The family of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves is hiring a lawyer as their relationship with police continues to fracture while the sputtering investigation into the shocking quadruple killing nears its fourth week.
“There are things that we can request and things we can do to get to the truth faster,” Steve Goncalves told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. He said the family is interested in using an attorney to force police to release more evidence in the case.
Steve — who is also hiring a private investigator — is fed up with delays, backtracks and a lack of information from the Moscow Police Department, the Idaho State Police and the FBI.
He believes having an attorney will help put pressure on the agencies to give answers.
“They’ve messed up a million times,” he told Fox News Digital. “But I don’t get to say that because what experience does Steve have? He doesn’t know. He’s just a dad who woke up one day and had his life turned upside down.”
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was found stabbed to death alongside her best friend, Madison Mogen, 21, housemate Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, in their off-campus house in Moscow on Nov. 13. Two other housemates who were home at the time of the attack were left unscathed.
Over three weeks since the grisly tragedy, authorities have yet to pinpoint a suspect. Speaking to the press Tuesday evening, Moscow Police Chief James Fry vowed that justice would be served.
“This case is not going cold. We have tips coming in. We have investigators out every day interviewing people,” he insisted.
Cops also announced plans to remove some of the slain students’ personal items from the house Wednesday.
Although Steve — who previously lamented to The Post that the Moscow investigators were “inexperienced” — declined to name the investigator he is working with, he said “he’s a true pro” with 50 years of experience and an 87% success rate.
Meanwhile, the combined forces looking into the murders have struggled to maintain a confident hold on the case. Last week, investigators came under fire for flip-flopping statements about whether the attack was targeted.
“There seems to be confusion everywhere you look,” Steve told the outlet. “It’s just absurd, the kind of stuff that’s going on right now.”
He also took issue with the department’s choice to quickly clear potential suspects without disclosing their alibis.
“If you don’t share your alibi, then you’re scared your alibi isn’t strong enough to share with the community because that gives them a chance to peer review it,” he said.
Steve was also puzzled that investigators denied any connection between his daughter’s murder and a series of unsolved stabbings in Oregon and Washington.
“Don’t treat us like we’re a bunch of little kids,” he argued. “You’re saying it’s not related. Then tell us why it’s not related.”
Steve Goncalves’ comments came shortly before Moscow police announced they were removing some of the victims’ personal belongings from the house and returning them to the families. Fry told reporters that it was important for the families to have “fond memories” of their loved ones in their grief.
Steve’s frustration also mirrors that of the other mourning parents. Steve Laramie, the stepfather of Madison Mogen, told Fox News Digital on Monday that the family was “angry.”
“[Police] update us every day,” Laramie said of the stalled investigation. “We asked them to check in with us whether they have anything or not.
“I’m just hoping they come up with something sooner than later. I just would like to have justice for these kids.”
After police appealed for more information about what happened to victims Kernodle and Chapin, who attended a frat house party on the night they were murdered, the president of the fraternity has spoken out to say it is fully cooperating.
Sigma Chi president Reed Ofsthun told NewsNation: “We’ve told Moscow PD, Idaho State Police and the FBI all we know.
“We’re leaving it up to them to piece it together. Obviously we don’t have the utilities or resources to do it on our own. We’re putting full faith in the officers and the detectives doing it.”
