Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Idaho Murder Victim's Dad Claims Bryan Kohberger Had Sexual Motive in Murders

Episode Date: July 19, 2025

Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, claims the murder of his daughter and three other University of Idaho students was sexually motivated. Prosecutors have said there were no signs of sexual assault on any of the victims. But Goncalves says some law enforcement have said the motive was sexual in nature. Goncavles also offered a new detail about his daughter's injuries as he demands information. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through Goncalves's comments to the "Drop Dead Serious" podcast in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This is what he was searching. This individual was sexually motivated. I don't care what Thompson said. That's Kaylee Goncalves' father, Steve, opening up about what he believes the motive was behind the murder of his daughter and three other University of Idaho students. And he's revealing new details about what he said happened to Kaylee. There was some damage around her mouth right here. Like somebody had like pressed in and and tried to keep her quiet. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. For more than two years,

Kaylee Goncalves' family has demanded answers about their daughter's murder. They've wanted to know why she was killed and how and now that Brian Koberger has admitted to the crimes and the sweeping gag order has been lifted. Steve Goncalves says he still doesn't know the answers to the questions he's wanted answered for so very long. And he's still searching for those answers and for information. Steve Goncalves is speaking out

after the judge lifted the gag order and he's offering some harsh words for the prosecutor. He's also offering some information about what he believes the motive may have been behind the murders and some things that happened to Kaylee. I'll get to that very shortly. Now in less than a week, Brian Coburger will be formally sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for the murders of those four University of Idaho students. For more than two years, Coburger, a former PhD student in criminology at Washington

State University in Pullman, Washington, he's maintained his innocence until now. He said he didn't murder Maddie Mogan, Kaylee Goncalves, Zana Curnodle, and Ethan Chapin at that home on King Road in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. It appeared he might actually claim at trial that the K-bar knife sheath containing his DNA found next to Maddie's body was planted. But then just weeks before jury selection was slated to begin in his death penalty trial, a bombshell development,

Coburger had asked for a plea deal to spare his life. He would admit to the brutal crimes he denied for so long. What suddenly changed other than he was running out of time? The judge wasn't giving him the delay that he wanted and it didn't really appear that he had much of a defense since he couldn't point the finger at other suspects and he certainly had no alibi. We really don't know what changed with Brian Coburger, but he finally admitted to these murders. Did you, on November 13th, 2022, in Laetaw County, state of Idaho, kill and murder Madison Mogan, a human being? Yes. And did you do that willfully,

unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice of fourth of forethought? Yes. Did you honor about that same date in Moscow, Idaho, kill and murder? Kayleigh Gonzalves, a human being? Yes. And did you do that willfully, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice of forethought? Yes. And did you on that same date in Moscow, Idaho, kill and murder Zana Curnodle, pardon me, a human being? Yes.

And did you do that willfully, unlawfully, deliberately with premeditation and malice of forethought? Yes. And then on or about November 13, 2022, again in Laetok County, Idaho, did you kill and murder Ethan Chapin, a human being? Yes. Did you do that willfully, unlawfully, deliberately with premeditation and malice of forethought? Yes.

The facts, as explained by prosecutor Bill Thompson in court, are haunting and chilling. It sounds like something out of a horror movie. And for nearly three years, the victims' families have been living in a horror movie. Here's prosecutor Thompson reciting some of the facts of the case. The defendant entered the residence of 1122 through the kitchen sliding door on the backside of the residence, which is the side of the residence that would face the area above where the defendant's car was parked. Defendant entered the residence, went to the third floor, and with a knife killed Madison

Mogan and Caitlin Gonzalez. of the K-Wig office. The defendant, as he left that room for whatever reason, ended up leaving or the sheath for a K-Bar knife was left on the bed next to Madison Moten's body. And I can jump ahead, that sheath was tested by the Idaho State Police Forensic Lab and single source male DNA was found on the snap of that sheath, as well as blood from both Cabley and Madison and other trace evidence. But it's important to note single source male DNA was on the snap of that sheath. What Thompson describes is absolutely terrifying. It was a typical Saturday night, Sunday morning in a college house and it turned into a nightmare because of one man. One man who destroyed lives in a matter

of minutes. The state's evidence would show that Zana Connodel was still awake at this time. In fact, had taken a door dash order not long before this started. Her room was not on the third floor, it was on the second floor on the west side. As the defendant was either coming down the stairs or leaving, he encountered Zana, and he ended up killing her also with a large knife. Ethan Chapin, Zana's boyfriend,

