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Remembering the four University of Idaho students killed
A suspect has been arrested and charged in connection to the brutal killings, however, it's important to keep the four young victims and their families at the forefront as the trial proceeds.
MOSCOW, Idaho - Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves' father told Fox News on Friday that he wants accused killer Bryan Kohberger to get the death penalty.
"I want this case to get stronger and stronger to the point where he realizes he’s not going to be on the planet that long," Steve Goncalves said one day after he and his wife, Kristi, faced Kohberger in court for the first time since his daughter and three other students were slaughtered.
Kohberger, 28, made his initial appearance Thursday in Latah County Court on four counts of first-degree murder for the Nov. 13 stabbing deaths of Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Ethan Chapin, 20; and Xana Kernodle, 20.
Steve Goncalves said he wants Kohberger to "feel like he picked the very worst family" to target.
"Every time he turns on the TV, he sees us, and every time he thinks something positive is happening in his case, he sees one of us communicating, and he realizes he has zero hope," Goncalves said.
In an interview Thursday, Goncalves told NewsNation that to his family, justice meant Kohberger getting the death penalty, which the suspect faces if convicted.
"I mean justice doesn’t have a room where you can read books, and you can go to school, and you can have three meals and you can have your vegan diet," he said, flanked by his wife. "Justice is when you leave the planet and the whole world is able to rejoice and be glad you are not there."
The couple said they were surprised by the appearance and demeanor of the Washington State University Ph.D. student they saw in court.
"I just looked at a guy that looks like a normal everyday kid. I mean, I didn’t see anything there that caught my eye," Steve Goncalves told NewsNation. "We expected him to be a bigger monster and more intimidating."
Nearly seven weeks after the baffling murders, Kohberger was arrested last week at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, after DNA left on a tan leather knife sheath at the crime scene came back as a match, according to a probable cause affidavit that was unsealed Thursday and revealed chilling details of the crime.