Aubrie Goncalves has opened up about the point when she felt she could no longer hold back, as renewed court action in the Idaho murders case forced her family to revisit their grief.
Aubrie was 16 when her sister, Kaylee Goncalves, was killed in the 2022 murders in Moscow, Idaho. Bryan Kohberger, who admitted to the killings, is now serving four consecutive life terms behind bars.
Authorities said Kohberger entered the off-campus house shared by University of Idaho students and fatally stabbed Kaylee, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
In a Facebook post, Aubrie explained how every new development in the case reopens the pain for the relatives of those who were killed.
“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,” she said, writing on Facebook.
She said she felt compelled to respond after Kohberger submitted a petition seeking to challenge the guilty plea he previously entered in July 2025.
She wrote: “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 arrived on July 27 shortly before Netflix released its documentary The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, which premiered on July 29, a project Aubrie took part in.
She said that for a long time she stayed quiet because she believed nothing she said could undo what had happened, but that perspective shifted as she got older.
“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,” the devastated sibling added.
“But now that I’ve gotten older, I realized still that no words are going to bring back my sisters, but words are going to keep their memories alive.
“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 Kaylee and Alivea’s name alive, and that’s why I’m here today.”
Speaking to TODAY on August 4 alongside her parents, Steve and Kristi, Aubrie, now 20, remembered Kaylee as an upbeat and driven person.
“She was always down to have a fun time, she was always looking at the positives, she was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met.”
Kaylee’s older sister, Alivea Goncalves, also addressed Kohberger’s latest bid to undo his plea, saying the emotional impact on the families continues long after sentencing.
She said “The fact that someone locked behind bars still has the ability to revictimize their victims, that’s something that isn’t just very easy to get over.
“This will never be over for us until the defendant is no longer breathing on this earth.”
The case began unfolding on the night of 12 November 2022 and into the early hours of 13 November. Kernodle, 20, and Chapin, 20, had been at a Sigma Chi fraternity event, while Goncalves, 21, and Mogen, 21, visited the Corner Club sports bar.
1.45am – Kernodle and Chapin return home to their house on King Road
1.56am – Goncalves and Mogen arrive home
2.44am – Kohberger’s Hyundai sedan is spotted by a CCTV camera at Washington State University. Shortly afterwards, the car is seen again heading towards a road that connects Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, where the victims live.
4am – Bryan Kohberger is believed to have entered the property
4.17am – A security camera reveals the sound of a barking dog, voices and what sounds like a thud. At some point around this time, their housemate Dylan Mortensen is awoken and hears a male voice say: “It’s OK, Kaylee, I’m here for you.” She later hears crying and sees a masked man in the property.
4.19am – Mortensen attempts to call Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen, but all calls go unanswered. She started texting Bethany Funke, saying she’s ‘freaking out’ after seeing a man in a ‘ski mask’. Mortensen joins Funke in her room and they lock themselves in.
11.58am – After Mortensen calls her friend Emily Alandt, she and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson come over to the King Road property. Johnson discovers Chapin and Kernodle’s bodies and calls 911.
Early autopsy findings indicated all four victims had been attacked with a large knife.
Investigators later said they wanted to identify anyone linked to a white 2011-13 Hyundai Elantra.
Kohberger was later arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder along with burglary. Police said DNA recovered from a knife sheath connected him to the scene, while phone and vehicle data were also used in the case.
At arraignment, Kohberger did not enter a plea, prompting the judge to record a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Prosecutors subsequently confirmed they would pursue the death penalty.
The King Road house where the killings happened was later torn down, with officials saying the move would help the community begin to recover.
In later court filings, Kohberger’s lawyers argued phone mast evidence placed him miles away from Moscow at the time of the murders.
His defence team also argued that he showed traits of autism spectrum disorder and that executing him would be unconstitutional.
Then, only weeks before trial, Kohberger changed course and pleaded guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in July 2025.
He was sentenced to four consecutive life terms, plus an additional 10 years on the burglary charge. As part of the plea agreement, Kohberger waived his right to appeal in exchange for avoiding the death penalty that prosecutors had sought.
During sentencing on July 23, 2025, he faced the victims’ families in court for the first time as they delivered impact statements.
Alivea Goncalves gave a forceful address, deliberately turning the courtroom podium toward Kohberger to address him directly, saying “Sit up straight when I talk to you.” Surviving housemate Dylan Mortensen said she had endured severe panic attacks since that night and told Kohberger he had taken away her “ability to trust the world”.
In response to Kohberger’s recent attempt to withdraw his guilty plea, the Goncalves family released a statement likening him to a “mosquito you just can’t seem to swat,” adding: “The real tragedy is this: If even a fraction of the energy spent trying to free a guilty man were directed toward honoring the victims, there would be statues of them on every corner, parks bearing their names, and days set aside to remember the lives they lost at the hands of a narcissist.”
Kohberger has now said he wants to withdraw his guilty plea and overturn the conviction. He filed a petition for post-conviction relief on July 27, 2026, alleging his lawyers misled him into confessing.
He tells the New York Times: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
Legal experts have noted that Kohberger’s chances of successfully withdrawing his plea are extremely unlikely. Under Idaho law, he would need to show manifest injustice to overturn his conviction after sentencing. The deadline for him to file such a petition is within one year after the 42-day appeal deadline expires, which would be in early September 2026.
The Netflix three-part documentary The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, directed by Skye Borgman and executive produced by Academy Award-nominated Joe Berlinger, features unprecedented access to police footage and interviews with the victims’ families and law enforcement. The series centers on the lives of the four victims—Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—and traces the investigation that led to Kohberger’s arrest. The documentary premiered on July 29, 2026.