- Dylan Mortensen, the University of Idaho student whose four roommates were murdered by Bryan Kohberger, spoke for the first time since the fatal stabbings at his sentencing hearing
- She bravely denigrated Kohberger as he sat just a few feet away from her: “He is a hollow vessel. Something less than human. A body without empathy or remorse”
- Mortensen was the lone eyewitness to see Kohberger on the night of the murders, watching him as he exited her Moscow home after killing four
Dylan Mortensen, the one eyewitness to the University of Idaho murders, appeared in court to deliver a powerful victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing for Bryan Kohberger.
After taking a minute to collect herself, Mortensen delivered her statement through tears in which she discussed the fear she still feels every day since losing her four friends and then bravely vilified the man who took their lives as he sat just a few feet away.
“He is a hollow vessel. Something less than human. A body without empathy or remorse,” Mortensen told the court.
She later said of Kohberger: “He chose destruction, he chose evil. He feels nothing. He tried to take everything from me.”
Dylan Mortensen. AP Photo/Kyle Green
Kohberger showed no emotion at any point during her remarks.
Mortensen told the court how the murders still impact her daily life almost three years later.
“I made escape plans everywhere I went. If something happens, how do I get out? What can I use to defend myself?” Mortensen said in her statement, for which she had to sit in one of the prosecutor’s chairs because she was too emotional to stand.
“All I can do is scream, because the emotional pain and the grief is too much to handle,” Mortensen said.
Bryan Kohberger. AP Photo/Kyle Green
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She later spoke about what she lost as a result of Kohberger’s actions.
“Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason,” Mortensen said. “He didn’t just take their lives, he took their light that carried into every room.”
In one particularly emotional moment, Mortensen spoke about getting to say goodbye to her four friends in a dream one night.
Dylan Mortensen (far left, survived), Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke.
On July 2, Kohberger appeared in a Boise courtroom where he confessed to killing those four friends: Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
It marked the first time Mortensen has spoken publicly about the murders, for which Kohberger is expected to be sentenced to four life terms without the possibility of parole.
Mortensen not only survived the brutal massacre, but is also the only eyewitness to have seen Kohberger at the scene of the crime.
She later spoke about her experience that night with police, saying she “heard strange noises and crying coming from the bathroom” at around 4 a.m, according to a copy of the probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. When she went to investigate, she saw a person “dressed in black with a ski mask on walking by her bedroom door.”
At that point she texted all four of her roommates, but only one, Bethany Funke, responded to that text, according to the affidavit.
At around 4:26 a.m. that morning, Mortensen decided to join Funke in her bedroom, and while quickly rushing to get downstairs unknowingly saw Kernodle’s dead body, according to the affidavit. She recalled thinking Kernodle was drunk.
“On her way, [Mortensen] noticed Xana lying on the floor of her bedroom, with her head towards the wall and her feet toward the door,” the order says. “[Mortensen] thought Xana was drunk.”
Mortensen and Funke then locked themselves in Funke’s room and spent the next eight hours trying to get in touch with the victims.
Their identities had remained a secret until the hearing today, with the pair simply referred to as D.M. and B.F. in court filings.
