Bryan Kohberger’s Victims Would Not Have Survived Even If 911 Had Been Called Earlier

The four University of Idaho students murdered by Bryan Kohberger would not have survived even if one of their surviving roommates had called 911 immediately after seeing him leave the house, according to the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves.

The two surviving roommates waited approximately eight hours before contacting emergency services. At the time, they reportedly had no idea that their friends had been brutally attacked and killed inside the home.

 

One of them had seen Kohberger leaving the house but did not understand what had happened inside.

In the new Netflix documentary The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, Kaylee’s father, Steve Goncalves, reflected on those final moments and the painful questions that followed.

“It’s hard because you go back and look at all these moments and you wish you could do something different,” he said.

But when asked whether an earlier 911 call could have saved anyone, his conclusion was devastating: “Could somebody have been saved? The answer was no.”

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed inside their Moscow, Idaho, home during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022.

According to a previously unsealed prosecution filing, the four victims were stabbed at least 150 times in total.

 

Kaylee and Madison were discovered together in Madison’s third-floor bedroom. Xana and Ethan were found on the second floor, where Ethan was in the bed and Xana was on the floor.

Investigators determined that the circumstances differed from victim to victim. Kaylee, Madison and Ethan appeared to have been killed while asleep, with no indication that they had gotten out of bed. Xana, however, appeared to have fought back and suffered more stab wounds than the others.

Kohberger ultimately pleaded guilty to killing all four students in July 2025 and received four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

He has since attempted to withdraw that guilty plea, claiming he is innocent and seeking the opportunity to face the charges at trial.

 

The case continues to raise difficult questions about what the surviving roommates could have known that night—and whether anything could have changed the outcome.

According to Steve Goncalves, the answer to the most painful question is clear: by the time Kohberger was seen leaving, it was already too late.