Alivea Goncalves, sister of University of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, says she fully expected to be arrested after delivering a searing victim impact statement at the sentencing of Bryan Kohberger — and she doesn’t regret a word of it.
“I had one shot at it, and I was going to make the most of it,” Alivea said during a July 28 appearance on Good Morning America, reflecting on her bold remarks directed squarely at the man convicted of murdering her sister and three other students in 2022.
Kohberger, 39, was sentenced on July 23 to four consecutive life terms for the stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
During the sentencing hearing, Alivea stood in front of Kohberger and did not hold back. “You want the truth? Here’s the one you’ll hate the most. If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would’ve kicked your f—— ass,” she said.
Recounting the experience on GMA, Alivea admitted she feared consequences for her words: “I was prepared to be arrested that day. I think that every single one of us were.”
She said she was driven by the rage she saw on Kohberger’s face as she spoke. “Man, was he mad,” she said. “That was obviously a big point of why I did what I did — to make him feel small, because he is.”
Alivea had meticulously prepared her statement, memorizing every line so she could maintain eye contact with Kohberger throughout. “It actually makes me really emotional. I got up there knowing that my speech wasn’t to Kaylee and Maddie — it was for them.”
In preparing her remarks, Alivea said she did extensive research on Kohberger. “I stalked the stalker,” she said. “I found everything I could online from the beginning of time to now. It fueled me to know that I got you pegged.”
Kaylee had confided in friends about feeling watched in the weeks before the murders. Survivor Dylan Mortensen told police that Kaylee mentioned being followed, and had even seen a shadowy figure while walking her dog a month before she was killed.
In her emotional statement, Alivea recalled her sister and Maddie as “everything you could never be — loved, accepted, vibrant, accomplished, brave, and powerful.” She then turned her focus back on Kohberger: “You aren’t profound, you’re pathetic.”
Speaking later to NewsNation, Alivea said confronting Kohberger felt surreal and deeply unsettling: “It was like being face to face with an alien. I’m not intimidated by him… but there’s a primal sense of alarm. My body was telling me, ‘Run. Get out. This is a threat.’”
Despite the emotional toll, she said she wouldn’t change a thing: “I said what needed to be said.”
