Podcast Summary: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Episode: KOHBERGER CONTESTING PLEA DEAL? CAN CASE GO TO TRIAL? LIFETIME 'IDAHO 4 MOVIE' OUTRAGE
Date: November 18, 2025
Host: Nancy Grace
Guests: Annie Elise, Dave Mack, Josh Colesrud, Joe Scott Morgan, Christy and Steve Goncalves, Chris McDonough, Dr. John Delatorre
Main Theme
Nancy Grace examines the ongoing legal turmoil surrounding Bryan Kohberger—the admitted killer of four University of Idaho students—and his recent attempts to challenge the financial restitution component of his plea deal. The episode further explores growing outrage over a Lifetime movie dramatizing the murders, which the victims’ families describe as exploitative and deeply disrespectful.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Kohberger Contests Plea Agreement Terms
- Kohberger’s Challenge: Kohberger is refusing to pay restitution as outlined in his plea deal, particularly funeral and urn expenses for his victims. He claims inability or unwillingness to pay, despite having tens of thousands in his prison commissary account.
- Nancy Grace: “Kohberger is welching on a major tenant of his plea deal under the law.” (01:13)
- Legal Implications: Multiple panelists assert that breaching a plea agreement (such as contesting restitution) could void it, potentially sending the case to trial.
- Josh Colesrud: “If those terms are breached, then the plea agreement can be undone and this case can be set for trial.” (06:33)
2. Restitution Disputes and Kohberger’s Finances
- Restitution Details: The contested amount is around $30,000, covering funeral and urn costs. Kohberger has at least a five-figure sum in his account, much of it allegedly sent by supporters.
- Annie Elise: “Why should he get more comfort than the victims were ever afforded?” (04:56)
- Judicial Frustration: The judge repeatedly presses the prosecution on why the plea agreement, which included restitution, is not being enforced.
- Judge Hippler (as quoted by Dave Mack): “Why should you not be held to the plea agreement to pay the victims the costs of interring their children?” (03:44)
3. Failures of the Prosecution
- Prosecutorial Critique: The prosecution is criticized for incompetence, lack of communication with victims’ families, and for mishandling restitution terms.
- Steve Goncalves: “He doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, he's over his head… he just was already retired.” (18:22)
- Family’s Burden: The Goncalves family must potentially sue civilly for some expenses due to prosecutorial mishandling, adding to their suffering and frustration.
- Christy Goncalves: “We're exhausted, you know, and now something. This is just hard.” (16:09)
4. Victims’ Families Respond
- Outrage and Pain: Christy and Steve Goncalves, parents of victim Kaylee Goncalves, express disgust at the state’s failure to secure their rightful restitution and at a form letter they received from the prosecutor.
- Nancy Grace: “This is basically a form letter covering his rear end.” (23:28)
- Lack of Victims’ Rights: The episode discusses potential violations of Idaho’s victims’ rights statute, possibly providing legal grounds to dissolve the plea deal.
- Josh Colesrud: “So the victims, on their own, through their attorney, can file a special action with the court demanding that the plea agreement be unraveled.” (57:12)
5. Lifetime ‘Idaho Murders’ Movie Outrage
- Family’s Response: The Goncalves family and others are appalled by a Lifetime movie dramatizing the killings, especially after seeing behind-the-scenes TikToks of actresses in bloody costumes dancing on set.
- Olivia Goncalves (Kaylee’s sister): “Maybe you should just think about if Kaylee was your sister … if you lay with dogs, you might get fleas.” (30:46 / 42:01)
- Disrespect and Grief: The TikTok videos are seen as deeply disrespectful to the victims’ memories.
- Christy Goncalves: “It makes you sick... that somebody would actually take a role to portray somebody that died in such a horrific way and make light of it.” (33:11)
- Broader Cultural Critique: The panel condemns the societal fascination with killers over victims and the media’s exploitation of tragedy.
6. Forensic and Crime Scene Details
- Brutality of Crimes: Joe Scott Morgan graphically describes the overwhelming violence of the murders, why the plea itself is controversial, and the horror inflicted on the victims.
- Nancy Grace: “Ethan had his jugular vein slashed… it was like a water sprinkler in the front yard, spurting his life's blood…” (11:03)
- Joe Scott Morgan: “She had so many wounds that they were cross communicating and overlying one another. It was hard to delineate between these wounds…” (48:16)
- Public Disconnect: Morgan and others argue that the sanitized portrayal of such brutality in media lacks the sobering reality of true crime scene investigations.
