Nearly four years after Kaylee Goncalves was killed in the Nov. 13, 2022, murders of four University of Idaho students, her parents have launched the Kaylee Goncalves Foundation—“Murder Has a Name”—to fund advanced forensic DNA testing and investigative geneti
When Kaylee Goncalves was killed in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022, the waiting became its own kind of punishment for her family—long mornings filled with hope, and nights that turned questions into a dull ache.
Now. Steve and Kristi Goncalves are trying to take that waiting away from other families by launching the Kaylee Goncalves Foundation. known as “Murder Has a Name.” The nonprofit’s mission is direct: help law enforcement agencies solve cold cases by funding advanced forensic DNA testing and investigative genetic genealogy. or IGG.
Kristi Goncalves said the roadblock isn’t a lack of science—it’s access. “It’s not unsolvable, it’s a funding issue,” she told KXLY.
The foundation is designed to expand access to advanced DNA technology. investigative resources. and case funding so victims are not forgotten and families are not left without options. The group plans to partner with law enforcement agencies and laboratories specializing in advanced DNA testing. with agencies across the country able to apply for support.
Donations will be used to cover costs tied to investigative genetic genealogy and other forensic techniques used to identify suspects in cases that have gone cold. The Goncalves family said they will not choose which investigations receive backing. Instead, cases will be selected through an application process outlined on the foundation’s website.
The effort grows out of a case in which advanced DNA work ultimately changed everything. Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was one of four University of Idaho students killed in an off-campus rental home. Also killed were Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The murders triggered a nationwide search for a suspect and drew intense public attention. For weeks, the victims’ families waited as investigators worked to identify the killer.
Kristi Goncalves described the uncertainty in a way that captures how time itself can become heavy. “Every morning you woke up with hope,” she told KXLY. “And then by 4 or 5 o’clock you were like, is this ever going to happen?”
Investigators later used investigative genetic genealogy to identify Bryan Kohberger as a suspect. Authorities compared DNA recovered from a knife sheath left at the crime scene with DNA collected from trash outside Kohberger’s parents’ Pennsylvania home.
Looking back, Steve Goncalves said the technique was pivotal. “We know, looking back, without the IGG, there’s a good chance our case wasn’t solved,” he told KXLY.
Kohberger later pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.
The foundation’s push for advanced testing is also framed as a long-term safeguard—an attempt to keep other investigations from stalling when money runs out. Kristi Goncalves said the goal is to help families with underfunded cases get the forensic DNA technology they need. telling KTVB. “We wanted to focus on being able to help families that have underfunded cases get the forensic DNA technology that they need.”.
On the foundation’s website, Kaylee is described as a vibrant young woman who was preparing to graduate from the University of Idaho and begin a new job in Texas before her life was cut short.
For Steve and Kristi Goncalves, turning loss into a legacy means making sure answers remain possible for others who are living with the same kind of uncertainty the family endured. “It’s still about Kaylee,” Kristi Goncalves told KXLY. “It always will be. This foundation is her legacy.”
The nonprofit’s leaders say they intend to begin assisting investigations once the application process is in place, with cases chosen through the foundation’s online process—an attempt to convert one family’s hard-won breakthroughs into a lifeline for the next stalled case.
Kaylee Goncalves Foundation Murder Has a Name cold cases investigative genetic genealogy IGG forensic DNA testing University of Idaho murders Bryan Kohberger DNA funding nonprofit