Two years ago, Olivia Vitale was covering one of America’s most shocking crimes. Today, the 27-year-old true-crime YouTuber is planning her wedding to Stephen Goncalves – the brother of one of the victims.
Vitale, who runs the Chronicles of Olivia channel, traveled to Moscow, Idaho in December 2022 to document the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The killings shook the nation and led to the arrest of criminology PhD student Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in July.
Kaylee – affectionately nicknamed ‘Kaybug’ by her family – was among the victims.
At the time, Vitale’s reporting caught the attention of Kaylee’s father, Steve Goncalves, who spotted her work while scrolling through accounts his daughter had followed.
He invited Olivia to interview the family. That first sit-down, on December 28, 2022 – just three days before Kohberger’s arrest – included Kaylee’s parents and sister. Stephen, Kaylee’s brother, wasn’t there.
‘We didn’t actually meet then,’ Stephen told the Daily Mail. ‘It would be almost a year before we spoke face-to-face.’
Stephen Goncalves and Olivia Vitale first met in late 2023, when Olivia returned to Idaho to film the demolition of the King Road home where his sister was murdered
Kaylee had followed Olivia’s YouTube channel before her death, leading the family to trust her with their story
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was one of four University of Idaho students murdered in November 2022
Olivia shows off her engagement ring
Their first meeting came in late 2023, when Olivia returned to Idaho to film the demolition of the King Road home where the murders took place.
Passing through Coeur d’Alene, she met Steve for lunch – Stephen joined them. ‘It was just a friendly lunch,’ Olivia told the Daily Mail. ‘Nothing romantic. That part of the story hadn’t even started yet.’
The spark came in November 2024, when Stephen liked one of Olivia’s Instagram photos and she sent him a message. ‘We started talking, sending memes back and forth,’ Stephen said.
A few weeks later, NBC producers reached out to Olivia about filming a documentary on the case, and she asked if Stephen would be involved.
Before filming began, he invited her to dinner. ‘I’m not the biggest fan of reporters,’ he said. ‘But after meeting her, I realized she was different – real. We stayed out until three in the morning, and I had to be at work at six.’
Olivia said it was natural from the start. ‘When I’m with him, I’m just with him. We were like best friends from the get.’
From there, things moved fast. ‘She called me on January 15,’ Stephen said. ‘By the end of that call, we were looking at cruises – and we booked one that night.’
They set sail for Valentine’s Day, shared a cabin and realized they were completely compatible.
‘It would feel weird to wait and take things slow,’ Olivia said. ‘We just wanted to start a life together.’
Stephen Goncalves (center), brother of University of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, is now dating Olivia Vitale (second from left), the YouTuber who interviewed his family after the tragedy
Bryan Kohberger at the Ada County Courthouse, for his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025
(Left to right) Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
The home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, is pictured on November 20, 2022, one week after the murders
They now live together in Idaho and spend their time visiting with family and remodeling their home – a project they’re sharing on a new joint YouTube channel.
In their first video, posted August 6, the pair mix home-renovation footage with moments from their relationship: fishing with Stephen’s father, skipping rocks in Coeur d’Alene, and a ladybug – a family sign for Kaylee – landing on Olivia’s hand while it rested in Stephen’s.
The moment was especially meaningful, Stephen said, because it felt like a visit from his sister. ‘It’s like she’s still watching over us.’
That same video also includes a quieter, more reflective scene where Olivia asks how Stephen would describe Kaylee.
He pauses. ‘It’s kind of hard to just put one thing on a question like that,’ he says.
‘Kaylee, she was very social, she was very driven. She was going to move to Texas do something in IT – it was definitely out of her wheelhouse, but she nailed the interview. If she wasn’t good at something, she became good at it.’
In a joint YouTube video, Stephen admits he hasn’t fully digested the loss of his sister, telling Olivia he hasn’t begun the grieving or mourning process
The Goncalves family granted Olivia an exclusive interview on December 28, 2022 – two days before Bryan Kohberger’s arrest. Pictured: Kaylee’s mother (right), father (left) and sister Alivea (center)
Kaylee Goncalves was murdered alongside her three friends in a brutal knife attack carried out by Kohberger
Stephen proposed in April on Coeur d’Alene’s Tubbs Hill, near where the documentary was filmed.
‘I had the ring on me for three days,’ he told the Mail. ‘She’d get cold and I’d have to give her my coat, so I’d duck into the bathroom to hide the box in my pocket.’
They plan to wed on July 4, 2026.
For Stephen, the appeal is simple.
‘Her sense of humor keeps us going. We send each other memes all day, every day.’
Hearing him say that made Olivia smile.
‘We’re yin and yang,’ she added. ‘When we first met, we were laughing about the most random things. I can be myself when I’m around him – he brings out my inner child.’
Montage clips in the YouTube video show the couple fishing, FaceTiming, cutting cake, and holding hands as a ladybug – a symbol the family associates with Kaylee – lands on Olivia
Alivea Goncalves, seen here outside of court on Wednesday, July 23
Kaylee’s father, Steve, seen at the hearing
Kaylee (left) and Madison Mogen (right) both fell victim to Kohberger
Stephen also opens up in that clip about how he’s been processing his sister’s murder.
‘As of now, I don’t even think I’ve begun the grieving or the mourning process,’ he admits.
‘But it’ll be a step in the right direction once the person responsible for these crimes is properly incarcerated. I still see people out in public that have Kaylee’s hairstyle and I think, you know, “Oh, Kay’s here,” and it takes a second to snap out of that.’
While they have talked about Stephen’s loss within the context of interviews, there’s something about that loss, and one Olivia also lives with, that remains unspoken.
Olivia was 22 when her dad died, so she knows what it is like to lose someone very close.
‘We don’t really talk about it,’ Olivia said, ‘but we understand each other on a level most people don’t.’
Six weeks after the brutal killings, police arrested Kohberger, then a 28-year-old criminology PhD student at Washington State University, after linking him to the crime through cellphone data, surveillance footage, and DNA found on a knife sheath.
Kohberger was sentenced on July 23, 2025, to four life terms without parole. A plea deal spared him the death penalty.
At his sentencing, Kaylee’s family delivered blistering victim impact statements, with her sister Alivea calling him ‘a sociopath, psychopath, murderer’ and Steve telling him, ‘You picked the wrong family.’
Through it all, Stephen says he and Olivia have focused on their life together.
‘At the end of the day, she’s not involved in the case. This is my burden to carry. When we’re together, we just live our lives.’
