RATHDRUM, Idaho — The parents of University of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves have launched a new foundation to help solve cold cases using advanced DNA technology.
Kristi and Steve Goncalves established the Kaylee Goncalves Foundation, called “Murder Has a Name,” with the goal of helping more families find answers and expand access to cutting edge forensic tools.
“It’s not unsolvable, it’s a funding issue,” Kristi Goncalves said.
For six weeks after their daughter’s murder, the Goncalves family waited for answers. Kaylee was one of four University of Idaho students killed in what became a nationwide manhunt.
“Every morning you woke up with hope, every morning you’re like today’s going to be the day, and then by 4 or 5 o’clock you were like just back to like is this ever going to happen?” Kristi Goncalves said.
Detectives ultimately used investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) to track Kohberger. This technology builds family trees using DNA evidence. In their case, DNA was collected from a knife sheath found at the murder scene in Idaho and trash from Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
“We know looking back without the IGG there’s a good chance our case wasn’t solved,” Steve Goncalves said.
The foundation will work in partnership with law enforcement and laboratories specializing in advanced DNA testing to assist investigations that have reached dead ends. In many cold cases, police departments don’t have access to these labs.
“These crimes have been going on forever, so there’s all these cases that didn’t have the opportunity that we had,” Steve Goncalves said.
The Goncalves family believes solving cold cases will prevent more families from experiencing violent crimes.
“We’re hunting the killers now, they came after our kids, they came after our families, and now we’re flipping the script and we’re coming after them,” Steve Goncalves said.
The couple’s front room displays framed pictures, artwork, angels. Many of the keepsakes were sent from strangers who followed their daughter’s case or friends in North Idaho.
“It’s still about Kaylee,” Kristi Goncalves said. “It always will be, this foundation is her legacy.”
Steve Goncalves said their daughter would have supported this type of initiative.
“Kaylee would be sitting right there, if this happened to one of her siblings, because she would be totally for this type of thing,” he said.
The family will not decide which cases receive funding. Instead, there is an application process available on the foundation’s website. They plan to begin their first case in the coming months.
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