On Wednesday, Bryan Christopher Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students. The 30-year-old was charged with stabbing 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin in 2022. The case was expected to go to trial in August, but Kohberger’s lawyer reportedly reached a deal with prosecution earlier this month to avoid the death penalty. Kohberger declined to speak to the courtroom, which was filled with his victims’ families and friends.
Before the formal sentencing, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen — the victims’ roommates, who were at home while the murders took place — spoke publicly for the first time. Prior to Wednesday’s hearing, both Mortensen and Funke had remained anonymous, being referred to as D.M. and B.F. in court filings. Per People, Funke had previously stated she did not want to appear at the trial and was battling a subpoena from the defense.
Bethany Funke, a roommate of the Idaho murder victims, had her victim statement read by her friend Emily Alandt.
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“What happened that night changed everything,” Mortensen said, reading her impact statement in the courtroom Wednesday. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”
“All of it is gone,” she continued through tears. “All of the people who loved them are left to carry that weight forever. He didn’t just take them from the world. He took them from me. My friends, my people who felt like my home.”
“He is a hollow vessel, something less than human … A body without empathy, without remorse,” Mortensen said of Kohberger. “He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing. He tried to take everything from me. My friends, my safety, my identity, my future.”
Fellow survivor Funke also wrote an impact statement, which her friend Emily Alandt read on her behalf. “I was scared the person who did this would come for me next,” she read. “The fear never really leaves, but every day I remind myself to live for them.”
As part of the plea deal reached in July, Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and a burglary charge. He will serve four consecutive life sentences for the murders.
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