A grieving father reflects on the week
that he began getting some answers. Feel
relief. It was nearly seven weeks
of absolutely no clear guidance
that we were on the right track.
We had evidence,
we knew there was evidence,
but all that could mean nothing
until you have a face and a person
of personality to put it towards.
Steve Gonsalves's daughter Kaylee was
taken from him exactly 8 weeks ago today.
Investigators say she was killed in the
same bed as her best friend Madison
Morgan in a house just off the University
of Idaho campus on November 13th.
Downstairs, their roommate Zana
Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan
Chapin were also stabbed to death.
The man accused of murdering the four
students was arrested in Pennsylvania
and flown to Idaho this week.
28 year old Washington State
University PhD student Brian Koberger.
He faces four counts of first
degree murder and one burglary
charge for going into 1122 King Rd.
In Moscow with the intent to commit murder,
according to investigators.
A detailed probable cause affidavit
was also released Thursday laying out
why investigators think he is the
one who killed the four students.
As Coburger sits in the Latah
County Jail without bail,
Gonsalves's dad told our Morgan
Romero on Friday that he is breathing
a small sigh of relief.
Right now, the details made
publicly available. I miss what
she meant to the family,
and she meant the world. The planner,
the one who pushed the envelope.
21 year old Kaylee Gonsalves
leaves a big void in her big family
holiday. She was the one who wanted to
do the gingerbread houses and push it,
but she knew how to make memories.
You. You got to do this type of thing,
so we'll miss that.
That that gift that she brought
to us every single day.
And she was a little honored too,
so we'll miss that as well.
Father Steve smiled as he reflected
on her love of country music
and concerts, and her love of her
best friend, Madison Morgan, whom she
grew up alongside and died alongside.
I just read a letter where
Maddie wrote to Kaylee,
talking about their friendship.
And you know, it was powerful.
And you know,
they were they were beyond sisters,
you know, because the sisters are.
You kind of forced to get along
these two didn't they?
They weren't forced,
they were just like Union Yang and
Kaylee Maddie and one of the roommates,
Anna Kernodle, were stabbed to death.
In their house near U of I on
the morning of November 13th,
Zanna's boyfriend,
Ethan Chapin was also killed.
I'm here for my daughter and Maddie, but
there's two other people that are
just as important and they're they're,
they're kids went through just as much,
and their losses are just as real.
Like, I was going to be required
to come out and make sure that
the story didn't die. And
we built some momentum and
we got everyone involved
that we possibly could. I mean,
it took forever for me, but.
When police announced they arrested the
man they think took the students lives,
if there was ever A-Team a dream
team to solve a crime and put it
together correctly, we got him.
So that's why I just sit back and just.
Now it's just going to be a slow drag.
What are you feeling? Now that
we know who the suspect is,
I feel relief. It was nearly seven
weeks of absolutely no clear guidance
that we were on the right track.
We had evidence, we knew there was evidence,
but all that could mean nothing
until you have a face and a person
of personality to put it towards.
Tell yourself to be careful,
because you never know for sure.
You know it's a defendant and it's it's not.
It's not done.
There's still a lot more work to do.
So that's where we're at now.
We're ready for the next chapter.
Be OK, we're going to go in and,
you know we got the affidavit and
we've seen that it wasn't a page.
It wasn't too. It wasn't 345.
It was, it was long.
An unusually detailed
and long probable cause.
Affidavit released Thursday lays out DNA,
cell phone records and video surveillance.
Investigators say link Washington
State University grad student
Brian Koberger to the crime scene.
Investigators say they found a
knife sheath next to Maddie's body
and the sheath had DNA matching
Co burgers, father's DNA.
It was worth the wait and.
You know, they, they had a lot
of evidence to show for that.
So, you know, we're on the right
track and we're still a long
ways to go, but it feels good.
It feels good to be where we are right now.
The affidavit also said Co burgers phone
pinged near the girl's home on King Rd.
In Moscow at least 12 times in the
months leading up to the murders
and close enough that he he was
touching their Wi-Fi that his
phone was touching their Wi-Fi.
Defense attorneys tell me the probable
cause investigators put in their
affidavit is likely just the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to their evidence,
but statements in this affidavit
are not evidence on their own.
Attorneys caution we still haven't heard
the defenses side in the case koberger.
Is presumed innocent at this point
and he has a right to a fair trial.
What was it like seeing him
in court yesterday?
What did you,
what kind of sense did you get from his
body language and the way that he acted?
I got a sense that he was shocked
that he had messed up so bad.
You know, he had read that and I I
think he knew how damning it was.
And he wasn't going to be able to
explain a lot of that stuff very easily.
You could, you know,
I'm sure he thinks he can,
but I seen a man who looked defeated
and his body language looked like
somebody in shock and and dismay.
So. I think, uh, he he knows how
much he has to go against and.
He's he's the reality of it setting in.
The PCA also revealed one of the
surviving roommates woke up to noises and
saw a masked man in the home a little
after 4:00 AM she told police she was
in a quote frozen shocked phase when
he walked past her to the back door.
911 wasn't called until noon the
day of the murders.
So I think that's a natural thing for girls
to freeze up and lock up and, you know,
put themselves in a position of safety.
And I don't hold that against them.
You know, it's,
I've already checked into the, you know,
could they have lived, you know,
was it a slow bleed out or something?
And it wasn't.
So there's one bad guy here
that I have to focus on.
Do you know of any connections
between Kaylee and any of the
victims and this individual
to me? I mean it's like 910 miles, I mean.
I'd be shocked if these guys
didn't cross each other in grocery
stores and just everyday life.
He was over there for a year.
He I'm assuming that he followed
them and he may have figured out what
their patterns are and then, you know,
he trust tries to bump into him or
he tries to hang out in those spots.
You don't think there's going to be some
kind of connection that will explain this?
What kind would I mean like
my girls bullying him?
Or you know what?
What kind of behavior could explain
somebody being this brutal to another?
Human being. I mean,
he was probably obsessed with
just their overall looks and their
social media accounts and the fact
that they were close, you know,
along with any possible connections.
The affidavit also didn't reveal
a motive because Coburger was
getting his PhD in criminology
can solve his guesses.
He may have wanted to
live out what he taught.
I think he thought in his little
fantasy world that he was going to
teach a class where he actually did it.
No one had a clue.
And then that that gave him
a sense of superiority,
like you're getting your grades,
you know, graded by somebody who
actually has lived this lifestyle.
And glorifying the suspect. With all
the national attention on this case,
I hope this story here
is all about these kids
we have to remember to highlight
the beautiful lives lost.
He also feels he has to forgive
the person who did this.
Otherwise it's just a cancer inside you,
and I'm not willing to to live with
that inside me. We're not going to.
Walk around with darkness in our
heart for the rest of our lives and,
you know, have his name written there
like a tattoo on her consciousness.
Morgan Romero, Idaho's News Channel 7.