The father of one of the four University of Idaho students who were found fatally stabbed in their beds said he wished the suspect in the slayings would have looked at him during his first court appearance.
Steve Goncalves, the father of 21-year-old victim Kaylee Goncalves, said suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger never turned to look at him during the proceedings in an Idaho courtroom Thursday, where family members laid eyes on the suspected killer in person for the first time.
"I was hoping for that," Goncalves told TODAY. "You know, he’s going to avoid me for a while, but he’s definitely going to have to deal with the effects of the aftermath."
Kohberger, who has been charged with four counts of murder and one felony burglary charge in connection with the deaths of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, made his initial appearance before a judge in Latah County on Jan. 5.
The four students were found dead with multiple stab wounds in their home near the school's Moscow, Idaho, campus on Nov. 13. Authorities did not charge anyone with a crime for seven weeks as they searched for a suspect.
An affidavit was also unsealed on Thursday, revealing chilling new details about the case. One of the two surviving roommates who were home at the time of the attack said she saw a figure dressed in all black inside of their home around the time of the killings, the affidavit said.
The roommate, Dylan Mortensen — identified as D.M. in the affidavit — told investigators she opened her door multiple times after 4 a.m. on Nov. 13. After hearing crying coming from Kernodle's room, she opened her door and saw a person wearing a mask walking toward her.
She told investigators she was in a "frozen shock phase" as the man walked past her toward a sliding glass door. She then locked herself in her room, according to the affidavit.
It is unclear why the surviving roommates did not call 911 until around noon. Goncalves' father described to TODAY the roommates' emotional state during the 911 call.
"You got to remember these two girls were so upset that when they went outside after seeing this ... one passed out," he said. "And the other one was so hyperventilating that the message wasn’t clear enough for the operator."
He added he didn't think it was "legible" that either of the two surviving roommates could be "criminal." Police have said they do not believe either of the surviving roommates were involved in the crime.
The affidavit also revealed how investigators used DNA evidence to link Kohberger, a 28-year-old PhD student studying criminology and criminal justice at the nearby Washington State University, to the crime.
According to the affidavit, police investigating the scene found a tan leather knife sheath with "Ka-Bar" and "USMC," along with U.S. Marine Corps insignia stamped on it, on a bed next to Mogen’s body.
Investigators were able to locate a "single source of male DNA" left on the button snap of the knife sheath, according to the affidavit.
After obtaining search warrants for Kohberger's cell phone records and reviewing the movements of a white Hyundai Elantra around the victims' residence in the days and months before and after the slayings, investigators recovered trash from Kohberger's family home in northeastern Pennsylvania on Dec. 27.
The DNA from the knife sheath showed a connection to a DNA profile obtained from the trash, the affidavit said. Kohberger was arrested at his parents' Pennsylvania home on Dec. 30.
Police have not yet located the weapon used in the attack, which they believe to be a fixed-blade knife, nor have they identified a motive for the killings.