Family of the victim in the Bryan Kherberger case says that they were sent in ‘panic mode’ after plea

The family of Kaylee Goncalves – one of the victims of Idaho -murder suspect Bryan Kherberger – said on Monday that they were sent “scrambling” and “jumped into panic mode” after Kherberger had accepted a plea to prevent the death penalty.

Kherberger, 30, is accused of killing Goncalves, 21, Madison Mag, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in an invasion of 4 hours at home on November 13, 2022.

The 18-year-old sister of Goncalves, Aubrie, said she refuses to remain silent and confirmed her family signing for the death penalty in this case. She said she was unable to personally attend the family with officers to argue for her case.

She said what the families of the victims have endured since the murders are “out of understanding”, pointing to delays and the relocation of procedures that made it harder for loved ones to participate. She argued that the legal system has placed “heavy loads” on people “who has already worn unimaginable sorrow”, but that they have tried to keep hoping.

Bryan Kherberger accepts a plea in Idaho Student Murders Case

“We believed in the process. We have had faith in the system. But at the moment it is impossible not to recognize the truth: the system has failed these four innocent victims and their families,” Aubrie wrote on the Facebook page of the family.

“These are not only names or headlines. Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison are allowed and Xana Kernodle were beautiful people who had touched countless lives,” she continued. “They are not only ‘the Idaho Four’. They were sons, daughters, brothers and sisters and friends – real people with real dreams.

The introduction of the plea -deal weeks before the planned process is “both shocking and cruel,” she said, adding that the families could have had time to “process, discuss and possibly come to terms with the idea of ​​a lifelong sentence” and it had come earlier.

Bryan Kherberger returns to the court before hearing on the pile of evidence that he wants to throw away before the trial

Madison may, in the top left, laughs on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, posing with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in the last Instagram post of Goncalves. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)

“Bryan Kherberger who is confronted with a life in prison means that he could still speak, form relationships and come into contact with the world,” she said. “In the meantime, our loved ones have been silent forever. That reality sticks deeper when it feels as if the system protects its future more than honoring the past of the victims.”

She said that the legal system “was created to serve and protect – not to retraumatize grieving families,” Add to it: “Time and again we are blinded, unheard of and not supported.”

“This last-minute plea deal feels less like an act of justice and more as a side issue,” she said. “We don’t ask for revenge. We ask for responsibility. We ask for dignity for our loved ones. And we ask – arguing – for a legal system that really realizes its name.”

The family said in a different position that they vaguely spoke with officers of justice on Friday about the possibility of a plea, but that it was a “hard no” for them. They said the majority of the conversation was about the coming process and nothing prepared them for the next steps.

Bryan Kherberger arrives for a hearing in the courtroom in the Latah district court on September 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty images)

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They said they received an e -mail on Sunday evening who sent them “clambering” and they “jumped immediately into panic mode and started calling and sending e -mails.”

The family again met the persecution on Monday to repeat their support for Kherberger who received the death penalty.

“Unfortunately, all our efforts did not go out,” said the family. “We did our best! We fought harder than anyone could ever imagine.”

The four victims were all stabbed several times with a large knife, according to prosecutors. The police have recovered a ka-bar Schede that they claim to have had Kherberger’s DNA in the vicinity of the body.

Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.