Steve and Kaylee Gonclaves. Credit :

Kaylee gonclaves/facebook

• Steve Goncalves and his family are “furious” over prosecutors’ decision to offer the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, a plea deal
• Kohberger’s quadruple murder trial was scheduled to take place in five weeks
• In the deal, prosecutors will allow Kohberger, 30, to avoid the death penalty

The father of one of the four slain University of Idaho students is extremely disappointed by prosecutors’ decision to offer the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, a plea deal.

“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us,” Steve Goncalves and his family wrote on Facebook Monday, June 30.

They wrote that they met with prosecutors on Friday about “the possibility of a plea deal and it was a hard no from our family.”

In a follow up post on Tuesday, July 1, the family again noted that prosecutors “vaguely mentioned a possible plea on Friday, without seeking our input, and presented the plea on Sunday.”

Kohberger’s quadruple murder trial was scheduled to take place in five weeks but in a surprise move, the former criminology graduate student at Washington State University reportedly agreed to plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 2022 deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Maddie Mogen and Ethan Chapin, per a letter sent to victims’ families from prosecutors, cited by ABC News, the Idaho Statesman, and the New York Times.

In the deal, prosecutors will allow him to avoid the death penalty. He is expected to be sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.

Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves. Courtesy of Chapin Family; Maddie Mogen/Instagram; Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram; Xana Kernodle/Instagram

A hearing is scheduled for July 2, per the outlets.

If Kohberger, who was arrested at his family’s home in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022, enters a guilty plea, sentencing will occur in late July, according to the letter.

“We were not prepared for this — we had no idea that this was going to happen,” Steve told ABC News.

“We can’t just let people come from other states and come in here and kill our kids while they’re sleeping, getting an education, and then just negotiate with those types of people,” he said. “It’s sad, it’s disgusting, and I can’t pretend like I feel like this is justice.”

For two and half years since his 21-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and her three friends were murdered, he and his wife, Kristi, 47, and their four other children, relentlessly sought answers to the haunting question of what happened inside 1122 King Road on Nov. 13, 2022.

“We’ve dug our heels in and we’ve done everything we possibly can,” Steve told PEOPLE in this week’s magazine issue.

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Since the tragedy, the Goncalves family has both criticized and praised police and other investigators; protested the demolition of the three-story house where the murders occurred; and created a Facebook tip page. They also searched for clues, including gathering security video from the neighborhood.

Steve and Kristi Goncalves. Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty

“I like to think if somebody asked any of my kids, ‘If this happened to you, what dad would do the most?’ And I think all my girls and my son would say, ‘That’s going to be my dad,’” says Steve. “I got to be the one that picks up the phone, makes the calls, hires a lawyer — and trusts nobody.”

Says Vicky Ward, co-author of The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy: “I don’t blame Steve for wanting to do everything in his power to control the narrative. He didn’t think that the police were doing a decent job,” especially at communicating with the victims’ families.

Steve and his family had planned to be at court everyday “to keep things honest,” he says. “I’ve got to hold this guy accountable.” 

In the July 1 Facebook post, the Goncalves family said they weren’t called about the plea and received an email with a letter from the Latah County’s Prosecutor’s Office.

“After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details,” the post read.

“We stand strong that it is not over until a plea is accepted,” the family said in a subsequent post. “We will not stop fighting for the life that was stolen unjustly.”