Goncalves Family Strives to Refund $85K After Kohberger Plea Deal Blow
Let’s raise a toast to generosity that hit a procedural brick wall—because nothing says “thank you for your support” like wrestling with GoFundMe’s refund button. The Goncalves family, still reeling from a plea deal in the Bryan Kohberger murder case, announced they’re returning every dollar of the $85,000 crowdfunded for trial travel. Steve Goncalves insists this isn’t a “bait and switch,” unlike the lead prosecutor’s sudden plea offer, which spared Kohberger the death penalty and locked him in prison for life without a chance of parole.
This all-star refund tour kicked off after the family’s GoFundMe campaign closed days before Kohberger’s July 2 plea deal. Now, instead of packing suitcases for court, they’re packing donation records and hopping on customer-service calls. Irony alert: they launched the fundraiser to face the man accused of murdering their daughter, Kaylee Goncalves, in Idaho back in November. Three lines in, and you have to wonder if they accidentally signed up for “Fundraising: The Bureaucratic Edition.”
Steve told TMZ he reached out to donors personally—a task nobody dreams of adding to an already tragic timeline. While most contributors tell him to keep the funds, the Goncalveses refuse, calling it the least they can do after feeling blindsided by a plea deal they called “shocking” and “disrespectful.” They’ve publicly slammed both prosecutor Bill Thompson and the presiding judge for greenlighting the agreement that avoids a capital sentence. If courtroom drama were a sport, this would be gold medal level.
The family also faces a scheduling nightmare: their July 23 hearing to deliver a victim impact statement clashes with dropping another daughter off at Baylor University. Steve says they begged the court to push the date, but don’t hold your breath waiting for a friendly nod from the bench. He’s already planning a written statement in case they can’t make it in person. Third-line roast incoming: juggling a refund marathon, a plea-deal protest, and a college send-off feels like Olympic-level multitasking—if only Olympic committees awarded medals for emotional exhaustion.
This isn’t just a story about pushing dollars back into donors’ pockets; it’s a narrative on trust, timing, and the odd tango between victims’ families and the justice system. The Goncalves family’s refund crusade underscores how crowdfunding can become as tangled as legal proceedings. If you thought donating was straightforward, welcome to the fine print of high-stakes court battles.
So there you have it. Humanity at its finest: rallying behind a grieving family only to watch them navigate refund logistics while demanding accountability from a system they feel failed them. Stay tuned next time for more courtroom contortions and refund fiascos—it’s like reality TV, but with more subpoenas and fewer commercial breaks.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and TMZ, People Magazine
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
