The families of Bryan Kohberger’s victims are detailing their unfathomable losses.
In the moments leading up to the 30-year-old’s sentence for the murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, Mogen’s stepfather Scott Laramie detailed the personal impact of the gruesome killings on their family.
“We speak of hope and healing, and we do have hope and some healing, but the vast emotional wound will never fully heal,” he told Judge Steven Hippler in court July 23. “Since Maddie’s loss, there’s emptiness in our hearts, home and family. An endless void.”
Meanwhile, Laramie declined to address Kohberger by name, only stating that the public “needs to be protected against this evil.”
“We can only hope that others out there suffering similar losses can look to us and see that we can overcome hatred, darkness and evil,” he said. “Evil has many faces, and we now know this, but evil does not deserve our time and attention.”
Moments later, Golcalves’ father Steve Goncalves turned the podium to face Kohberger directly, telling him, “Nobody cares about you.”
“You’re not worth the time, the effort, to be remembered in time,” he told the inmate. “You will be nothing but two initials, forgotten to the wind. No visitors, nothing more than initials on an otherwise unmarked tombstone. From this moment, we will forget you.”
