‘In and out of it’: Friend explains why roommate didn’t call police on Kohberger

MOSCOW (Idaho Statesman) — Bryan Kohberger admitted to killing four of the six people in a Moscow home in November 2022. Newly unsealed police records revealed details about what the two surviving roommates experienced that night.

Kohberger pleaded guilty earlier this month to breaking into a student rental house at 1122 King Road on Nov. 13, 2022, and fatally stabbing University of Idaho seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21; junior Xana Kernodle, 20; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20.

Two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were at the house that night. But before Wednesday, few details about their experiences had been made public.

After 4th Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to life in prison Wednesday, the Moscow Police Department released hundreds of unsealed case documents. Among them was a document detailing a Jan. 10, 2023, police interview with a woman who identified herself as Kernodle’s best friend, as well as an interview with a close friend of the home’s residents.

The friend told police that Mortensen called her at about 11:51 a.m. on Nov. 13, saying she heard and saw a man at about 4 a.m. The friend said Mortensen asked her to “come over to check the house because she was too scared.”

Sgt. Dustin Blaker wrote in his report that he asked the friend whether she asked Mortensen why she didn’t call police that night. The friend told Blaker that Mortensen was intoxicated “and didn’t want to believe what was going on.”

‘Nothing really weird happens in Moscow’

Police interviewed Mortensen, who had just turned 19, on the day of the murders. The police report from that interview was part of the newly unsealed documents.

Mortensen told police she couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary in the days and weeks leading up to the crimes, according to the report.

“No, it’s been all normal,” Mortensen said. “Nothing weird at all. Nothing really weird happens in Moscow usually.” Mortensen described herself during the events as “tired” and “in and out of it.”

Mortensen said she was awakened at about 4 a.m. by what sounded like Goncalves dancing with her dog. Shortly afterward, Mortensen said she heard Goncalves say in a scared voice, “There is someone here.” She thought she then heard Goncalves run downstairs.

Mortensen told police she jumped up and locked the door “because she did not know what else to do,” Moscow Police Sgt. J.W. Lawrence wrote in his report. She said she called out Goncalves’ name, then tried to call her, Xana and Maddie on their phones.

Mortensen opened her door, called out to Goncalves, then became scared and closed the door again, according to a report.

Mortensen said she opened her door a second time and thought she heard crying from a bathroom, followed by a male voice saying something to the effect of, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.”

“(Mortensen) said it was weird because the statement was not in a nice way, and the voice was one she had never heard before,” Lawrence wrote.

Mortensen shut her door and called out again for Goncalves, before opening it a third time. That’s when Mortensen saw a man wearing all black, including a mask that covered everything but his eyes and nose, and holding an object near his stomach, according to the report.

Mortensen saw him exit through the kitchen door, and she then went downstairs to sleep in Funke’s room, the report said. Mortensen said she “believed everyone was just asleep.”

Mortensen describes trauma from home invasion

Mortensen spoke publicly for the first time at Wednesday’s sentencing. She described the many ways that the crimes had changed her life.

“I was too terrified to close my eyes, terrified that if I blinked, someone might be there,” Mortensen said through tears. “I made escape plans everywhere I went. If something happens, how do I get out? What can I use to defend myself? Who can help?”

But Mortensen said she honors her friends by cherishing the memories she made with them.

“He may have taken so much from me, but he will never get to take my voice,” Mortensen said. “He will never take the memories I had with them. He will never erase the love we shared, the laughs we had or the way they made me feel seen and whole. Those things are mine. They are sacred, and he will never touch them.”