Dylan Mortensen: The Surviving Roommate in the Idaho Murders

Dylan Mortensen is one of the two surviving roommates from the November 13, 2022, quadruple homicide at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, and the only person who saw the killer inside the house. A University of Idaho student at the time, she opened her bedroom door during the attacks and came face to face with a masked man walking past her toward the back sliding door. Her account anchored the prosecution’s case against Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty in July 2025 to murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.

What She Saw That Night

Mortensen came home around 1:00 a.m. on November 13 with the other surviving roommate, Bethany Funke.¹ Both were on the first floor when investigators believe the attacks took place, roughly between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m., on the second and third floors above them.²

Mortensen told detectives she woke around 4:00 a.m. to sounds she at first attributed to Kaylee Goncalves playing with her dog. She then heard Goncalves say something like “there’s someone here.”³ She opened her bedroom door, called out, got no response, and closed it again.

She opened it a second time after hearing what sounded like crying and a male voice she did not recognize saying, “It’s okay, I’m going to help you.” She was sure the voice was not Ethan Chapin’s.⁴ In her earliest statement she said the voice used Kaylee’s name, but she later walked that back, telling investigators she had been drinking and was “trying to determine what was real.”⁵

The third time she opened the door, she saw a man dressed entirely in black, wearing a mask that covered everything but his eyes and nose, holding something near his stomach that she initially mistook for a vacuum. She described him as roughly 5’10” or taller, lean and athletic, with “bushy eyebrows.” According to the police affidavit, she stood in a “frozen shock phase” as he walked past her toward the sliding back door.⁶ She also saw Xana Kernodle lying on her back in the hallway but assumed at the time that Kernodle had passed out.⁵

Mortensen told police she did not perceive a threat because people were often coming and going from the house. She described herself as “tired” and “in and out of it,” and after the encounter she went downstairs to Funke’s room, later saying she “believed everyone was just asleep.”³

The Eight-Hour Gap Before 911

Starting at 4:22 a.m., Mortensen and Funke exchanged a string of panicked texts. Mortensen wrote, “No one is answering,” “I’m freaking out,” and described a masked man wearing what looked “like [a] ski mask.” Funke replied, “Come to my room” and “Run.”⁷⁴

Neither called police. At 7:30 a.m., Funke began phoning family. At 10:23 a.m., Mortensen texted Goncalves and Mogen: “R u up??”⁷ Around 11:51 a.m., Mortensen called a friend and asked her to come to the house because she was too scared to check herself. When police later asked why Mortensen had not called 911, the friend said Mortensen had been intoxicated and “didn’t want to believe what was going on.”³

Funke placed the 911 call at 11:56 a.m., reporting that Kernodle was “unconscious” and “unresponsive.” The transcript captured heavy breathing, crying, and fragmented answers as Mortensen, Funke, and a friend passed the phone back and forth.⁸ Officers found the four victims on the floors above.

Why the Killer Left Her Alive

Prosecutors have never given a settled answer. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson called it a “mystery” and speculated that Kohberger may have been frightened after spending more time in the house and killing more people than he had planned. On the hallway encounter itself, Thompson said, “From what Dylan described, I have a hard time imagining that the killer did not see Dylan.”⁹ In another statement, he put it more simply: “Dylan had an angel watching over her.”¹⁰

Her Role in the Case Against Kohberger

Mortensen’s account was central to the probable cause affidavit that led to Kohberger’s arrest in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022. The defense, led by attorney Anne Taylor, worked to undercut her credibility, pointing to her drinking that night and to inconsistencies in her statements, including the recanted claim that she had heard the victim’s name. The judge ruled in the prosecution’s favor on the reliability of her account.⁵

The defense listed both Mortensen and Funke among 138 potential trial witnesses, asserting the roommates held information “exculpatory to the defendant.”¹¹ Kohberger’s team also tried to subpoena Funke for a preliminary hearing; her attorney objected on jurisdictional grounds.¹² A gag order kept Mortensen from speaking publicly until Judge Steven Hippler lifted it the week of July 10–17, 2025.¹³

