Kaylee Goncalves' father says surviving roommates calling 911 sooner wouldn't have changed outcome
Despite waiting eight hours before ringing 911, Kaylee Goncalves' dad has acknowledged that the surviving Idaho roommates couldn't have saved their friends by calling sooner.
Netflix's latest true crime documentary, The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, revisits one of the most debated questions surrounding the University of Idaho killings - why the two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, didn't dial 911 until numerous hours after the attack.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022, but in the months following the case, questions swirled over the delayed emergency call.
Bryan Kohberger is currently serving four consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to the murders, despite never revealing his motive.
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But Goncalves' father, Steve, admitted in the documentary that calling 911 any sooner wouldn't have saved his daughter and their friends.
"It’s hard because you go back and look at all these moments and you wish you could do something different," he said.
The devastated dad added: "Could somebody have been saved? The answer was no."
Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger also said in the doc: "We asked the question why did the roommates wait eight hours to call the police? There are so many reasons why you may not, people are in shock, it’s traumatic - I mean I can’t imagine, being of that age and being able to comprehend that this horrific thing just occurred."
Goncalves' sister spoke out for the first time in a statement she posted on Facebook this week, almost four years on from the tragedy.
"Every time this case is dragged back into the spotlight because of another filing, another theory, or another attempt to rewrite history, families like mine are forced to relive the worst day of our lives," Aubrie Goncalves said.
She noted that now felt like the right time to speak out, after Kohberger recently filed a petition to challenge his guilty plea, despite serving his four life sentences in prison.
Aubrie wrote: "After seeing that the man who admitted in court to murdering four innocent people now wants to withdraw his guilty plea, I couldn’t stay silent.
"For him, this may be another legal filing. For me, it’s another day without my sister."
Speaking in the new documentary, the grieving sister added: "I kind of just decided no words are going to bring back either one of my sisters, so I didn’t feel like saying anything.
"But now that I’ve gotten older, I realized still that no words are going to bring back my sisters, but words are going to keep their memories alive.
"I’m not really one to put myself in a situation like this, I don’t really like to, but I know that I have to keep Maddie and Kaylee’s name alive, and that’s why I’m here today."
A timeline of the Idaho murders
November 12 2022
Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, attend a party at Chapin’s fraternity Sigma Chi. Meanwhile, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, go to sports bar the Corner Club.
November 13 2022
1.45am - Kernodle and Chapin return home to their house on King Road
1.56am - Goncalves and Mogen arrive home
2.44am - Kohberger’s Hyundai sedan is spotted by a CCTV camera at Washington State University. Shortly afterwards, the car is seen again heading towards a road that connects Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, where the victims live.
4am - Bryan Kohberger is believed to have entered the property
4.17am - A security camera reveals the sound of a barking dog, voices and what sounds like a thud. At some point around this time, their housemate Dylan Mortensen is awoken and hears a male voice say: “It's OK, Kaylee, I'm here for you.” She later hears crying and sees a masked man in the property.
4.19am - Mortensen attempts to call Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen, but all calls go unanswered. She started texting Bethany Funke, saying she’s ‘freaking out’ after seeing a man in a ‘ski mask’. Mortensen joins Funke in her room and they lock themselves in.
11.58am - After Mortensen calls her friend Emily Alandt, she and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson come over to the King Road property. Johnson discovers Chapin and Kernodle's bodies and calls 911.
November 17 2022
Preliminary autopsy results show all four victims were attacked with a large knife
December 7 2022
Police say they are looking to speak to any occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra from 2011-13.
December 30 2022
Kohberger is arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Police later reveal they used DNA on a knife sheath to link him to the crime scene, and tracked his car and phone across the area.
May 22 2023
Kohberger remains silent when asked to enter a plea during his arraignment. The judge enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.
June 26 2023
Prosecutors announce they will seek the death penalty.
December 28 2023
The King Road property where the murders took place is demolished to allow the community to heal.
April 17 2024
Kohberger’s defence team claims in court documents that phone mast data shows Kohberger was miles away from Moscow, Idaho at the time of the murders.
March 4 2025
Kohberger’s defence team say he exhibits traits of autism spectrum disorder, and putting him to death would be unconstitutional.
July 2 2025
Weeks before the trial is set to begin, Kohberger pleads guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder.
July 23 2025
Kohberger is sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, plus 10 years for the burglary charge.
He comes face to face with the families of his victims for the first time, who read out impact statements.
Goncalves' sister Alivea gives a powerful statement in court, while Mortensen says she’s suffered from debilitating panic attacks since the night of the murders, telling Kohberger he has taken away her ‘ability to trust the world’.
July 27 2026
Kohberger announces he is seeking to take back his guilty plea and overturn his conviction.
He tells the New York Times: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
Topics: Idaho, Crime, Netflix, True crime, Bryan Kohberger
Mia Williams