Kaylee Goncalves’ family opened up about why they believe life in prison isn’t enough for Bryan Kohberger after he killed her and fellow Idaho college students Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
While appearing on the Tuesday, August 4, episode of The Today Show, host Craig Melvin asked Goncalves’ parents, Kristi Goncalves and Steve Goncalves, and her younger sister, Aubrie Goncalves, how they feel about the belief that Kohberger, 31, was basically given the death sentence because he will die in prison. (After Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders in July 2025, he was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole plus 10 years for burglary.)
“That’s not a real death penalty,” Steve, 50, said of Kohberger’s sentence. “It’s my child and I’m gonna demand the highest standard of law and that’s not dying in prison.”
Steve went on to note that Kohberger seemingly lives a comfortable life in prison, where he is given “vegan meals and being treated like some kind of celebrity.”
Kristi, 48, went on to say that “death row is different” than life in prison. “The life that he would live up until he would die is different, so that is, you know, a small factor there,” she said. “Or a big factor.”
Steve also argued that Kohberger has access to resources in prison, including getting his PhD.
“We shouldn’t pay for his PhD. He’s gonna get a PhD in prison. Why? Because their system is questionable. Somebody like that should not keep going to school,” Steve said.
Kaylee, 21, Mogen, 21, Kernodle, 20, her boyfriend Chapin, 20, were fatally stabbed in the girl’s off campus home on November 13, 2022. Kohberger was arrested just more than one month later on December 30, 2022.
One year after he pleaded guilty, Kohberger filed a petition to withdraw his guilty plea.
“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” he told The New York Times in a statement on July 26.
The following day, the Goncalves’ family issued a joint statement in which they slammed Kohberger for the filing.
Bryan Kohberger‘s petition to retract his guilty plea for the murders of college students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin has been publicly revealed. New York Times correspondent Mike Baker uploaded a copy of the document via X on Monday, July 27, following Kohberger’s announcement. “It is hereby declared that during attorney-client […]
“‘The mosquito you just can’t seem to swat’ — that is what Kohberger and his following have become to this family,” they wrote.
The family added that Kohberger is “a guilty man once again claiming he is innocent,” and they noted that he previously “chose not to leave his fate — or the facts of the case — to a jury” by accepting the plea deal.
“He never cried foul, never claimed he was uninformed or pressured, and never suggested there were problems with the discovery materials he and his counsel had reviewed for two years that should have been challenged,” the Goncalves’ said. “He admitted his guilt. When asked whether he was actually guilty, he answered, ‘Yes.’”
