The surviving roommates of the four University of Idaho students murdered by Bryan Kohberger spoke out at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, July 23.
Kohberger, 30, was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty earlier this month to the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle shared an off-campus house with Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke in Moscow, Idaho, which was targeted by Kohberger on the night of November 13, 2022. (Chapin was sleeping over with his girlfriend, Kernodle.)
On Wednesday, Mortensen delivered an emotional victim impact statement as Kohberger’s sentence was handed down, while a friend read out a statement prepared by Funke.
Docuseries Tries to Answer Why Bryan Kohberger Killed the Idaho 4: Revelations
Scroll down to read what they said:
Dylan Mortensen
“What happened that night changed everything,” Mortensen said through tears, per CBS News. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”
“What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break,” Mortensen continued. “I should have been figuring out who I was. I should have been having the college experience and starting to establish my future. Instead, I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable.”
According to Mortensen, since the murders, she has experienced panic attacks and been terrified of being alone.
“I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t stop shaking. It’s far beyond anxiety. It’s my body reliving everything over and over again. My nervous system never got the message that it is over, and it won’t let me forget what he did to them,” she said.
Docuseries Tries to Answer Why Bryan Kohberger Killed the Idaho 4: Revelations
Mortensen addressed Kohberger, calling him a “hollow vessel, something less than human, a body without empathy, without remorse.”
She said, “He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing. He tried to take everything from me: my friends, my safety, my identity, my future.”
Mortensen said Kohberger would “never get to take my voice,” describing how she will continue to honor her slain friends.
“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,” she said, adding, “He will stay here, empty, forgotten and powerless.”
Bethany Funke
In a statement read out by a friend, Funke described feeling guilt over the events of the fateful day she and Mortensen discovered their friends’ bodies.
“I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what happened and not calling [911] right away even though I understand it wouldn’t have changed anything, not even if the paramedics had been right outside the door,” she said, per CBS News and E! News.
Funke said she has experienced survivor’s guilt over the deaths of her roommates, which has been exacerbated by vitriol shared via social media.
Bryan Kohberger Reacts to Remark From Victim’s Mother After Prison
“I was getting flooded with death threats and hateful messages of people who did not know me at all or know the dynamic of our friendship. The media harassed not just me but also my family,” she said. “People showed up at our house, they called my phone, my parents’ phones, other family members phones—and we were chased while I was still trying to survive emotionally and grieve.”
Funke concluded her statement, “For a long time, I could barely get out of bed. But one day I realized I have to live for them. They did not get the chance to keep living, but I do. And I cannot take that for granted. So now, every day I remind myself to live for them. Everything I do, I do with them in mind.”
