Brother of Idaho murder victim announces engagement to journalist who covered the case
Topics: Idaho, US News, True crime, Crime, Bryan Kohberger
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: kayleegoncalves/Instagram
Topics: Idaho, US News, True crime, Crime, Bryan Kohberger
A brother of one of the Idaho victims has announced his engagement to someone close to the case.
In November 2022, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were murdered in their shared student home.
Bryan Kohberger was named as the killer and he was recently sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for all four first-degree murder counts.
He narrowly escaped him the death penalty after agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors.
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Not only did his plea deal mean he wasn’t put to death, but it also meant that it did not go to trial.
While he is facing time for his crimes, questions remain about why he killed the students.
Bill Thompson, the lead prosecutor on the case, believes Kohberger's intended target was either Mogen or Goncalves that night.
Kohberger hasn’t been forthcoming with his information, leaving both families unable to know who was targeted on the night of their deaths.
However, after years of grief, the Goncalves family have finally had some positive news.
Steven Goncavles, Kaylee’s brother, announced his engagement to someone surprising.
He is getting married to independent journalist Olivia Vitale, who covered the murder case.
The pair are said to have met while Vitale was covering the murders and began dating around a year after, as she was filming a documentary, as per NewsNation.
“I wanted Steven to be a part of it, and it was on set where we bonded. We were skipping rocks, you can see in the documentary, and that was really when we first really met, and we just became best friends after that,” Vitale told Banfield.
She shared with NewsNation that the pair are engaged and want a simply and cozy life together.
“Eventually, we would like to homestead, get some chickens, raise a family together, so I probably won’t have as much time to be on the road, and I’ll be, kind of, more working from home,” she said.
“We’ll do some stories together and help other families, because that’s really what it boils down to, is helping other people and giving them a voice.”
Vitale went on to disclose that Kaylee used to follow her and was a fan of true crime before her death, having shared some of her content to her own accounts.
“She shared it with her family a few days before her passing; that really hit me hard,” Vitale said. “And so from the beginning, this case has been a bit different than the others, because of the personal connection with the victim.
“The world works in weird ways. I never saw this coming. I never thought that I would fall in love with her brother. But life is weird."
But even though they met through tragedy, Steven has found comfort in his new love.
“We were really willing to go to bat for Kaylee to whatever extent that meant, and I truly believe we did try. We ended up losing, and that sucks socks to lose, it really does,” he said.
“But there’s a bright spot. I did meet Olivia. I do have my partner for the rest of my life, and I’ll hold on to that.”