a thud. At some point around this time, their housemate Dylan Mortensen is awoken and hears a male voice say: “It's OK, Kaylee, I'm here for you.” She later hears crying and sees a masked man in the property.
4.19am - Mortensen attempts to call Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen, but all calls go unanswered. She started texting Bethany Funke, saying she’s ‘freaking out’ after seeing a man in a ‘ski mask’. Mortensen joins Funke in her room and they lock themselves in.
11.58am - After Mortensen calls her friend Emily Alandt, she and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson come over to the King Road property. Johnson discovers Chapin and Kernodle's bodies and calls 911.
17 November 2022
Preliminary autopsy results show all four victims were attacked with a large knife
7 December 2022
Police say they are looking to speak to any occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra from 2011-13.
30 December 2022
Kohberger is arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Police later reveal they used DNA on a knife sheath to link him to the crime scene, and tracked his car and phone across the area.
22 May 2023
Kohberger remains silent when asked to enter a plea during his arraignment. The judge enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.
26 June 2023
Prosecutors announce they will seek the death penalty.
28 December 2023
The King Road property where the murders took place is demolished to allow the community to heal.
17 April 2024
Kohberger’s defence team claims in court documents that phone mast data shows Kohberger was miles away from Moscow, Idaho at the time of the murders.
4 March 2025
Kohberger’s defence team say he exhibits traits of autism spectrum disorder, and putting him to death would be unconstitutional.
2 July 2025
Weeks before the trial is set to begin, Kohberger pleads guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder.
23 July 2025
Kohberger is sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, plus 10 years for the burglary charge.
He comes face to face with the families of his victims for the first time, who read out impact statements.
Goncalves' sister Alivea gives a powerful statement in court, while Mortensen says she’s suffered from debilitating panic attacks since the night of the murders, telling Kohberger he has taken away her ‘ability to trust the world’.
27 July 2026
Kohberger announces he is seeking to take back his guilty plea and overturn his conviction.
He tells the New York Times: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
Topics: US News, True Crime, Bryan Kohberger
Olivia Burke