'It's Just Funny': Idaho 4 Victim's Mom Slams Bryan Kohberger's Plan to Change Plea as 'Just Judicial Games'
Bryan Kohberger asked the judge to change his plea.
July 28 2026, Published 12:34 p.m. ET
Bryan Kohberger's choice to change his plea was a red flag to the mother of an Idaho 4 victim.
While the 31-year-old originally pled guilty to killing four students in Moscow, Idaho, he's now petitioned the court to withdraw that plea in a highly unusual legal move. However, Kristi Goncalves, 48, the mother of victim Kaylee Goncalves, sees no "merit" in Kohberger's recent choice, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Kristi Goncalves Speaks Out Against Bryan Kohberger's Request
Kohberger did not receive support from the victims' families.
Goncalves, 48, instead, claimed Kohberger was "just judicial games."
She told Newsweek, “America has seen our family go through pain for many, many years now. It wasn’t the news we wanted to wake up to today."
Kohberger pleaded guilty publicly in court, and the judge even confirmed it was because he believed himself to be guilty. However, he now alleged he was coerced into his plea. Goncalves, though, doesn't buy it.
"We're very confident that this will go nowhere," she said. "We're going to remain focused and we're going to remain positive."
Kohberger Claims He Was Lied To
Kohberger insisted his attorneys misled him.
Kohberger alleged his original plea was "induced by unkept promises" from his attorneys, who allegedly threatened him. In the court documents filed on Monday, Kohberger claimed the attorneys withheld evidence, which could show his innocence.
Further, he alleged his attorneys advised him his plea wasn't required to be true. In private, he claimed, he was in "vehement denial of actual guilt," but his attorneys allegedly informed him a guilty plea was for the better anyway.
They allegedly claimed he would receive better treatment. In Idaho, the death penalty is still on the table, but by pleading guilty, he managed to dodge an execution and opt for a life sentence.
However, his attorneys allegedly claimed a guilty plea would come with additional perks and privileges like immediate freedom of movement and employment. Plus, they allegedly promised he'd have immediate contact visits.
All of this, though, Kohberger called "elaborate lies."
Kohberger said in a statement to The New York Times, “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn."
Nonetheless, Goncalves still doesn't see merit in Kohberger's attempt to change his plea. She said, "So for him to now say, you know, he didn't really know what he was getting himself into with the plea deal, it's just funny."
Idaho Attorney General Promises Pursuit of Justice
Raúl R. Labrador vowed to help support the families and seek out justice.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl R. Labrador vowed to continue fighting for justice in the case.
"My heart goes out to the families of Madison, Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan, who have already endured unimaginable loss and now must face today’s deeply painful news," he wrote on X. "My office stands ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out."
The families, too, are preparing for a renewed fight against Kohberger.
Gonclaves said, "But in the case that a judge were to accept it and give him a new trial, we're all for it. So either way, we're like, it is what it is."
Investigation Cluttered With Controversy
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Collected DNA samples were ran through controversial databases.
Kohberger previously pled guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary after allegedly killing Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, in a case dubbed the "Idaho 4."
They were killed in an off-campus home at the University of Idaho. The group was roommates, with only two housemates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, surviving the attack. She locked herself in her room after checking on a noise in the apartment and seeing a masked figure.
Mortensen did not make a phone call to 911 during the attack because she was allegedly intoxicated. When she left her room, she ran into Kernodle unconscious, but Mortensen believed her to just be intoxicated, too. After seeing Funke, the pair locked themselves in a room and called for help in the morning. It was too late, as all victims were pronounced dead on the scene.
The murderer's motive remains a mystery.
The investigation was shrouded in controversy, especially after police ignored policy and used ancestral genealogical websites GEDmatch and MyHeritage for DNA found at the scene. Typically, investigators are limited to using only databases "that provide explicit notice to their service users and the public that law enforcement may use their service sites."
Kohberger was arrested after he was observed wearing surgical gloves and putting trash bags in a neighbor's garbage can. When authorities searched his home, they discovered a knife, a pistol, and a black face mask.
