Kaylee Goncavles' family calls Bryan Kohberger 'pathetic' during hearing

(NewsNation) — The sister and father of Kaylee Goncalves, one of four Idaho students murdered by Bryan Kohberger, called him “nothing” and told him he would be “forgotten” in a scathing impact statement during his sentencing hearing Wednesday. 

Alivea Goncalves to Bryan Kohberger: 'You're pathetic'

Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s sister, skewered Kohberger in a series of entries she read aloud that she wrote about him in the years since the murders in 2022. 

“There is a name for your condition, though your inflated ego just didn't allow you to see it... Wannabe,” she said. “You act like no one could ever understand your mind. But the truth is, you're basic.” 

“Your patterns are predictable, your motives are shallow. You are not profound, you're pathetic. You aren't special or deep, not mysterious or exceptional. Don't ever get it twisted again,” she said. 

She also told him to “sit up straight when I talk to you,” and asked the convicted killer: “Why did you choose my sisters?”

She likened Kohberger’s mid-sleep attack to one a “pedophile” would do, saying her sister would have "kicked your f—ing ass” had she been awake. 

Kohberger sat expressionless as several members of the Goncalves family spoke to him. 

Steve Goncalves to Bryan Kohberger: 'You will be nothing'

Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father, also spoke to him directly, moving the podium to face him. 

“The world's watching because of the kids because you're not worth the time, the effort to be remembered in time, you will be nothing but two initials, forgotten,” he said.

"Today, we are here to prove to the world that you picked the wrong families, wrong state, wrong police officers. You tried to break our community apart, you tried to plant fear, you tried to divide us. Instead, your actions have united everyone," he said.

The statements came on an emotional day where several victims’ families and friends spoke in court.

Steve Goncalves, father of victim Kaylee Goncalves speaks at the sentencing hearing of Bryan Kohberger at the Ada County Courthouse, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)

Kohberger brutally murdered Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus Idaho home.

He took a plea deal, agreeing to serve four life sentences for the slayings. He confessed to killing them in court, avoiding a trial where prosecutors intended to seek the death penalty.