Dylan Mortensen, one of two people to survive the atrocious stabbings at the University of Idaho, has now revealed her secret almost three years since she watched the man who stabbed her four best friends walk out of her house after the killings.
Mortensen delivered a tearful and emotional victim impact statement during the sentencing hearing of Bryan Kohberger in Boise, Idaho, painting a grim picture of shock, terror, and unadulterated loss that she still finds haunting her.
Mortensen said to the court, looking directly at Kohberger, who was a few feet away, that he was a hollow vessel. More than less than human. An agent with no sympathy or guilt.”
It was Mortensen who was the first to speak publicly since the November 2022 attack, when her roommates Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and the boyfriend of the latter, Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in their off-campus house.
The Single Witness
The case of Dylan Mortensen was especially creepy. However, Mortensen had seen the killer that night, unlike Bethany Funke, the other surviving roommate, who had slept throughout the time of murder.
As court documents show, she listened to weird sounds—crying and thudding—and opened her door to investigate.
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The masked man dressed in black walking past her room would remain etched in her eyes for all her life.
The man she observed was Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old graduate student studying criminology at a university nearby, who she had no idea at the time.
She sent texts to her roommates, but none replied to her except Funke. She still did not know what had occurred, and she thought that her friends had gone to bed and the noise was simply a late-night mess.
She herself would later remember finding the body of Xana Kernodle on the floor and believed that she passed out due to drinking.
The two roommates who had survived then locked themselves in the room of Funke, and they spent hours attempting to contact their friends.
It was noon the following day before they found out the ugly reality.
Speaking Truth to the Killer
As Mortensen sat on a chair at a prosecutor table crying in a hearing in which he was sentenced on July 23, he was too emotional to stand. She yelled at her attacker through her tears.
All I can do is to scream, she whispered, breaking down. It is because the emotional pain and the grief are too much to take.
She explained that her life has gone haywire since that night. Even the most basic daily activity, such as walking into a room or classes, was tainted by fear.
In every place she went, she made plans of escape. What will I do in case of something? What can I use in my defence?”
Mortensen added that Kohberger attempted to strip her of everything, including her peace, her friendship, and her feeling of safety. He opted to destroy.
He had made a choice of evil,” she told him. He did not only kill their lives but also their light that got them to each room.
A Dream Goodbye
The next most touching aspect of her statement was when Mortensen remembered a dream she had—the only instance she was afforded to bid farewell to those four of her friends who died.
She told me in the dream she saw them all—husband, children, and all—happy. It enables her to say a final farewell in a manner that she could not do in real life, she says. Never is it enough.
The grief bears heavily. Her words reflected what so many victims of violence experience: the pain of unspoken words, of the absence of laughter, of robbed futures.
The Justice, No Closure
Kohberger has pleaded guilty to the murders and will be sentenced to four life terms without parole. When Mortensen was making her speech, he sat still without reaction, cold and indifferent as she spewed out his trauma.
Even after the sentence, Mortensen acknowledges that her old self will not come back, and neither will her friends.
However, the voice that was lost within the shadows of trauma and silence was heard in court. And at this moment, she took herself back.
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She says, This pain does not disappear. I guess that talking on their behalf, standing here today, it is what they would have wanted.
The Memory of the Victims
The losers of the case were Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, who were recalled during the sentencing as bright, warm, and energetic.
Both Mortensen and Funke (who also gave her emotional statement) talked about how they were in love as roommates.
Their house used to be full of laughter, tunes, and dreams. One fateful night that was all to change.
However, after the testimony of Dylan Mortensen, it became apparent that their memory will not be forgotten, and their voices, through her and Bethany Funke, will remain unheard.
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