7. Prospects for Voiding the Plea Deal
- Pathways Forward: There’s consensus that if Kohberger continues contesting material terms (restitution), the plea could—and should—be voided, potentially setting up a trial if competent, independent prosecution is brought in.
- Josh Colesrud: “If there was ever a time for a death penalty case, this was it.” (07:40)
- Nancy Grace: “There could be a way around this deal with the devil. But now will it happen? I am begging the feds to intervene.” (57:35)
8. Societal Implications & Call to Action
- Victims Overlooked: Both the Lifetime movie and the handling of the case are seen as emblematic of a broader disregard for victims in media and legal systems.
- Call for Accountability: Nancy Grace urges listeners to push for federal intervention and for victims’ rights to be respected.
- “The current U.S. attorney for the Idaho district is Bart M. Davis. … You have the knowledge. Use it.” (57:35)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “Kohberger is welching on a major tenant of his plea deal under the law.”
– Nancy Grace (01:13) - “A plea agreement is a contract, and it has specific terms... If those terms are breached, then the plea agreement can be undone.”
– Josh Colesrud (06:22-06:33) - “For Pete’s sake, does Judge Hippler have to feed the prosecution with a silver spoon?”
– Nancy Grace (04:03) - “Why should he get more comfort than the victims were ever afforded?”
– Annie Elise (04:56) - “He doesn't know what he's doing. He's over his head. ... We did everything for that courtroom ... he just was already retired.”
– Steve Goncalves (18:22) - “It makes you literally sick to your stomach. … It's disgusting and it hurts.”
– Christy Goncalves, re: TikTok videos (33:11) - “You know what? Fine. I'd be mad if you didn't. Let's go to trial.”
– Nancy Grace (09:32) - “If you connect the dots… information we had for them was damning. ... Certain things people want to leak to scare people, to intimidate them.”
– Steve Goncalves (24:49) - “No remaining issues.” [from the prosecutor’s form letter about the case]
– Quoted by Nancy Grace (23:27) - “If you lay with dogs, you might get fleas.”
– Olivia Goncalves (30:46 / 42:01) - “He’s not even that interesting.”
– Dr. John Delatorre on Kohberger (53:32)
Important Timestamps
- 01:06 – Episode theme and Kohberger challenge kicks off
- 02:19 – Discussion: Kohberger seeking “control” even in custody
- 03:44 – Judge Hippler questions defense’s refusal to pay restitution
- 04:56 – Annie Elise on the injustice of Kohberger’s commissary comfort
- 06:22 – Colesrud explains the legal effect of breaching plea terms
- 11:03 / 12:12 – Graphic descriptions of the murders’ brutality
- 14:15 – Entry of Kaylee Goncalves’ parents, Christy and Steve
- 16:09 – Christy details exhaustion over having to pursue civil restitution
- 18:22 – Steve Goncalves criticizes prosecutorial dysfunction
- 24:49 – Steve alleges prosecution office leaks to the defense
- 30:46 – Olivia Goncalves’s viral critique of the Lifetime film on TikTok
- 33:11 – Christy describes the pain caused by the actors’ TikTok dance
- 46:29 – Joe Scott Morgan on the horror of aspiration blood at the crime scene
- 48:16 – Morgan describes the injuries inflicted on Kaylee Goncalves
- 53:14 / 54:27 – Dr. Delatorre and Chris McDonough on societal focus on killers over victims
- 57:12 – Colesrud outlines the legal path for voiding the plea deal
Tone and Takeaways
- Critical and Unflinching: Nancy and the guests use blunt, sometimes graphic language to stress the gravity of the crimes and the failings of the judicial system.
- Victims-first Approach: The host and guests repeatedly return focus to the continued suffering and dignity of the victims’ families.
- Frustration and Outrage: The episode is laced with frustration toward the local prosecutor, the plea bargain, the public’s obsession with the killer, and the insensitivity of media portrayals.
Closing
Nancy Grace ends the episode urging listeners to demand accountability and push for the plea deal to be voided—so the case can go to trial and victims’ rights can be affirmed. She also memorializes a fallen Border Patrol agent, emphasizing the importance of honoring true heroes over glorifying criminals.