Idaho murders: Kaylee Goncalves’ father believes suspect ‘chose to go’ upstairs to potentially target victims

MOSCOW, Idaho – The father of one of the four University of Idaho students who were killed in their off-campus home on Nov. 13 believes his daughter and her best friend may have been targeted based on the perpetrator’s suspected entry and exit point.

Steven Goncalves, father of deceased 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, on Sunday morning told “Fox & Friends” that the suspect’s alleged “entry and exit” point through a sliding glass door or window on the second floor of the home — which meets a hill on the ground level in the backyard — “are available without having to go upstairs or downstairs.” 

Goncalves and her childhood best friend, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, were found dead on the third floor of the Moscow, Idaho, residence around noon on Nov. 13, while victims Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, were found on the second floor.

“I’m not a professional, so I want to specify that, but they’ve said the entry point was the slider or the window. It was the middle floor. So, to me, he doesn’t have to go upstairs,” Goncalves said. “His entry and exit are available without having to go upstairs or downstairs. Looks like he probably may have not gone downstairs. We don’t know that for sure, but he obviously went upstairs. So I’m using logic that he chose to go up there when he didn’t have to.”

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His daughter’s text messages sent before the attack revealed to Goncalves that she was not in fear at the time, he added.

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“So, I’m just putting the dots together,” he said. “As far as the investigators, they’re very tight-lipped, and they’re keeping everything close to their vest, and I understand that, and I’m probably not the right person to share all these things with. So, I’m just trusting … that their case is super tight, and they don’t really need to reach out to the community, and … all the evidence is right there in that home.”

The Moscow Police Department has maintained that the quadruple homicide three weeks ago was “an isolated, targeted attack,” but authorities also say it is unclear whether a specific victim was the target or their residence in general. All four victims were stabbed to death and had been stabbed multiple times, while only “some” victims had defensive wounds, according to the Latah County coroner.

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The grieving father said he “can’t” specify whether he believes his daughter or any of the other victims were targets of the attack.

“I asked for permission to do just that, and they said no,” Goncalves said of police. “I probably over-disclosed information that they wish I wouldn’t have said, but the story’s going cold. There’s less people coming to Moscow. I’m not going to go sleep in my bed knowing that I could get up and I could go to town and I could do something, and I’m not going to go away. I hate to be a pain, but as a father, I just can’t even sleep thinking that I could be doing something.”

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Goncalves also wants police to share the alibis of certain individuals. 

“Just share the alibi,” he said. “If you’re not sharing an alibi, to me, it tells me that you’re not 100% confident that it’s going to stick.”

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The father went on to describe Kaylee as a “hard worker” and a “Punky Brewster-type girl.”

“We missed out on a really smart person,” he said.

University of Idaho students who left campus for Thanksgiving break were given the option to stay home and learn remotely instead of returning to campus with a suspect still on the run. 

Police also have yet to announce any kind of motive in the quadruple murder.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the murders to call 208-883-7180 or tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.