It was a gloomy and emotional moment as Kaylee Goncalves’ sister, Alivea Goncalves, issued a powerful statement to Bryan Kohberger in her July 23rd ruling.
Kohberger, 30, was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
The verdict comes almost three years after four students were found deadly stabbed on November 13, 2022 at an off-campus home.
Kohberger pleaded guilty in early July 2025 after agreeing to a plea agreement with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.
Many of the victims’ families were present and spoke directly to Coberger. Among them was applauded by emotional speeches from people in the courtroom.
“I think it’s always a powerful moment for survivors and victims’ families. Now you’re facing the man who has admitted to killing the person you love the most. You’re facing it.”
The statement from Alivea Goncalves included a series of questions she brought in from her sister’s death.
“It’s very moving because we all ask a lot of questions that we’ve had all this time,” says Laura. “Every family had a different approach. Goncarves” has been spoken openly from the start. And you can understand that today the anger was there, and they have it to him. ”
The court plunged into applause when Alivea Goncalves finished reading her statement. The judges sometimes silenced such responses, but this was not the case.
“This judge tore it,” she says. “I think his position was that, even if things were off the rails, it was a key moment for those families.”
Please see below for the full statement of Alivea Goncalves that I read to Bryan Kohberger.
I am not here to speak with grief today. The truth is that my sister Kailey and her best friend Maddie were not yours, so I’m here to tell you the truth.
They were not yours, they were not something to study, creep or silence. They were the whole two pieces, perfect yin and yang. They are everything you could never have become.
The truth about Kaylee and Maddie is because they would have been kind to you. If you were approaching them in their daily lives, they would have laughed awkwardly to not give you instructions, appreciate your compliments, or make your own words uncomfortable to you.
In a world that rejected you, they would have shown mercy.
The truth is that I’m angry. Every day I get mad. I scream inside my head, screaming everything I can say to you. The truth about me was that when I heard the news, I didn’t cry. I listened for them. I promised them that I would fight for them. I vowed not to make them feel lonely.
I was always on their heavy weight as you see. I have always been someone who fought battles that they didn’t feel ready to fight themselves. All it took was the phone and they know I’ll handle it for them.
They knew I would never retreat, so they could waving a white flag. Not for them, and even death could not change it. Somewhere along the line, I began to think about what I would say to them if given another last chance. If only we could gather enough heartbreak, love, sacrifice, or what we needed to convey one message.
What do I say?
Throughout this process, I wrote down my feelings in every moment, in my wishes, in my love, in my denials, in my anger. And as a final act of love, I planned to read these thoughts. For me, it was true love like naked and naked, so rather than being covered in beautiful words or dressed on the occasion, it was written at 2am through a blurry eyes with this fist angry at reality.
My true act of love was to continue for them without them. The dream of reading my love for them aloud and bringing meaning through pain is the latest blow that you realize you don’t deserve it, and Kayley and Maddie don’t need it.
Kaylee and Maddie always know my love. They never asked me to prove it by sacrificing further to the accused who had no guilt, no regrets or concerns. They told me, “Why are you happy to show vulnerability now? You have promised you never retreat.”
And for that clarity, I am grateful.
I stand here and don’t give you what you want. I will not offer you tears. I will not tremble to you. Disappointment like yours thrives in the illusion of pain, fear, and power. And I will not feed your beast.
Instead, I will call you what you are: sociopaths, psychopaths, murderers. I ask questions that echo so loudly that they echo violently in my head. Some of these may be familiar to you. So, when I talk to you, sit straight.
How was your life just before you murdered my sister?
Did you prepare for a crime before leaving your apartment?
Please explain in detail what you were thinking and feeling at this point.
Why did you choose my sister?
Have you approached my sister before you made your move?
We will detail what you were thinking and feeling.
Have you done anything else before you leave their home?
How does it feel to know that being a murderer is the only thing you fail more miserably than trying to become a rapper?
Have you started frowning recently or have you pulled out your eyebrows manually?
Why November 13th?
Did you really think you couldn’t get an Amazon purchase because you used a gift card?
How fun do you think it’s going to be Stargaze in such a serious case of visual snow?
Where is the murder weapon, the clothes you wore that night?
What did you bring to the house with you?
What was the second weapon you used in Kaylee?
What was Kaley’s last words?
Describe in detail the level of anxiety you must have felt when you heard the bearcat pull into your family’s home on December 30th, 2022.
Do you regret even more: return to the crime scene after 5 hours or never return to Moscow and stalking them there for several months before?
If you’re really smart, do you think you’re here now?
How about requiring so much attention just to feel authentic?
You’re afraid to be normal, right?
Do you feel something or are you always afraid of? there is nothing.
If you are so powerful, why are you still hidden? Defendant, you see, I am here today as me, who are you?
Take off your mask and take a look. You did not create devastation. You revealed it, and it is in yourself. And the darkness you carry, that emptiness, you will sit with it ever since this is over. That’s your sentence and it was written on the wall long before you announced your guilt.
You didn’t win. You just exposed yourself as a coward. You are the paranoid, pathetic, hypochondritic loser who you thought was far smarter than anyone else. Continuously old, raise your nose to grammatical mistakes, criticize and criticize others.
You wanted to be so different, special, better, deeper, mystical. You realised you think you are better than anyone else, and you thought you could understand and see the human mind. Hiding in the shadows made you feel powerful because no one ever paid attention to you in the light.
You thought you were all exceptional for the paper grade.
You thought you were elite because the 2010 online IQ test said that. All of that effort seems important, it’s desperate.
Your state has a name, but your bulging ego just couldn’t see it: aspiring.
You act like no one can understand your mind. But the truth is you are fundamental. You are a case of anxiety textbooks that disguises control. Your patterns are predictable. Your motivation is shallow. You are not profound. You are pathetic.
You are no special, deep, mystical, or exceptional. Never twist it again.
No one is scared of you today. No one is threatened by you. No one will be impressed with you. No one thinks you matter. You adjusted this to what you thought you were God. Look at you now and beg the court for scraps.
You spent months preparing, but still only my sister and Sheath.
You worked so hard to make it look dangerous, but true control doesn’t have to prove itself.
The truth is, the most frightening part about you is how painful and average you are. The truth is that you are as stupid, stupid, clumsy, slow, sloppy, weak and dirty as they come.
Let me be very clear. Don’t try to convince yourself that it matters just because someone finally said your name out loud.
I can see through you.
You want the truth. If you didn’t attack them during their sleep, then in the middle of the night, like a pedophile, Kaley would have kicked your F——————————————————————————————–
This story first appeared on Today.com. More from today:
Source link
