NewsNation senior national correspondent Brian Entin has extensively covered the case and sat down with Kaylee’s parents, Kristi and Steve Goncalves.
With Kohberger’s trial set to take place next year, his court appearances have been tough for the Goncalves family. But Kaylee’s father Steve previously said the family would “be there at every moment” of the legal process.
“The worst part, obviously, is being in the same room with him and knowing what he has done,” Kristi told Entin.
MOSCOW, IDAHO – JUNE 27: Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse on June 27, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Photo by August Frank-Pool/Getty Images)
FILE – Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in Nov. 2022, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court, on Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. An Idaho judge has denied a request from more than two dozen news organizations to lift a gag order in the criminal case of a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death. The judge did, however, significantly narrow the gag order in response to the news organizations’ concerns. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File)
Bryan Kohberger, facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of four University of Idaho students last fall, is seen at the Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
A private security officer sits in a vehicle, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in front of the house in Moscow, Idaho where four University of Idaho students were killed in November, 2022. Authorities said Wednesday, Jan. 4, that Bryan Kohberger, the man accused in the killings, has left a Pennsylvania jail in the custody of state police. The move means Kohberger could be headed to Idaho to face first-degree murder charges. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
FILE – Bare spots are seen, Nov. 29, 2022, in the snowy parking lot in front of the home where four University of Idaho students were found dead on Nov. 13, in Moscow, Idaho, after vehicles belonging to the victims and others were towed away earlier in the day. Objections have been raised to demolishing the house where four University of Idaho students were killed in 2022, with members of three of the victims’ families signaling it should be preserved until after the trial of the man charged in the deaths. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
A flyer seeking information about the killings of four University of Idaho students who were found dead is displayed on a table along with buttons and bracelets on Nov. 30, 2022, during a vigil in memory of the victims in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Boise State University students, along with people who knew the four University of Idaho students who were found killed in Moscow, Idaho, days earlier, pay their respects at a vigil held in front of a statue on the Boise State campus, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. Autopsies performed on the four students who were found dead inside a rental house near campus showed that all four were stabbed to death, the Latah County coroner said. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP)
This July 2022 photo provided by Jazzmin Kernodle shows University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, right, and Ethan Chapin on a boat on Priest Lake, in Idaho. Both students were among four found stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home on Nov. 13. (Jazzmin Kernodle via AP)
Credit: @kayleegoncalves Instagram
In this photo provided by Stacy Chapin, triplets Ethan, Maizie and Hunter Chapin pose in front of a tulip field in La Conner, Wash., in April of 2021. Ethan Chapin was one of four University of Idaho students found stabbed to death in a home near the Moscow, Idaho campus on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. Police are still searching for a suspect in the case. (Stacy Chapin via AP)
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Seeing Kohberger don a suit in court has also bothered the family, Entin told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo.
“It makes me sick that he sits there in his suit, and he sits there and taps his hands,” Kristi said.
She continued: “(I’ve) never seen another murderer or whatever he is at this point in a case not in handcuffs, not in shackles, one or the other, or both, and in orange.”
Entin, who has stayed in contact with Kaylee’s parents, said it’s evident they are “fighters.”
“They’re the kind of parents that aren’t going to sit back and grieve quietly,” Entin told Cuomo. “They trust the prosecutor, but they also feel like no one is going to fight for their daughter like they can.”
As part of their fight, they pushed for the University of Idaho to hold off on the demolition of the home where Kaylee, Madison, Xana and Ethan died. Entin reports that investigators returned to the home last week.
“I knew in my heart what was best for those girls and Ethan, and I knew what was best was to keep that around until they did more,” Steve told Entin. “There will be a point when I’ll be like let it go.”
The Goncalves said when the home on King Road is torn down, it will be a difficult moment for them.
“Look, my daughter lived a happy life there. Yes, she was ultimately murdered there, but that was this much time,” Kristi said. “We have pictures of them in the house. When that house goes, it’s going to be hard.”
Kohberger is facing four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary. He entered a not guilty plea in May. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
