What to Know About Kaylee Goncalves’ Parents, Steve and Kristi Goncalves

Kaylee Goncalves’ family was forever changed when she was brutally murdered in November 2022.

The 21-year-old student was the middle of five siblings raised by Steve and Kristi Goncalves in northern Idaho. Kaylee and her longtime best friend, Madison Mogen, were attending the University of Idaho together, living in an off-campus home with three roommates in Moscow, Idaho.

On Nov. 13, 2022, Bryan Kohberger entered the home and fatally stabbed Kaylee, Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20. Kohberger was arrested more than a month later in Pennsylvania and was charged with four counts of murder. In July 2025, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four lifetimes in prison, but a year later, he filed a petition to attempt to reverse his plea and obtain a trial.

During Kohberger’s sentencing, the families of the murdered students were given an opportunity to address him and the judge. Both Steve and Kristi — as well as their daughter Alivea — spoke out about Kohberger taking their daughter away from them.

The parents also participated in the three-part Netflix docuseries The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, in which they spoke about Kaylee and Mogen’s deep bond, their grieving process and what they wish for Kohberger.

Here’s everything to know about Kaylee Goncalves’ parents, Steve and Kristi Goncalves.

They welcomed five children

Kristi and Steve welcomed five children together: daughters Alivea, Kaylee, Autumn and Aubrie, and son Steven.

“Kaylee was our middle child out of five,” Kristi said during a memorial service in November 2022, according to KREM 2. “Kaylee was a huge part of our family, the dynamics of our family will never be the same.”

Kristi and Steve raised their family in Idaho

Shortly after Kaylee was born, Kristi and Steve moved their family from California to Idaho.

Kaylee attended Borah Elementary with Alivea and Steven before moving on to a charter school and Lake City High School as a teenager, per her obituary.

They have remained by each other’s side throughout Kaylee’s murder and the investigation

Throughout the emotional and legal hurdles Kristi and Steve have faced over the years since Kaylee’s murder, they have handled everything as a couple.

In December 2024, Kristi and Steve celebrated 29 years of marriage and reflected on how their relationship has helped them endure the trauma of losing their daughter.

“Up until losing Kaylee we had it easy. Raised 5 beautiful ,smart ,successful kids,” Kristi wrote in a Facebook post at the time. “We have discussed things and treated each other fairly. I believe that is the secret. We have so much respect and love for each other.”

The two have remained united throughout the murder investigation and subsequent legal ordeals regarding Kohberger. Since 2022, Kristi and Steve have spoken at memorials, discussed the investigation with media outlets and appeared at court hearings. They both participated in the 2026 Netflix docuseries and candidly discussed the horrific ordeal.

“I started getting messages on my Facebook, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss, I’m so sorry for your loss, I’m so sorry for your loss,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, no this can’t be real,’ ” Kristi recalled of learning about their daughter’s death. “And that sheriff pulled up, I actually took off running to the bedroom, because I knew.”

Steve added, “It’s hard for us, you know, because you go back, and you look at all these moments and you wish you could do things different.”

They advocated for the death sentence for Kohberger

In addition to talking about Kaylee’s life and legacy, Kristi and Steve have also sought justice for their daughter, which they see as a death sentence for Kohberger.

“Justice is when you leave the planet, and the whole world is able to rejoice and be glad that you’re not there,” Steve told NewsNation in January 2023, referring to the possibility of Kohberger getting the death sentence if found guilty.

Nearly three years after the four college students were brutally murdered, a trial date for Kohberger was set for Aug. 4. However, Kohberger stunned the families when he changed his plea to guilty and confessed to all four murders on July 2.

Shortly afterward, both Kristi and Steve slammed the prosecutors for letting Kohberger sign a plea deal. “We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us,” Steve wrote in one post.

In another post on Facebook at the time, the two wrote, “After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details.”

Steve later appeared on Banfield on NewsNation where he apologized to Kaylee for the plea deal.

“It’s my mistake. I’m sorry Kaylee,” Steve said. “I’m truly sorry that I didn’t get you a prosecutor who really believed what happened to you could only be fixed with life.”

Steve added that he felt “used” by the prosecution and wished a jury had determined Kohberger’s fate.

In the years that have passed since the murders, Steve and Kristi have maintained their stance, with Steve saying in the Netflix doc that they “need to be holding him accountable to the utmost of the law.”

“The death penalty is part of the equation, because you played god that night,” Steve said. “You decided when somebody died, and if you play god, then we’re going to hold you accountable.”

Kristi agreed with her husband and said, “I mean we scream, ‘We want justice, we want justice.’ What I want, is I want for him to die, and I will not say his name ever, no absolutely not. Justice would only be if the kids came back, and that doesn’t work that way. The kids are gone. They’re never coming back, but I want him to die.”

More than a year after he accepted a plea deal, Kohberger filed a petition claiming he was “convinced to falsely confess” and asking for a plea reversal and a trial. Steve responded to the filing and said in a statement that he “is not surprised” by Kohberger’s claim, while calling him “the mosquito you can’t seem to swat.”

“Regardless of how this turns out, our family is 100% ready. An actual trial this time? Let’s go,” Steve said. “We are confident he will get the death penalty that he escaped by pleading guilty the first time around.”

Steve continued, “He did this after deciding not to leave his fate and the facts of the case up to a jury to decide his guilt.”

They delivered powerful messages about Kaylee at Kohberger’s sentencing

Kristi and Steve showed up to Kohberger’s sentencing hearing to share their emotional victim impact statements.

“You tried to break our community apart,” Steve said, according to a transcript obtained by Fox News. “You tried to plant fear. You tried to divide us. You failed. Instead, your actions have united everyone and their disgust for you.”

He went on to call Kohberger a “complete joke” for leaving his DNA around the house and being “that careless, that foolish, that stupid.”

“We want to all leave in closing one last thing: you picked the wrong family, and we’re laughing at you on your trip to Pen,” he concluded.

Kristi also took the stand and called out her daughter’s murderer for being “someone so devoid of humanity.”

“When you murdered my daughter, Kaylee Jade Goncalves, you didn’t just take her life, you shattered others,” she said. “You attacked what you could never be. And in doing so, you left a trail of devastation far beyond that house. You stole my peace. You’ve altered my every waking moment, every sleepless night, the way I view the world, people, safety, trust. It’s all been changed by your cruelty.”

Kristi called her grief “immeasurable” and explained that she feels a “constant ache” for her daughter.