Dylan Mortensen, a survivor of the University of Idaho killings, is asking a judge to pause the release of records that may include images or video showing her face. In an affidavit, she told Latah County Judge Megan Marshall that public disclosure could make it easier for people to identify her and learn where she lives.
Mortensen said she uses an alias for deliveries, at work and when meeting new people. Since the November 2022 murders, she and her family have moved nine times, she wrote, after reporters and others investigating the case appeared at their homes, followed relatives and intruded on their privacy.
Mortensen was among the first people to speak with police after officers went to the King Road home in Moscow on Nov. 13, 2022. She had seen a masked man inside the house after the killings and texted her surviving roommate about him, but did not call 911.
Authorities were contacted around noon, after Mortensen and roommate Bethany Funke reached out to friends who came to the house. One of those friends saw the bodies of Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, also 20. Officers later found Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, on the home’s top floor.
Mortensen wrote that, in addition to losing four friends and enduring a traumatic event, she has faced years of public scrutiny, harassment, threats and speculation about her actions. She said strangers have judged her character and accused her of involvement in events she had nothing to do with. She also described feeling uneasy in public because she is never sure whether someone recognizes her or what they may think.
Her lawyer, Robyn McPherson, argues that blurring Mortensen’s face in police video and photographs is an important remaining safeguard. Releasing unblurred versions, she said, would be an unjustified intrusion into her client’s privacy.
McPherson filed a request to intervene after Marshall approved the release of records held by EWU Media LLC. She is asking the judge to reconsider the Oct. 20 order and suspend the release while Mortensen’s petition and any appeals are considered. The motion also asks the court to require Moscow officials to identify the records, provide them for confidential judicial review and prepare an itemized list. McPherson says Mortensen cannot fully argue for privacy without knowing what the records contain.
According to McPherson, the city attorney said the records were expected to include interviews, photographs and video of Mortensen. EWU submitted a public records request on Aug. 28, 2025, which the city denied in part. The company then asked a court to order disclosure, and Marshall granted that request last month.
McPherson also said she filed her motion after learning that Moscow’s city attorney did not intend to challenge the release decision. She argues that city lawyers had not provided the records to Marshall before she issued her order. Neither city officials nor other parties who joined the records case, including relatives of Chapin and Mogen, represent Mortensen’s specific privacy concerns, the lawyer said.
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 and later sought to withdraw his plea. The case is continuing before a different judge. Marshall, who initially oversaw the case before Kohberger’s May 2023 arraignment, approved the additional release of records on Oct. 20. A hearing on the dispute is set for Nov. 12. Kohberger is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 10 for a hearing on his request for post-conviction relief.
