Did Bryan Kohberger kill four University of Idaho students because of his “weird porn fetishes?”
That is what Kaylee Goncalves’s father believes, he said during an appearance on NewsNation’s Banfield.
Steve Goncalves claimed that individuals involved in the investigation had informed him of this suspicion, which seems to directly contradict what Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said during the July 2 plea hearing during which Kohberger confessed to the four murders.
“People got so angry at what was happening in that courtroom that they would literally pick up their phone and call us and say, ‘This is what’s on Bryan’s phone. This is what he was searching. This was sexually motivated,'” Goncalves claimed during his appearance on the show.
He then added: “I don’t care what Thompson said.”
Kohberger’s motive remains the biggest mystery in the case, and one that Thompson said his office had been unable to determine after a nearly-three-year-long investigation.
At the same time, when Thompson finally got the chance to detail what happened on the night of the murders at that plea hearing, he made a point to stop in the middle of his remarks and emphatically say: “I will state for the record that there is no evidence there was any sexual component or sexual assault on any of the victims. I want to make that clear so there’s no speculation.”
Goncalves made it clear that he firmly disagrees with the manner in which Thompson framed that comment, and for the first time since his daughter’s murder was able to explain in detail why he disagreed — thanks to the removal of a gag order in the case just hours before his appearance.
He cited information he allegedly received from those investigating the case about Kohberger’s “weird, weird porn fetishes,” which allegedly included “drunk passed out girls and gagging girls” according to Goncalves.
“[T]hose are two things that were part of that crime scene, so for Thompson to say that there was no sexual assault…” Goncalves said.
He then commented: “Of course, there wasn’t [evidence of sexual assault]. He didn’t have enough time. Somebody came up there.”
That someone could have been Xana Kernodle, whom Thompson said at the plea hearing had not been an intended victim but had possibly encountered Kohberger on the stairs between her room on the second floor and the room where Goncalves and best friend Madison Mogen were murdered on the third floor.
Goncalves had already voiced his disgust with Thompson for agreeing to a plea deal with Kohberger, and during his appearance said that it seemed as though the prosecutor cared more about protecting the image of his daughter’s killer than getting justice for his daughter.
‘[W]hy are you defending somebody who just killed four people, you know?” Goncalves said. “I mean, it’s an upside down world.”
At the same time, he said that he had come to terms with the fact that he and the families of the other victims will never get the closure he believes they deserve.
Goncalves previously said that this is why he chose to step outside the courtroom during the July 2 plea hearing despite making the trip to Boise, and has already said he will not be present when Kohberger is sentenced next week.
“We’re just glad to be done with it,” Goncalves said. “We’re glad to move on.”
PEOPLE reached out to both Thompson and Moscow Police Chief Captain Anthony Dahlinger for comment, but neither responded.