The case never reached trial. Kohberger pleaded guilty on July 2, 2025, to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, with the death penalty removed from the table and his right to appeal waived.¹⁴¹⁵

Speaking at Sentencing

Mortensen spoke publicly for the first time on July 23, 2025, at Kohberger’s sentencing in Boise, nearly three years after the killings. “What happened that night changed everything,” she told the courtroom. “Because of him, our beautiful, genuine, passionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”¹⁶

She described panic attacks “that slam into me like a tsunami out of nowhere” and a nervous system that “never got the message that it is over.”¹⁷ She called Kohberger “a hollow vessel, something less than human” who “chose destruction” and “chose evil.”¹⁶

Addressing the years of scrutiny over the delayed 911 call, she said she and Funke had been “confused, scared, and weren’t sure about anything” and that it was not until the next day they understood a crime had occurred.¹⁸ She described a dream in which she was able to say goodbye to her roommates: “They all kept asking why, and all I could say was I can’t tell you but I have to.” She called the dream heartbreaking but “strangely grateful,” adding, “no dream can replace them, and no goodbye will ever feel finished.”¹⁹

She closed by framing her survival as a duty: “I’m still putting myself back together. It’s not easy, it hurts, but I’m still trying. I’m not trying just for me, I’m trying for them.”¹⁶ Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole plus ten years for the burglary charge, and $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.²⁰

Harassment and Life After the Case

The eight-hour gap between the killings and the 911 call drew immediate and sustained online criticism. Mortensen’s family described a “wave of hate” on social media, with strangers questioning, blaming, and threatening the two surviving roommates.¹⁸ Funke told the sentencing hearing she had been “flooded with death threats and hateful messages from people who do not know me at all,” that strangers had “showed up at our house,” and that they had called her family members’ phones.²¹

After the sentencing, Mortensen’s aunt launched a GoFundMe titled “Support Dylan’s Healing Journey,” describing its purpose as helping with relocation, long-term trauma therapy, and added security and privacy measures. It raised more than $115,000 from roughly 3,400 donors before donations were paused.²² Her family said part of the campaign’s aim was to counter the negative online attention and show her that “good people online and on social media” exist.¹⁸

1
NBC News. Idaho College Student Killings Summary Timeline
2
ABC News. Idaho College Murders Timeline of Events
3
Idaho Statesman. Idaho Murders Surviving Roommate Account
4
CNN. Idaho Student Murders Roommates Texts
5
ABC News. Idaho Murders New Details Reveal Surviving Roommate Heard
6
New York Post. Idaho Murder Victims Roommate Saw Killer Police Report
7
ABC News. New Defense Filings Shed Light on Communications Between Roommates
8
WSAW. Newly Released Texts 911 Call Transcript Surviving Roommates Idaho Murders
9
Newsweek. Bryan Kohberger Prosecutor Theory Why Killer Spared Idaho Roommate
10
NBC News. Prosecutor Idaho Murders Details Shielded Surviving Housemate
11
People. Bryan Kohberger Defense Witness List Surviving Roommates Friends
12
Fox 13 Seattle. Bryan Kohberger Defense Claims Surviving Roommate Has Evidence That Would Clear Him
13
CNN. Unsealed Documents Bryan Kohberger Case
14
NPR. Bryan Kohberger Sentence Idaho Murders
15
CBS News. Bryan Kohberger University of Idaho Student Murders Plea Hearing
16
KXLY. Surviving Roommates Family Members Share Grief Anger in Kohberger Sentencing Hearing
17
CBS News. Dylan Mortensen Roommate Idaho Murder Victims Bryan Kohberger Sentencing
18
Idaho News 6. Family of Surviving Roommate Launches Fundraiser
19
CNN. Family Impact Statements Idaho Murders Trial
20
PBS NewsHour. Bryan Kohberger Sentenced to Life in Prison
21
2News. Surviving Roommate Provides Impact Statement in Idaho Murders Sentencing
22
GoFundMe. Support Dylan’s Healing Journey