was asleep in their bedroom, in her bedroom, and the defendant killed him as well with a large fixed bed line. Each victim suffered multiple wounds. I will state for the record that there is no evidence there was any sexual component or sexual assault on any of the victims. I want to make that clear so there's no speculation. Now prosecutors and police have been very, very clear about the fact that there was no

evidence of a sexual assault or sexual trauma on any of the victims. But that doesn't mean that this wasn't a sexually motivated crime. I've been saying for a very long time that this appeared to be a sexually motivated crime. Brian Koberger may not have had the chance to commit a sexual assault because he was likely interrupted. His plan thwarted because he went to Maddie Mogin's bedroom and she wasn't alone. Her best friend, Kayleigh Goncalves, was in the bed with her. That was likely not part of Brian Coburger's plan.

And let's say there was no plan for a sexual assault. Experts will tell you that some perpetrators can be aroused by the act of killing. And it's really difficult to wrap your mind around that fact, but it's something sadly that can happen with these people. And remember that Dateline special that aired so much evidence in May, evidence that no one had ever seen before publicly? That special included information that Brian Koberger had a lot of searches for pornography about girls who were drunk and passed out.

Dateline reported Coburger's porn searches included forced sex with girls who were sleeping, breaking into someone's house in the middle of the night, armed with a knife, certainly seems like a sexually motivated crime when you know about those Google searches for pornography. And remember, he had also searched for Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer who lived in Washington state at one time. about those Google searches for pornography. And remember, he had also searched for Ted Bundy,

the notorious serial killer who lived in Washington state at one time. Bundy raped and murdered many, many women. Now Steve Goncalves, Kaylee's father, is talking about the possible motive in an interview with Ashley Banfield on her podcast, Drop Dead Serious. He says, despite that gag order being lifted,

they still don't have any information about what happened to Kaylee as they prepare for victim impact statements. You know, we requested for basically Kaylee what happened to Kaylee. So I know our sisters want to do a victim statement and address the exacts, some of the things that happened to her. And they basically wouldn't they wouldn't share any information with us on, you know, what happened to her. So I'm pretty used to how ridiculous, you know, not just a gag order, but sealing something that has nothing to do with the victims' rights. It's it's all about a hate to say, but it is a lot to do with the victims' rights. It's all about, I hate to say it, but it is a lot to do with the media and people being

put on cameras and not knowing what to say or things coming out that they didn't mean to say or just didn't have a good explanation of what was going on. So they wrapped this seal thing around trying to pretend like they're trying to protect people and doing all that. But they gave out people's initials at the very beginning. So it's just a dog and pony show that we're supposed to pretend like there's top secret information inside these docs. It's pretty gross. And we're fired up with it. And we're glad that it's over. And we just, you know,

you only got one time to be able to be a victim's advocate and say what you need to say and to address the courtroom and everyone in Idaho. And they're not going to let us know exactly what happened. So it's just terrible. You're going to go in there, we're going to make statements and we're just like, we don't want to say anything inaccurate. We want to make sure everything we say is exactly truthful. And, you know, it's one of those times where they can bend the rules, but they don't. Now, the Gonsalves has appeared to have had a very contentious relationship with members of law enforcement from the beginning of the case when they tried to get information and couldn't.

And despite that gag order being lifted, they say they still can't get information. There's no discussion of that. We just, Shannon just sent me an email and just said, are you really gonna make my clients go through three different agencies to get this information that they wanna see? Like go through Freedom of Information Acts for the state of Idaho, for the county of Leta,

and then there know there's federal ones as well, there's even other states, so it's like you they could they can make it happen, but clearly the willpower isn't there. I don't think they I don't think they really want anyone talking to the media and questioning, you know. Remember these people said that it was a crime of passion, it was targeted, and it was an isolated event, all this language. And then they even said, you're going to have to trust us. You're just going to have to wait and trust us. And now we've waited and it's like, oh, no, no, no, there was no connection whatsoever that we could establish.

So how do you get isolated? How do you get targeted? So, um, I think it's more about covering up some of the mistakes that they made. They don't want to talk about that, you know, destroying the crime scene and how questionable that was. So they just say, well, we're gagged. And now that the gag's over, you guys aren't going to know exactly what we were talking about during the last two and a half years.

