Kaylee Goncalves was so badly mutilated by Bryan Kohberger’s murderous knife attack that she looked ‘unrecognizable’ by the time he’d finished with her.
‘I was unable to comprehend exactly what I was looking at while trying to discern the nature of the injuries,’ a cop wrote in newly-released files on the 2022 Idaho murders in the wake of Kohberger’s sentencing Wednesday.
Goncalves, 21, was stabbed a total of 34 times, with many of those wounds left on her face at the student home where she lived in Moscow.
Unlike Kohberger’s other three victims, who only had stab wounds, Golcalves also suffered blunt force injuries.
The distressing new information emerged in previously-sealed Moscow Police Department files into the killings of Goncalves and friends Xana Kenodle, Maddie Mogen and Ethan Chapin.
Another officer on the scene described seeing Kernodle’s body on her bedroom covered in blood, with defensive wounds to her hands, including a deep gash between her finger and thumb. She was stabbed more than 50 times.
‘It was obvious an intense struggle had occurred,’ the officer wrote. ‘There was blood smeared on various items in the room and all over the floor.’
Kernodle’s boyfriend Chapin was found partially covered with a blanket in her bed, with his jugular severed, the police files said.
Kaylee Goncalves’ face was disfigured during Bryan Kohberger’s fatal attack, during which she was stabbed more than 30 times
The new information as included in files released by the Moscow Police Department on Wednesday after Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday
Left to right: Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
On the floor above, officers found the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves.
Mogen had wounds to her forearm, hands and a gash from her right eye to her nose.
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Both were covered in blood, which had soaked the pink blanket they were sharing.
Kohberger left behind a Ka-Bar leather knife sheath next to Mogen’s body.
DNA on the clasp was traced back to the killer using Investigative Genetic Genealogy.
The police files also revealed the victims saw a man lurking in the trees outside their home and found their front door mysteriously open one month before the killer struck.
Goncalves had told at least two friends that she had seen a man watching her in the trees around the home.
Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen – who bravely spoke out in Wednesday’s sentencing hearing – told police Goncalves described seeing the ‘shadow’ when she took her pet dog Murphy outside.
Kaylee Goncalves had seen the man when she took her pet dog Murphy outside (pictured together)
Mogen and Goncalves were found in Mogen’s bed, covered in bloof, per police reports. The two young women were childhood best friends
Another friend echoed this accounts, telling police Goncalves had seen a dark figure staring at her from the tree line when taking Murphy outside.
Mortensen, who was 19 at the time, also recalled one time when she came home to find the door to their three-story house open.
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It is not clear if the incidents are related and if it is possible Kohberger was carrying out a practice run for the murders one month later.
It is also unclear if the man Goncalves saw was Kohberger surveilling the victims’ home, or if he may have broken into the home prior to the night of his attack.
But the details of these bizarre incidents come as prosecutors have been able to confirm Kohberger was surveilling the home for some time.
From July 2022 through to November 13, 2022, Kohberger’s phone placed him in the vicinity of the King Road home at least 23 times, mostly at night.
Despite his guilty plea and sentencing, the killer’s motive and target for the murders remain a mystery.
The home at 1122 King Road where Kohberger broke in and murdered his victims
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Speaking at a press conference after the sentencing, Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne told reporters that while they know Kohberger ‘targeted’ that house, they still don’t know why.
‘The evidence suggested that there was a reason that this particular house was chosen. What that reason is, we don’t know,’ he said.
Investigators also remain in the dark about whether one or more of the victims inside the home was his intended target.
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