Heartbreaking reason Kaylee Goncalves’ younger sister waited years to speak out on Idaho murders

Kaylee Goncalves‘ youngest sister has spoken publicly for the very first time, explaining why she stayed silent for nearly four years after the Idaho murders.

Via YouTube

Aubrie Goncalves was just 16 years old when her older sister Kaylee was murdered alongside Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in November 2022. Now 20, she’s decided to share her voice after Bryan Kohberger filed a petition attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and take the case to trial.

Aubrie wasn’t present in the Netflix documentary, The Idaho Student Murders: College Nightmare, although her parents and older sister, Alivea Goncalves, were heavily involved.

Speaking on TODAY, Aubrie explained that her age played a huge part in why she never spoke publicly in the years after the killings.

“When everything happened, I was a sophomore in high school,” she said. “I was only 16 years old, and at the time I kind of just decided no words are going to bring back either one of my sisters, so I didn’t feel like saying anything.”

“And now that I’ve gotten older, almost four years has passed, I realized still that no words are going to bring back my sisters, but words are going to keep their memories alive,” she continued. “I’m not really one to put myself in a situation like this, I don’t really like to, but I know that I have to keep Maddie and Kaylee’s name alive, and that’s why I’m here today.”

Her decision to finally speak out also came after Kohberger’s latest legal filing, in which he asked the court to allow him to withdraw the guilty plea he entered earlier this year.

In a statement released on Facebook after the petition was filed, Aubrie said the filing left her feeling she could no longer stay quiet.

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“I wasn’t planning on saying anything today,” she wrote. “But after seeing that the man who admitted in court to murdering four innocent people now wants to withdraw his guilty plea, I couldn’t stay silent.

“For him, this may be another legal filing. For me, it’s another day without my sister.”

The filing also arrived just days before the release of Netflix’s three-part documentary The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, which features participation from other members of the Goncalves family.

Via Netflix

Aubrie said she hopes people remember there’s a real family living through the case every time it returns to the headlines.

“Why should the person convicted of taking their voices continue to have one?” she said. “This isn’t a Netflix documentary. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This isn’t entertainment. This is my life. These were real people.”

She finished with a reminder of the ongoing impact the case has on the victims’ loved ones whenever new developments emerge.

“And every time this case is dragged back into the spotlight because of another filing, another theory, or another attempt to rewrite history, families like mine are forced to relive the worst day of our lives.”

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Featured image credit: YouTube, Netflix