Steve Goncalves certainly believes that the murders were sexually motivated from what he's learned about Brian Coburger's Google searches. Most of the information we found out were just people calling up. I've had other officers call us up and just say, I don't know what just happened in the court today, but I don't support it. People so angry at what was happening in that courtroom that they would literally pick up their phone and call us and say, this is what's on Brian's phone. This is what he was searching. This individual was sexually motivated. I don't care what what Thompson said.

They've got a plan for him. They've got a job role for that man. And it's not every day that you get somebody who wants to be a police officer is dying to be a police officer. It's literally talking to them every single day about how he was going to be a police officer. It's not every day you get a master's degree in criminology that is going to go into prison. And they're going to leverage that. That's what they're interested in. They're not interested in him being locked up in a, you know, 23 hours of, you know, solitary where he's not going to be able to have any influence. They want him to go in there and actually have influence and work with them. there and actually have influence and work with them. Goncalves also discussed information that he learned about injuries that Kaylee suffered.

We knew that she and the other victims died from stab wounds, but there was more according to Goncalves. He said early in the investigation that he had been told that Kaylee's wounds differed from Maddie's, that Kaylee's were more severe. Goncalves then talked about Coburger's interest in pornography. Just weird, weird porn fetishes, but two of the fetishes were in that room. Drunk, passed out girls and gagging girls.

And those are two things that were part of that crime scene for Thompson to say that there was no sexual assault. Of course there wasn't, he didn't have enough time. Somebody came up there. But why are you defending somebody who just killed four people? Why are you not even making him stand in the courtroom and admit that he killed four people? It's upside down world sometimes when you go in those court systems and they're literally, oh, you've been so respectful.

You can sit down when you plead guilty with a yes and no answer. So we're just glad to be done with it. We're glad to move on. When you said drunk, passed out girls gagging girls, was there something that happened at the crime scene involving gagging that you heard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what we've heard. That's why we want to get all these facts straight. So we don't want to have a statement that is inaccurate. Did someone with the investigation describe that Kaylee or Maddie was gagged

during this horrible crime? I was told that by somebody in, I can give that out. That was Mabbitt. That was Mabbitt who gave that information. What did she say? There was some damage around her mouth right here, like somebody had like pressed in and like tried to keep her quiet. The Gonsalves's have also said in the past that Kaylee had suffered head trauma. I have tried to confirm all of these details with the coroner of Laetaw County, Kathy Mabbitt, and she has declined to offer details. I even reached out to her in the hours after Judge Hippler lifted the gag order, and again,

she said that she would not be making any public statements about the case. But if that is accurate, that Kaylee had a mark on her mouth, as if somebody had tried to keep her quiet, that would suggest that she certainly awoke or was awake after Coburger entered that room armed with a knife. Kaylee's parents have said in the past that she fought back and likely tried to save herself and Maddie. Meanwhile, court documents have stated that Maddie Mogan that she couldn't fight back and that she had no defensive wounds. What's that look like for you guys? And we said, you know, we're not in it. We're in it for the death penalty. The choice is he could be fired at or he could take a shot

those are the two options that we would agree to and then we did you know, we would have if it would have got to negotiations we would have Negotiated a lot better than Thompson Thompson negotiated like a five-year-old kid You know, he didn't didn't force him to say that he did it solo by himself, didn't force him to prove that he was wearing the suit or show us where the knife is to the sheaf. There's a right way to do things.

And then there's just, I want it over with because I want my summer back and I want to go retire. So that's what we got. We got a pitiful effort from an old man who's retiring and doesn't believe in the death penalty and really had no right to even be in that room. And it's a shame that we didn't have any other choices that we could have, you know, we could have pushed for. We tried, we tried. I mean, I tried to even hire a prosecutor. I would have, I would have paid to have my daughter in a separate case with our own prosecutor that we paid for and not even made Idaho pay one penny. And it would have turned out differently. It's really all too sad to contemplate that these kids were sleeping in a bedroom in a

college house and their lives were just taken from them, stolen from them in a matter of minutes. Now we will possibly learn some more information. The city of Moscow is going to be releasing documents on its website. We will be keeping an eye on all of that to bring you more information and we will be in Boise For that sentencing of Brian Coburger next week. So stay tuned. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of crime fix I'm Angie net Levi. I'll see you back here next time