Father of Idaho Murder Victim Gives Eerie Reason for Delaying Funeral
The father of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves said he has a fear he cannot shake, and for that reason, there will be no funeral yet for his daughter.
Steve Goncalves told Fox News Thursday that his family fears whoever killed his daughter and three other students might show up at the funeral.
“It’s pretty much a fact. Who does something like this and doesn’t tune into the media? Who wouldn’t? It’s in his 100 percent selfish interest,” he said
“He could easily be there, and that’s the sick kind of twisted person that would do this kind of crap,” he said.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls, Idaho; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington, were killed last month in Moscow, Idaho, in a rented house where the four University of Idaho students were staying.
Mary Ellen O’Toole, a retired FBI profiler, has said the “arrogance” and “high-risk nature” of the crime makes it quite possible the killer would attend the funeral.
“Sometimes offenders show up,” O’Toole told Fox News.
“They may take a lot of pleasure in thinking that they got away with the crime, and so going to a service like this where they can walk around and people don’t realize who they are, that can certainly feed into that kind of egotistical response,” she said.
On Wednesday, Steve Goncalves spoke at a vigil for the slain students and told those in attendance that their actions would be how those who were killed are remembered.
“The only cure to pain is love – it’s the only thing that’s going to heal us; it’s the only thing that’s going to heal you,” Steve Goncalves said according to CBS. “That will make a difference, and that’s something they can see where they’re at right now: That you changed your life a little bit, that you’re a little bit nicer, a little bit kinder.”
Goncalves noted that Mogen was his daughter’s best friend from sixth grade onward.
“They went to high school together, then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually got into the same apartment together,” he said. “And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.”
On Thursday, Steve Goncalves admitted frustration with the police investigation of the Nov. 13 killings, according to Fox News.
One instance of that came when after initially saying the killings were targeted, law enforcement officials now say they are not sure if that is true.
“I don’t like it one bit,” Goncalves said. “I know these statements take hours and multiple individuals to review. It’s not like this was something said on the side of the street within the first five hours of the case. These guys are professionals. They sat in a room and this is what they came out with? They keep coming out with statements that create more questions than they answer. And then that creates a pressure.”
Goncalves said that currently, “there’s so many people coming and looking for answers. And I’m one of them,” he said.
As he spoke of the killer, truculence crept into his words.
“I want this guy to be scared. I want him to be sick of seeing my face,” he added. “And I’m not going anywhere until this guy is off the street.”
Goncalves said he thinks people in the community have information that could help solve the crime.
“I know people had been scared to share stuff because of there may be alcohol or drugs or something in the background. I’ve tried to work with them to let everybody know that that is not what they’re working on,” he said.
“But I’ve definitely heard from people that they’re scared to submit stuff. It could be a party, could be anything around that neighborhood within that time that could help us. I think that community will solve this case just as much as those officers in that room,” he said.
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