For the first time since that horrific night, Dylan Mortensen — one of the two survivors of the University of Idaho massacre — came face to face with Bryan Kohberger during his sentencing. I was present in the Boise courtroom and watched as Dylan, through tears, described Kohberger as “a hollow vessel, something less than human.”

“He is a body without empathy, without remorse,” she said, her voice trembling. Kohberger, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and shackled, stared at her with the same cold, expressionless face he had maintained throughout the proceedings. Not once did he flinch or look away as families and friends of the victims spoke of the lives he destroyed.

Bethany Funke, the second survivor, couldn’t bring herself to face him in court. Instead, she had a friend read her victim impact statement — a painful account of the trauma she endured after discovering the bodies of her roommates and best friends. She revealed the additional torment of receiving death threats from people obsessed with the case, blaming her for surviving.

Both Dylan and Bethany were in the house in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022, when Kohberger entered with a Ka-Bar knife and murdered Kaylee Goncalves (21), Madison Mogen (21), Xana Kernodle (20), and Ethan Chapin (20) while they slept.

Dylan caught a glimpse of the killer that night. Her description of a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” became a crucial detail that helped investigators link Kohberger to the crime.

But for reasons still unknown, Kohberger left both Dylan and Bethany alive — a fact that has haunted them ever since.

“Why me? Why did I get to live and not them?” Bethany’s statement read. She and Dylan had gone to sleep expecting to laugh with their friends in the morning. Instead, they woke to a nightmare. “I have not slept through a single night since it happened,” Bethany wrote. “The fear never really leaves.”

Dylan echoed that pain. She spoke of panic attacks and how she now instinctively searches for exits whenever she enters a room — always preparing for a way out. When she stood to speak, she had to take a moment to compose herself, her voice breaking with grief.

“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 brought into every room.”

“He took away the chance to tell them I love them. That I’m proud of them. All of it is gone,” she added.

Even as she delivered those heartbreaking words, Kohberger remained unmoved — his blank stare unshaken.

“He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing,” Dylan said in closing, as the court sentenced Kohberger to life in prison without the possibility of parole.