‘You are a sociopath, psychopath, and murderer’: Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee’s sister, rips apart killer Bryan Kohberger in court with a scathing speech

Alivea Goncalves, the older sister of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four students killed at the University of Idaho by Bryan Kohberger, received a round of applause from those inside the courtroom for a powerful speech. She delivered the statement to Kohberger during his July 23 sentencing.

In her statement, Goncalves included a series of questions she had kept to herself since her sister’s death. Besides her, there were many of the victims' families inside the courtroom who addressed Kohberger directly, including Alivea Goncalves. Her emotional speech received a round of applause from those inside the courtroom.

Goncalves began her speech by lashing out at Kohberger, saying that she stood before the court only to speak the truth that Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were everything that he could never have been. She also stated that in a world that rejected Kohberger, those two would have shown mercy towards him. As she continued her speech, she dubbed him sociopath, psychopath and a murderer.


“I’m not here today to speak in grief. I’m here to speak in truth, because the truth is my sister Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take. They were not yours to study, to stalk, or to silence. They were two pieces of a whole, the perfect yin and yang. They are everything that you could never be: loved, accepted, vibrant, accomplished, brave, and powerful,” Goncalves said, as quoted by news website TODAY.

“Because the truth about Kaylee and Maddie is that they would have been kind to you. If you had approached them in their everyday lives, they would have given you directions, thanked you for the compliment, or awkwardly giggled to make your own words less uncomfortable for you. In a world that rejected you, they would have shown mercy,” she further stated.

Speaking about Kaylee and Maddie, she said that those two always knew her love and never asked to prove it by further victimizing her to a defendant who has shown no guilt, no remorse, and no apprehension.

“Kaylee and Maddie have always known my love, and they would never ask me to prove it by further victimizing myself to a defendant who has shown no guilt, no remorse, and no apprehension. They would say to me, "Why would you give the satisfaction of showing vulnerability now? You promised that you would never back down." And for that clarity, I'm thankful,” Alivea Goncalves said.

“I won't stand here and give you what you want. I won't offer you tears. I won't offer you trembling. Disappointments like you thrive on pain, on fear, and on the illusion of power. And I won't feed your beast. Instead, I will call you what you are: sociopath, psychopath, murderer. I will ask the questions that reverberate violently in my head so loudly that I can’t think straight. most any day. Some of these might be familiar. So, sit up straight when I talk to you,” she added.

Lashing out at Kohberger, Goncalves said that the darkness and emptiness that he will sit with will be his sentence. “Let’s try to take off your mask and see. You didn’t create devastation. You revealed it, and it’s in yourself. And that darkness you carry, that emptiness, you’ll sit with it long after this is over. That is your sentence, and it was written on the wall long before you ever pled guilty,” she said.

“You didn’t win. You just exposed yourself as the coward you are. You’re a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser who thought you were so much smarter than everybody else. Constantly scolding, turning your nose up to grammar mistakes, nitpicking, and criticizing others,” she continued.

Judge Steven Hippler ordered Kohberger to serve four life sentences without parole for first-degree murder in the killings of Mogen, Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. He was also given a 10-year sentence for burglary and assessed $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.

The 30-year-old appeared in his orange jumpsuit as he sat through hours of emotional statements from relatives of the victims he killed at a hearing on July 23, 2025 (Wednesday). The sentencing comes nearly three years after the four students were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty in early July 2025 after agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.