Kaylee Goncalves’ sister hits out at Bryan Kohberger’s latest move after Idaho murders appeal

Bryan Kohberger might have pleaded guilty to the Idaho murders, but his attempt to undo that plea has sparked a furious response from Kaylee Goncalves’ sister, Alivea, who said reading his latest legal filing left her “wanting to laugh”.

Alivea Goncalves, who appeared in Netflix’s The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare and delivered a victim impact statement at Kohberger’s sentencing last year, has spoken to Vanity Fair after he filed a petition attempting to withdraw his guilty plea.

via Netflix

Kohberger, who admitted to murdering University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in November 2022, is currently serving four consecutive life sentences after accepting a plea deal that spared him the death penalty. He has now claimed he was persuaded into a false confession because of “ineffective assistance of counsel”.

Alivea said her initial reaction to the filing was emotional, but that quickly changed once she’d read the details.

“Initially, it feels like a gut punch. Once I was able to actually read his filing, I genuinely wanted to just laugh,” she said. “He’s arguing ineffective counsel, which could not be farther from the truth. He was asked during his plea hearing if he had adequate defense and he said yes. If you look at every last motion that the defense team filed, there was not a door that they did not attempt to knock down.”

via Netflix

She also argued the legal process continues to put victims’ families through unnecessary pain long after a conviction has been secured.

“It sucks that the justice system allows a perpetrator to continue to re-victimize their victims. [Kohberger] should never, ever, ever have that power ever again. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from this and even more so holes in the justice system for victims.”

She also questioned whether people convicted of violent crimes should retain the same legal rights once found guilty.

“I don’t think people who are found guilty or plead guilty to violent crimes such as murder, assault, rape should have as many rights as they do. I don’t think that they should have a right to choose what their day looks like. I don’t think that life in prison is the same as the death penalty.”

Away from the public spotlight, Alivea lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Robbie Stevenson, and their children. After growing up alongside Kaylee in Idaho, she studied business at Boise State University before moving to California, where she has largely kept her family life private while continuing to advocate for victims and their families in the aftermath of the case.

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Featured image credit: Netflix