A University of Idaho roommate who survived the brutal attack by Brian Kohberger came face-to-face with him for the first time, recalling his “bubbly eyebrows” during the night of the incident.
“He feels like a hollow shell, less than human. Just a body devoid of remorse or empathy,” survivor Dylan Mortensen stated in a Boise courtroom as Kohberger’s ruling was announced on Wednesday.
Kohberger maintained a cold stare at Mortensen while she spoke, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, a stark reminder of the horrors that unfolded.
The other survivor, Bethany Funke, seemingly unable to confront Kohberger directly, had a friend read her statement. She recounted discovering the bodies of her friends and facing threats from obsessed individuals who wrongly blamed her for the tragedy because she lived in the same house.
On the night of November 13, 2022, Mortensen was present in their Moscow home when Kohberger entered wielding a Ka-Bar knife, fatally attacking Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin.
She even caught a brief glimpse of him as he passed by—a masked figure with distinctive “busy brows,” which helped connect him to the crimes.
Strangely, Kohberger spared Mortensen and Funke, leaving them grappling with survivor’s guilt ever since.
“Why was I chosen to live while my friends didn’t?” Funke, through her friend’s reading, expressed her confusion and pain.
She recalled the morning after the attack, filled with hopes of laughter and joy, only to be met with tragedy as she found her friends lifeless.
“I haven’t slept a single night since the incident,” she confessed, sharing how panic consumes her daily life.
“The fear never truly goes away,” Funke added, reflecting on her ongoing distress.
Mortensen revealed that he has experienced panic attacks since that night and now feels compelled to have an escape plan whenever he enters a room.
After taking a moment to steady herself, Mortensen delivered an emotional statement that resonated deeply in the courtroom.
“For him, four vibrant and caring lives were snuffed out for no reason,” she remarked. “He didn’t just take their lives; he extinguished the light they brought to every space.”
“He robbed me of the chance to tell them how much I loved them and how proud I was,” Mortensen lamented. “It’s all vanished.”
With Kohberger facing multiple life sentences, he showed no signs of movement as Mortensen described the impact of his actions.
“He chose to destroy. He embraced evil. He doesn’t feel a thing,” Mortensen concluded.
