TRANSCRIPTION OF INTERVIEW WITH KAYLEE'S DAD AFTER ARREST OF KOHBERGER.
30TH DECEMBER.
Reporter - Steve, thank you so much for making the time to be with us today. Just your first reaction to the news that a suspect has been arrested?.
Dad - To me and my family, it feels like the first joy we've had in the last 7 days because it really is. You can't even smile when you have this over your head and it feels like a little bit of weight has been relieved and things are on the right track and we're moving in the right direction.
Reporter - Was there anything in the press conference that the police just gave this afternoon, that was not said to you as a parent in this situation?. Did they leave something out that you wish the public knew about?.
Dad - The whole struggle of communication and everything has gotten better, every step of the way. I want to commend those police officers in everything that they've done because it has been very difficult to work with all the media, especially me being so vocal. I think it's gotten better and I really appreciate that they've made some adjustments for our family and we've noticed those things.
Reporter - Steve, I was telling our colleagues that there has been a different tone from you today as we got this good news that they did indeed catch the suspect. When we were talking earlier today, one of the things that stuck out to you was - this guy was not from Moscow. He was an outsider.
Dad - Yes, the community is real in Idaho and Idaho made a stand and I wanted to be a part of that to where we said, 'hey, this is not our new normal, we're not gonna allow this messaging to be our new normal and we're going to put our foot down and we're going to pull into every resource that we can. We have nothing to hide. If we have to pull in forces because we're close to a location that jurisdictions are there, we're still going to come together and unify for this', and I really feel like that's what happened. I mean there was some forces that pulled us apart but, in the end we all came together and we have a celebration of life today, and we actually have hope that we have somebody in custody that is a person of interest. Of course he's innocent until proven guilty, but that's a lot better off than we were 48 hrs. ago.
Reporter - Steve, why was it important today for you to have that memorial service for, not only Kaylee, but for Maddie?. With this being the day that it is, why did you guys decide to push through and you're gonna have this this celebration of life for your daughters?.
Dad - It was important for us to have this person of interest in custody so they weren't, possibly, in that audience, because we made it open and we knew if we made ourselves vulnerable like that, we didn't want somebody to be taking advantage of that and feeding off that. We definitely don't want to feed somebody who's a predator to our environment. So it's nice that we have this closure. There's a lot of prayers going across America.
Reporter - Steve, it's Kennedy. Everyone here at Fox, we pray for you and we hope that God continues to sustain all of your families through this unspeakable tragedy. I know that you have done so much work and you have been so vocal and you have done so much investigation, and I'm just wondering - had you heard the name Bryan Kohberger before today?.
Dad - No, we had not, that's just completely honest. Everything was kept under the wraps. The investigation did everything they could do to keep this away from the public, to keep the jury untainted, do everything by the book and I believe they've done an amazing job of that.
Reporter - Steve, it's Jimmy. As a parent, I can't imagine what you're going through. But one of the things we have found heartening, with a tragedy as awful as this, is how a tight community like the one in Moscow has been pulled tighter by the love they had for your daughter. Can you speak to the sense of, I don't know, maybe relief?. Is there some type of emotional upward mobility today, given the capture of this guy?.
Dad - Yeah, it felt like we were all in this together and I feel like everybody did something that was uncomfortable. They took photos, they submitted information, they took time and in the end, I hope, when the stories all said and told that we actually do find out that some of these tips and leads from the community were critical and I would not be surprised if this is gonna be a community based justice that was exercised in this whole process.
Reporter - Steve, you've been so strong and I'm so glad that they caught this guy before the New Year. Thank you so much for stepping away from the memorial service and spending some time with our audience. Thank you, sir.
Dad - Thank you for sticking with us.
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