Bryan Kohberger faces firing squad execution, Idaho victim’s dad supports
Liz Jassin
(NewsNation) — University of Idaho killing suspect Bryan Kohberger could be executed by firing squad if convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of four students.
Steve Goncalves, the father of University of Idaho victim Kaylee Goncalves, revealed to NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that he’s helping the Idaho legislature to enact the firing squad.
“This is real, and it’s ugly,” Goncalves said Wednesday night on “Banfield.”
University of Idaho killings: What happened?
The deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Gonclaves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on Nov. 13, 2022, shocked the small town of Moscow, Idaho. The four students were stabbed in their home, with two of their surviving roommates finding them in the morning.
Officers investigate a homicide at an apartment complex south of the University of Idaho campus on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. Four people were found dead on King Road near the campus, according to a city of Moscow news release issued Sunday afternoon. (Zach Wilkinson/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)
Officers patrol an apartment complex south of campus where four deceased University of Idaho students were found by local authorities on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. The Moscow Police Department has labeled the deaths as “homicides” but maintains there is not an active risk to the community. (Zach Wilkinson/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)
Officers investigate the deaths of four University of Idaho students at an apartment complex south of campus on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. The Moscow Police Department has labeled the deaths as “homicides” but maintains there is not an active risk to the community. (Zach Wilkinson/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)
Candles and flowers are left at a make-shift memorial honoring four slain University of Idaho students outside the Mad Greek restaurant in downtown Moscow, Idaho, on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Police discovered the bodies of the four students at home near campus on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, and said the killer or killers used a knife or bladed weapon in the targeted attack. Two of the victims, 21-year-old Madison Mogen and 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, were servers at Mad Greek. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios)
Boise State University students, along with people who knew the four University of Idaho students who were found killed in Moscow, Idaho, days earlier, pay their respects at a vigil held in front of a statue on the Boise State campus, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. Autopsies performed on the four students who were found dead inside a rental house near campus showed that all four were stabbed to death, the Latah County coroner said. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP)
Flowers and other items are displayed at a growing memorial in front of a campus entrance sign for the University of Idaho, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. Four University of Idaho students were found dead on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, at a residence near campus. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, leaves after an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool)
Heavy equipment is used to demolish the house where four University of Idaho students were killed in 2022 on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were fatally stabbed there in November 2022. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial dedication: University of Idaho students who designed and built the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial gather at the dedication ceremony on Aug. 21, 2024. (Credit: University of Idaho)
Overview of the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial on Aug. 21, 2024. (Credit: University of Idaho)
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Initially, investigators had few leads and spent considerable time tracing the activities of the four students in the hours prior to their deaths. However, after a little over a month, police arrested Kohberger for the crimes.
Bryan Kohberger’s request to exclude DNA evidence denied
Attorneys for Kohberger claimed local police detectives were too broad in the search warrant that gave them access to Kohberger’s apartment, car and electronic devices. Those searches led to the discovery of evidence that police say connects Kohberger to the killing of the four students.
“This was a day we’d been looking for almost two and a half years,” Goncalves said. “We like the way things turned out. We’re gonna go into the case with the same evidence that we started with.”
Goncalves said, moving forward, “it’s gonna get rough,” but it’s “necessary.”
Bryan Kohberger could face death penalty if convicted
Kohberger, accused of killing the four University of Idaho students, could face the death penalty if convicted, a judge ruled last November.
Kohberger’s defense team sought to remove the death penalty as a possible punishment, but the judge denied its request.
