Sister of murdered Idaho student, Kaylee Goncalves, says it's chilling to learn 'true evil was watching'

“I had no idea that true evil was genuinely watching them,” Alivea Goncalves, 26, sister of victim Kaylee Goncalves, 21, said in an interview with NewsNation Sunday.

Kaylee Goncalves, one of four University of Idaho students found stabbed to death on Nov. 13.@kayleegoncalves via Instagram

The 28-year-old suspect Bryan Kohberger is suspected of killing four University of Idaho students on November 13 by stabbing them to death. The sister of one of the victims said it was terrifying to learn that Kohberger may have been keeping an eye on the Moscow home in the months before the killings.

"We were clueless. She was clueless. Alivea Goncalves, 26, the sister of the victim Kaylee Goncalves, 21, stated in an interview with NewsNation on Sunday, "I had no notion that actual evil was really following them.

It has been "the hardest part of this — to sit back and look at the entirety of it," Goncalves said, to read through the probable cause affidavit, which notes that Kohberger's cell phone was in the area of the crime site "on at least twelve occasions" before the day of the murder.

"[Kohberger] was preparing his next visit to the residence when my sister was FaceTiming me about a new egg bites recipe," she claimed. "That's incredibly hard, it's really hard not to wish you'd done more and wish you knew more."

Goncalves found it troubling that Kohberger, a criminology PhD candidate, allegedly "went back to the residence the morning of [the murders], before police had been contacted, I assume to see if his circus, to put it mildly, had started to unravel."

Kohberger is charged with the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona, Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington, and Kaylee Goncalves.

On January 5, Kohberger appeared in court for the first time in Idaho. He is accused with four first-degree murders, each of which carries a potential punishment of the death penalty or life in prison.

Kohberger's subsequent pretrial hearing was scheduled for January 12 and he was ordered to be held without bail.

Kristi and Steve Goncalves, Kaylee Goncalves' parents, were in court last week. It's unknown if Alivea attended, but she recently told NewsNation that she intends to attend "every single" hearing for the duration of the case.

She claimed that now that a suspect was in police custody, she and her family "are starting" to be allowed to grieve.

"Considering that we still have a long way to go, it seems sort of funny to do that now, but the relief that we all felt having a suspect in custody was — I can't even describe it, like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders," a witness said.

Goncalves also discussed another important finding from the affidavit in the NewsNation interview: Dylan Mortensen, known as "D.M." in the document, one of the two roommates who was physically unharmed and survived, "saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask" walking past her and leaving the house the night of the murders as she stood in a "frozen shock phase."

The affidavit claims that Mortensen "locked herself in her room after seeing the guy," and that 911 was not dialed until several hours later, just before noon, from one of the roommates' phones.

Goncalves argued that Mortensen shouldn't be held accountable for her actions, which NBC News was informed by unaffiliated experts are typical in potentially dangerous circumstances.

Goncalves told NewsNation, "I do know Dylan is incredibly young and she was probably really, really afraid, and I think everyone should wait passing judgment until we get any more information because you don't know what you would do in that situation.

She stated that she is informing law enforcement of any information she learns regarding possible connections between Kohberger and the victims.

Because nothing is unimportant at this point and everything is being looked through, she said, "I've had a lot of people reach out with Instagram posts or even Spotify or lots of connections that they've been able to find and those are super valuable. All of those go over to the Moscow Police Department as well as the Idaho State Police and the FBI."

According to the institution, Kaylee Goncalves was a senior in the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences specializing in general studies and a member of the sorority Alpha Phi. Alivea Goncalves referred to her sister as "the ultimate go-getter" in an earlier interview with NBC's "TODAY."

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