LS ‘Idaho murder survivor Dylan Mortensen, who was spared by Bryan Kohberger, sobs as she faces him in court — and he stares her down’

The University of Idaho roommate who survived Bryan Kohberger’s vicious massacre faced the killer for the first time since she saw him and his “bushy eyebrows” the night of the killing – and described him as an “evil” and empty coward during emotional impact statements.

“He is a hollow vessel, something less than human. A body without empathy, without remorse,” survivor Dylan Mortensen sobbed she told the Boise courtroom during Kohberger’s sentencing Wednesday.

Kohberger stared Mortensen down with his characteristically cold expression as she spoke. Shackled and wearing an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit, it was the same dead-eyed expression he had throughout the proceedings as friends and family described the horrors he wrought.

Dylan Mortensen crying at Bryan Kohberger's sentencing hearing.
The second roommate who survived Bryan Kohberger’s University of Idaho massacre eviscerated the confessed killer during a heart-wrenching victim impact statement. AP
Bryan Kohberger at his sentencing hearing.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing. AP

The second survivor, Bethany Funke, apparently could not face Kohberger in court – and had a friend read her statement.

She described finding the bodies of her friends and roommates, and getting death threats from people who were obsessed with that case and thought she was responsible because she lived. 

Mortensen was in the Moscow home on November 13, 2022, when Kohberger stalked through its rooms with a Ka-Bar knife, killing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20, as they slept.

And she even caught a glimpse of the killer as he walked by her — with her description of a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” proving instrumental in linking him to the crime.

Photo of five young women standing together on a porch.
Dylan Mortensen, Xana Kernodle, Bethany Funke, Kaylee Goncalves, and Maddie Mogen Maddie Mogen/Instagram
Two young women wearing University of Idaho tops and shorts.
Surviving roommate Bethany Funke (left) with victim Maddie Mogen (right). Maddie Mogen/Instagram

But for some reason, Kohberger left Mortensen and Funke alive – and both said they’ve grappled with crushing survivor’s guilt ever since.

“Why me? Why did I get to live and not them?” Funke said in a statement read by a friend after she was unable to face Kohberger.


Follow the Post’s live updates on Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing for the latest news


Funke recalled how she and Mortensen expected to be laughing “’til we couldn’t breathe” with her friends when they all woke up the morning of the attacks.

But instead, she found her friends hacked to death by Kohberger — and she said she’s been traumatized since.

Bethany Funke, surviving roommate.
“Why me? Why did I get to live and not them?” Funke said in a statement read by a friend after she was unable to face Kohberger. Bethany Funke/Instagram

“I have not slept through a single night since this happened,” she added, explaining that she constantly wakes up in a panic.

“The fear never really leaves,” Funke added.

Mortensen said she’s also been plagued by panic attacks since the night of the killings, and that every time she walks into a room she finds herself looking for exits and plotting escape plans.


Here’s the latest coverage on Bryan Kohberger:


After taking a long moment to breathe and collect herself, Mortensen sobbed through her statement and evidently moved numerous people throughout the courtroom – except for Kohberger, who stared her down and barely blinked as she described what he’d taken from the world.

“Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason,” she said. “He didn’t just take their lives, he took the light they carried into every room.”

A woman crying while being comforted by another woman at a sentencing hearing.
And Mortensen said not only has her life been wrenched apart by Kohberger, but that the lives of countless friends and families have been obliterated. AP

“He took away the ability to tell them that I love them and that I’m so proud of them,” she added. “All of it is gone.”

And Kohberger even remained unmoved when she described his fate as he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of ever being released.

“He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing,” Mortenson said.

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