What the Coroner Told Kaylee Goncalves’ Parents About How She Died: Like 'a Drowning' By Nicole Acosta

Weeks after Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, Kaylee Goncalves’ parents are sharing what the coroner detailed to them about how their daughter died.

While appearing on the Today show in a segment that aired on Friday, July 18, Steve and Kristi Goncalves said the coroner gave the parents a breakdown of the wounds 21-year-old Kaylee had when she was brutally stabbed to death along with three other college friends in their Moscow, Idaho, home in November 2022.

“She had definitely been stabbed multiple times and they kind of described it as a drowning that can occur,” Steve says. “But she did say gagging; [Kohberger] struck her in the face.”

Kristi adds that Kaylee had a broken nose, septal hematomas, asphyxial injuries and defense wounds on her arms. ” She [was] stabbed many, many times. But how many, we don’t know,” the mother says.

Steve feels the family needs that question answered saying, “That should be part of the victim’s impact statement.”

“We shouldn’t be robbed of that,” he shares. “We should know all those details and we don’t want to say something that isn’t accurate. We’ve heard the amount of times she had been stabbed but we don’t know from the actual fact finders.”

The interview comes weeks after Kohberger entered a guilty plea in the murders of Kaylee, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

Kaylee’s parents have expressed disappointment that the case didn’t go to trial this summer as planned.

“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us,” Steve Goncalves and his family wrote on Facebook Monday, June 30. They wrote that they met with prosecutors days earlier about “the possibility of a plea deal and it was a hard no from our family.”

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“We were not prepared for this — we had no idea that this was going to happen,” Steve told ABC News at the time.

The Goncalves family and Jeff Kernodle, Xana’s father, have both said that they wanted the case to go to trial. However, Ben Mogen and Stacy and Jim Chapin have all publicly stated that they approve of the plea deal.

As part of Kohberger’s deal, prosecutors will allow him to avoid the death penalty. He is expected to be sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison on July 23. While he confessed to the murders, he did not share a motive.