From ‘you're a joke' to ‘I've forgiven you': Families of Idaho murder victims address Bryan Kohberger at sentencing

RNZ News

4 days ago

Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing on July 23 in Boise, Idaho.
Photo:
Kyle Green/Pool/AP via CNN Newsource
By
Eric Levenson
,
Dakin Andone
,
Maureen Chowdhury
,
Antoinette Radford
, CNN
The family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four University of Idaho students killed by
Bryan Kohberger
in 2022, called him a "joke," "loser," and "as dumb as they come" in a day of searing victim impact statements.
"If you hadn't
attacked them in their sleep
, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your fucking ass," her sister Alivea Goncalves said to him, earning a round of applause from some of those gathered in the Boise, Idaho, courtroom.
The impact statements from the victims' families were part of a dramatic sentencing hearing that represented the final opportunity for the families to speak in court and reflect on their loved ones, Kohberger and the case's controversial plea deal.
Kohberger, too, had an opportunity to speak to the court and answer the question that remains frustratingly unclear: Why?
Yet he was as unknowable as ever. Wearing an orange prison outfit, Kohberger kept a flat affect throughout the hearing and did not appear to react to any of the statements. And when he had his turn to speak to the court, he said only three words: "I respectfully decline."
Earlier this month, the
former criminology graduate student admitted to fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students
- Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen - in their off-campus home during the overnight hours of November 13, 2022.
He pleaded guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder, and in exchange, prosecutors agreed to a sentence of life in prison, taking the death penalty off the table.
Speaking directly to Kohberger, Alivea Goncalves said her sister would "call you exactly what you are: sociopath, psychopath, murderer."
She called Kohberger "defendant" and asked a series of questions she said "reverberate violently" in her own head.
"Sit up straight when I talk to you," she said. "How was your life right before you murdered my sister? Did you prepare for the crime before leaving your apartment? Please detail what you were thinking and feeling at the time."
"If you were really smart, do you think you'd be here right now?"
She dismissed him as a sociopath, a psychopath and a delusional and pathetic loser. He is "as dumb as they come," she said, adding that "no one thinks that you are important."
"The truth is, you're basic," she said.
"Let me be very clear: Don't ever try to convince yourself you matter just because someone finally said your name out loud. I see through you," she said.
Steve Goncalves, the victim's father, turned the lectern to directly face Kohberger in his impact statement.
"The world's watching because of the kids, not because of you. Nobody cares about you. … In time, you will be nothing but two initials, forgotten to the wind," he said.
He called Kohberger a "joke" and described how easy it was to track him down.
"Police officers tell us within minutes they had your DNA. Like a calling card. You were that careless. That foolish. That stupid. Masters degree? You're a joke. Complete joke," he said.
Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen
Photo:
(Obtained by CNN) via CNN Newsource
Bethany Funke, a roommate of the four slain students, wrote a statement - read aloud by a friend - about her survivor's guilt and her regrets about not immediately calling 911.
"I was still out of it and still didn't know what happened. If I had known, I of course, would have called 911 right away," Funke wrote. "I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what had happened and not calling right away, even though I understand, it wouldn't have changed anything."
"That was the worst day of my life, and I know it always will be," she added.
"Why me? Why did I get to live and not them?"
Dylan Mortensen, who also lived with the victims, read aloud her statement through tears, describing what the perpetrator had taken away from all of them.
"He didn't just take their lives, he took the light they carried into every room. He took away how they made everyone feel safe, loved, and full of joy. He took away the ability for me to tell them that I love them and that I'm so proud of them.
"He took away who they were becoming, and the futures they were going to have. He took away birthdays, graduations, celebrations, and all the memories that we were supposed to make," she said. "All of it is gone. And all the people who loved them are just left to carry that weight forever."
"He didn't just take them from the world, he took them from me. My friends, my people who felt like my home. The people I looked up to and adored more than anyone. He took away my ability to trust the world around me. What he did shattered me in places I didn't know could break."
Mortensen said she has panic attacks "that slam into me like a tsunami out of nowhere" and send her heart racing.
She also said she had a dream last year in which she was able to say goodbye to her slain roommates.
"I told them I won't be able to see you again, so I need to tell you goodbye. They all kept asking why, and all I could say was I can't tell you but I have to," she said. "When I woke up, I felt shattered and heartbroken but also strangely grateful, like maybe in some way that dream gave us the goodbye we never got. Still, no dream can replace them, and no goodbye will ever feel finished."
Scott Laramie, Mogen's stepfather, read a statement on behalf of him and Mogen's mother, Karen Laramie, saying their daughter was "our gift of life, our purpose and our hope."
Laramie said the tragic loss of their daughter has left a "vast emotional wound" that will "never heal."
"Since Maddie's loss, there's emptiness in our hearts, home and family. An endless void," Laramie said. "We will grow old grow without our only child."
Ben Mogen, Mogen's father, said she was much more than his only child.
"She was the only great thing I ever really did. And the only thing I was ever really proud of."
He described struggling with addiction and substance abuse and how her daughter helped him.
"When I wasn't wanting to live anymore, she was what would keep me from not caring anymore. Knowing that she was out there and was such a beautiful person kept me alive in a lot of rough moments," he said.
Mogen's grandmother, Kim Cheeley, told a charming story about how Mogen, her first granddaughter, gave her an unusual nickname.
Mogen, then a 1.5-year-old, called her grandmother the same way she mispronounced "banana" - "ba-deedle-deedle." From then on, Cheeley became known as "Deedle," she said.
A couple of years before her death, Mogen bought Cheeley a necklace with "Deedle and Maddie" engraved on it, which has become one of her "treasured" possessions, she said. Following her granddaughter's death, Cheeley added an angel wing to the necklace, she told the court.
"It's one of my treasured possessions," she said.
Several members of the family now have an angel wing tattoo in honor of her granddaughter, Cheeley said.
"I wanted mine where I could see and touch it often," she said, rubbing her left forearm.
Kim Kernodle, the aunt of Xana Kernodle, said the loss of her niece at first spurred anger within their family but recently has brought them closer.
"You united us with your actions," she said. "We have family and friends now that we never knew we had."
Unlike many of those who spoke in court Wednesday, she offered Kohberger absolution.
"Bryan, I am here today to tell you that I have forgiven you, because I can no longer live with that hate in my heart, and for me to become a better person, I have forgiven you," she said.
"And anytime you want to talk and tell me what happened, you have my number. I'm here, no judgment, because I do have questions that I want you to answer. I'm here. I'll be that one that will listen to you, OK?"
Jeff Kernodle, Xana Kernodle's father, offered his own regrets. On the night the students were killed, he said he almost went to his daughter's home but he had been drinking, and she told him not to drink and drive. Now, he said, he wishes that he had.
"You would have had to deal with me," he told Kohberger.
-
CNN