MOSCOW, Idaho (Court TV) — At least one of the families of the victims killed by Bryan Kohberger now plans to sue the school the killer attended at the time of the murders, according to reports.
Steve Goncalves consoles Kristi Goncalves, mother of victim Kaylee Goncalves speaks at the sentencing hearing of Bryan Kohberger at the Ada County Courthouse, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death nearly three years ago. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)
Steve and Kristi Goncalves, whose daughter Kaylee Goncalves was one of the four people murdered by Kohberger on Nov. 13, 2022, said they plan to file a tort claim seeking damages from Washington State University, their attorney told the Idaho Statesman.
Kohberger is currently serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee and three others inside their rented home near the University of Idaho campus. Kohberger pleaded guilty to killing Kaylee, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle — all students at the University of Idaho — to avoid a potential death sentence.
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In 2023, while the case against Kohberger was still pending, the attorney for the Goncalves family filed tort claims against the City of Moscow, the University of Idaho, Washington State University and the Idaho State Police on behalf of both their family and Mogen’s family, KHQ reported at the time. At the time, only notices were filed, not actual suits.
A photo recovered from Bryan Kohberger’s Android device is dated before he killed four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022. (Court TV)
Now, the Goncalves family has taken the next step in the process, focusing on Washington State University, though it is unclear whether Mogen’s family or any of the other victims’ families will join in the suit, which has not yet been publicly filed. In a statement to the Idaho Statesman, the Goncalves family attorney said, ‘Those questions are still being worked out.”
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Investigative documents reviewed by Court TV previously revealed that students and faculty at Washington State University had been alarmed by Kohberger’s behavior before the murders. Female students reported that Kohberger was condescending and disrespectful, and one professor warned that “We will hear he is harassing, stalking and sexually abusing” his students if they awarded him a Ph.D. The staff recommended cutting his funding and removing him from the teaching assistant program.
Last week, Judge Steven Hippler ordered Kohberger to pay the Goncalves family and Mogen’s mother additional funds in restitution for urns purchased to house their daughters’ remains.
