As Bryan Kohberger made his first appearance in an Idaho courtroom this week, the parents of one of the victims described what it felt like to come so close to the accused killer, News Nation reports.
Kristi Goncalves, the mother of victim Kaylee Goncalves, said she stared at Kohberger once he was escorted into court.
“I just looked at him . . . and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, his every movement,” Kristi told News Nation’s Ashleigh Banfield.
Kristi said she “expected to feel . . . just this immense amount of hate” and is “a little bit in shock still,” according to the news outlet.
Steve Goncalves, who is Kaylee’s father and Kristi’s husband, added: “I just was too overtaken by the fact that I was, you know, in a courtroom going over a case that had to do with . . . people that I cared [about] and loved,” according to News Nation.
Kaylee, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found stabbed to death inside a home in Moscow, Idaho, near the University of Idaho campus on November 13.
Prosecutors allege that Kohberger, 28, committed the gruesome slayings. At the time, he was a doctoral student studying criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, a short drive from Moscow across the state border.
Investigators allege that a knife sheath found at the scene contains DNA from Kohberger and that a vehicle like the one he drove was spotted on various security cameras near the murder scene around the time the victims were killed.
Police arrested Kohberger on December 30 at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania and extradited him back to Idaho this week.
Steven commented that Kohberger appeared to be “a guy that looks like a normal everyday . . . kid,” according to News Nation. “I didn’t see anything there that caught my eye,” Steve added.
After looking at Kohberger during the court hearing, Kristi told News Nation: “I just could not believe that . . . he has done what he has done.”
Asked what she would say to Kohberger, Kristi told News Nation: “Does he realize what he has taken from us . . . from these four families? Ethan was a triplet . . . Maddie was an only child. Xana had siblings. Kaylee was one of five. The immense loss . . . He did really think about it, which makes it really hard.”
The grieving parents also said if Kohberger is convicted, he should be sentenced to death.
“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 News Nation.
Another court hearing is scheduled for January 12.
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[Featured image: Facebook; Police Handout]
