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The parents of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves have said they support the death penalty for their daughter’s alleged killer – but that they ‘will forgive him’.
Suspected quadruple murdered Bryan Kohberger, 28, yesterday appeared in court charged with the four murders as well as a felony burglary after being extradited to Idaho.
Steve and Kristi Goncalves say that they felt ‘numb’ when coming face to face with their daughters’ alleged killer for the first time.
Kaylee, 21, was found dead in bed next to her best friend Maddie Mogen, 21, at their home in Moscow, Idaho, along with Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle,20.
Steve and Kristi Goncalves say that they felt ‘numb’ when coming face to face with their daughters’ alleged killer for the first time
The couple described both Kaylee and Maddie, pictured, as their daughters because the girls were so close
Speaking to NewsNation, Steve said: ‘Justice doesn’t have a room where you can read books and you can go to school and you can have three meals and you can have your vegan diet.
‘To me, that’s not justice. Justice is when you leave the planet, and the whole world is able to rejoice and be glad that you’re not there.’
Kristi added that she is ‘glad they live in Idaho’ where they have the death penalty, before saying that she felt ‘numb’ while looking at Kohberger.
She said she ‘expected to feel an immense amount of hate’ but is ‘still in shock’ and felt ‘nothing’ when she looked at him.
Describing both Maddie and Kaylee as their daughters, the couple said: ‘we will forgive him. We will. We’re not going to have that heavy weight on us.
‘We will forgive this individual, but he has to pay for what he’s done. And it’s not just our daughter, it’s all the victims he needs to pay, pay justice to.
Kristi said she ‘expected to feel an immense amount of hate’ but is ‘still in shock’ and felt ‘nothing’ when she looked at Kohberger
Suspected quadruple murdered Bryan Kohberger, 28, yesterday appeared in court charged with the four murders as well as a felony burglary after being extradited to Idaho
‘If our daughters could switch places with him. And I’m saying Maddie, as my daughter would do it in a heartbeat if they could sit there and have three squares, a place to live and we could call them we could write them letters.
‘They could watch TV they could get educated. I would love if Maddie and Kaylee were doing life in prison right now.
‘At least we could talk to them. They’d be breathing, that’s not a punishment equivalent to being killed.’
He also said that Kohberger ‘picked the wrong family’ while talking to CNN.
Steve added: ‘We’re not scared of a conflict. We’re not running. We’re coming at him and the defendant has his hands full.’
It comes as a relative of Xana Kernodle asked for others to put themselves in the shoes of their family.
They have set up a scholarship at the University of Idaho to ‘honor her memory and keep her legacy alive.’
In a statement, Sheldon Kernodle said: ‘Please think about our family and all the other families involved. Find ways to support them as well.
‘We must continue to remember the ones we lost. We have a long road ahead of us.’
Kohberger previously insisted that he would be ‘exonerated’ to his lawyer in Pennsylvania.
The criminal justice graduate only spoke to confirm his name and that he had representation during a hearing in Moscow, Idaho, on Thursday.
An unsealed probable cause affidavit yesterday revealed how cops painstakingly tracked down the alleged killer.
Phone records show that Kohberger went close to the property just five hours after the murders were committed – with his phone being turned off during the time of the murders.
The timeline issued by police indicates that Kohberger managed to break into the house and kill al four victims within a 15-minute period, before his car was seen speeding off in surveillance footage.
Phone records show that Kohberger went close to the property just five hours after the murders were committed – with his phone being turned off during the time of the murders.
He is also accused of stalking the students and visiting the property or the area at least 12 times before the slayings on November 13.
The papers included details on how Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath close to the bodies of Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
FBI agents matched the DNA to Kohberger after getting a DNA sample taken from the trash at his house in Pennsylvania – where FBI officers saw him wearing surgical gloves.
Documents also detail how a surviving roommate, Dylan Mortensen, came face-to-face with a masked man believed to be Kohbegrer in the hallway of their shared home around the time of the killings, shortly after 4am.
Kaylee’s family say that they would be ‘happy’ if the girls were serving a life sentence because it meant they could still talk to them
Based on new court filings, a graphic shows how the murders may have unfolded at the student house on November 13
It comes as a relative of Xana Kernodle, pictured, asked for others to put themselves in the shoes of their family. They have set up a scholarship at the University of Idaho to ‘honor her memory and keep her legacy alive’
Mortensen heard what she believed to be her roommate crying, left her room and saw a man in a black mask with bushy eyebrows.
She froze with fear, and watched as he walked past, then waited six hours before calling cops.
The document also reveals that a shoe print was found in the mud outside the murders house, just outside the sliding door that Mortensen said was used by the killer to escape.
Police studied that shoe print and found a ‘diamond pattern’ which is consistent with the sole of a Vans shoe.
It’s unclear if Kohberger owns Vans – the affidavit does not confirm the discovery of any shoe that has a sole print similar the one found at the scene.
The affidavit also reveals how Kohberger turned his phone off on the night of the murders in an attempt to cover his tracks before the murders.
Dylan Mortensen, the surviving roommate, told police that she saw a masked man leave the house at approximately 4.20am. The first 911 call didn’t come in until just before noon
The white Hyundai Elantra that was seen in the area of the killings on the night in question. A University of Washington campus policeman was on the lookout for similar vehicles after the murders and noticed Kohberger’s car in the parking lot of his campus apartment
On December 27, an undercover team of police seized trash from Kohberger’s family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania
Police zeroed in on Kohberger by linking his white Hyundai Elantra to the scene, and then using his phone number to track his movements.
He even returned to the scene of the crime at 9am on November 13 – just hours after he allegedly committed the quadruple murders.
Officials have not revealed the exact dates that he canvassed the three-story property but confirmed that in August, he was pulled over just two minutes after leaving the area covered by the cell phone tower closest to the home.
A Latah County Sheriff’s deputy pulled him over on August 21 at 11.37pm as part of a traffic stop – in which he provided his number.
Because of the series of traffic stops, officers were able to link both the car and the phone number to Kohberger – and look up each time his device pinged the tower closest to the property.
Kohberger remains behind bars in Idaho awaiting his January 12 status hearing, after his bail was refused on Thursday.
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