Kaylee Goncalves’ sister Alivea Goncalves has honored her memory after the University of Idaho murders

NEED TO KNOW

• Kaylee Goncalves, who was killed by Bryan Kohberger, had a close relationship with her sister, Alivea Goncalves
• Alivea was raised alongside Kaylee in Idaho but moved to Los Angeles
• Alivea, who was interviewed in The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, has spoken about her sister’s legacy

Alivea Goncalves’ life was forever changed when her younger sister, Kaylee Goncalves, was tragically killed.

On Nov. 13, 2022, Alivea was living across the country from her family when they called to let her know about the horrific events that took place at the University of Idaho. Around 4 a.m. that morning, Bryan Kohberger entered Kaylee’s off-campus home and brutally killed her and two of her roommates, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin.

Kohberger was arrested over a month later and was charged with the four students’ murders. Ahead of his scheduled trial, he agreed to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. Kohberger later received four consecutive sentences of life in prison without parole and is now attempting to reverse his guilty plea.

During Kohberger’s July 2025 sentencing, several of the victims’ families shared emotional statements. Alivea delivered a powerful message that she had memorized so she could maintain eye contact with Kohberger the entire time.

Alivea also appeared in the three-part Netflix docuseries The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, which hit the streamer on July 29.

“At the end of it, all of these kids had people that they really loved and cared about,” Alivea said in the doc. “Remember them for exactly what they should be remembered for. You know, this is forever.”

Here’s everything to know about Kaylee Goncalves’ older sister, Alivea Goncalves.

Alivea is the eldest of the Goncalves children and was raised in Idaho with her four siblings

Alivea is the oldest of the five Goncalves children. Her parents, Kristi and Steve, welcomed five children together: daughters Alivea, Kaylee, Autumn and Aubrie and son Steven.

The family of seven briefly lived in California before settling down in northern Idaho, where all five kids went to school. Alivea and her parents have frequently spoken about Kaylee and their family dynamics.

“Kaylee was, is, and always will be our defender and protector. She is tough and fair. The ultimate middle child,” Alivea said in a statement to KREM 2 in November 2022. “She did absolutely everything she set her mind to. She didn’t hold back on love, fights or life. Kaylee was the ultimate go getter and constantly wanted an adventure.”

Alivea added that her sister was a “fairness fighter” who was living life to the fullest and was always chasing the next adventure.

“Kaylee was our middle child out of five,” Kristi said during a memorial service in November 2022, per KTVB. “Kaylee was a huge part of our family, the dynamics of our family will never be the same.”

Alivea lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children

After growing up in Idaho, Alivea attended Boise State University, where she studied business, per her LinkedIn. She went on to marry Robbie Stevenson in August 2021.

While Alivea keeps much of her personal life private, she said in the Netflix doc that she and Stevenson reside in Los Angeles with their children.

Alivea immediately drove to Idaho to support her family after Kaylee’s murder

On the morning of Nov. 13, 2022, Alivea received several missed calls from both of her parents, which she immediately knew was a “red alert.” Alivea called her mom, who was in a “panic,” and started to reach out to Kaylee’s friends and roommates on Instagram to try to figure out what was going on.

One of Alivea’s sisters later confirmed the tragic news that Kaylee and three other University of Idaho students had been killed in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

“At this point, I felt so helpless. I’m over a thousand miles away, what can I do?” Alivea recalled in the Netflix doc. “And I just said, ‘OK, I’m on my way.’ ”

Alivea, her husband and their children immediately got in a car and drove to her parents in Idaho. During that car ride, she started investigating the ordeal on her own and looked into Kaylee’s phone records, communicated with anyone she had contacted prior to her death and scrubbed the internet for any footage of Kaylee from the night before.

“Before this had happened, [if] someone had presented this hypothetically, my answer would’ve been vastly different than: I got the call, threw up in my bathtub, and immediately told my family, ‘Pack your bags, get on the road,’ ” Alivea told Vanity Fair in July 2026.

She continued, “I didn’t cry. I don’t think that you can ever really truly know yourself completely. And it’s strange because a lot of times people will comment on that, the strength that you’ve shown. I just see desperation. I was desperate for something different, for more information or for something to change because what I was living in at that moment felt unsurvivable. I’ve learned that you really, really don’t know what you’re capable of until you’re facing a loaded gun anyway.”

Both during and after the murder investigation, Alivea continued being an advocate for her family.

Alivea named one of her children after Kaylee and Madison

Alivea honored both Kaylee and Madison Mogen — who developed such a close friendship with Kaylee that Alivea and her family considered her a member of their family. In February 2023, Alivea welcomed a baby girl and named her after Kaylee and Madison.

“So, her name is Theodora MaddieKay. Obviously, MaddieKay is after Maddie and Kaylee,” she said on 48 Hours in September 2023. “To have birth and life and firsts …  first giggles, first walks … that they would be there somehow, you know, even if it’s just a namesake.”

Alivea delivered a powerful victim impact statement at Kohberger’s sentencing

In early July 2025, Kohberger changed his plea to guilty to avoid the possibility of a death sentence. Later that month, he received four consecutive life sentences.

As part of the sentencing hearing, loved ones of the victims were welcome to address Kohberger or the judge. For the Goncalves family, Steve, Kristi and Alivea took the podium.

Alivea memorized her statement and stared at Kohberger while she delivered the moving statement.

“I’m not here today to speak in grief. I’m here to speak in truth. Because the truth is my sister Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take,” she began. “They were not yours to study, to stalk or to silence. They were two pieces of a whole, the perfect yin and yang. They are everything that you could never be, loved, accepted, vibrant, accomplished, brave and powerful.”

Alivea firmly told the killer that she would “not stand here and give you what you want,” which includes “tears,” “trembling” or “fear.”

She concluded her powerful speech, “I see through you. You want the truth. Here’s the one you’ll hate the most. If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night, like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f—ing ass.”

While reflecting on the statement that made national headlines, Alivea said in the 2026 Netflix docuseries that she was “proud” but still wished she could have “done more.”

“I’m proud of the decisions that I made to not show vulnerability in the traditional sense, because for me, it was about reclaiming power and reclaiming control,” she said. “It’s important to me to, you could say diminish him, to kind of break down and expose who he really is. He’s really just a coward, so to be able to even just a little bit put him back in that place was such an amazing feeling.”

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