What to Know About the Roommates Who Survived the Idaho Murders

Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke were the two survivors of the 2022 University of Idaho murders.

Bryan Kohberger broke into the off-campus home of University of Idaho students Mortensen, Funke, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen on November 13, 2022. Goncalves, Kernodle and Mogen were then stabbed to death by Kohberger, who dressed in black and wore a mask in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity.

Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, was also killed while staying the night at the residence.

During the night of the attack, Mortensen and Funke attempted to contact their roommates via text. Only Mortensen and Funke could get in touch with each other and subsequently locked themselves together in a room. The pair discovered the bodies of their fellow roommates the following morning.

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Mortensen and Funke attended a vigil for their late friends in December 2022.

Kohberger was arrested one month after the murder took place and initially pleaded not guilty. The former PhD student later changed his plea in July 2025, one month before the trial was scheduled to begin. Kohberger pleaded guilty to four first-degree murder charges and one count of felony burglary in an effort to avoid the death penalty. Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole that same month.

While Mortensen and Funke’s lives were spared, they were forever changed by the tragic event. Mortensen gave an emotional testimony during Kohberger’s court appearances, while Funke shared her account via a friend.

“What happened that night changed everything,” Mortensen said. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”

Keep scrolling for everything to know about Mortensen and Funke:

Dylan Mortensen

Following the murders, Mortensen remained low-key and off the grid as the case continued to gain national interest. In July 2025, she bravely appeared in court to share her victim statement in front of Kohberger ahead of his sentencing.

“What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break. I should have been figuring out who I was,” she said at the time. “I should have been having the college experience and starting to establish my future. Instead, I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable.”

Mortensen added that she suffered from regular panic attacks and has a fear of being alone as a result of the killings.

“I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t stop shaking. It’s far beyond anxiety. It’s my body reliving everything over and over again. My nervous system never got the message that it is over, and it won’t let me forget what he did to them,” she said.

One month after Kohberger’s sentencing, Mortensen’s aunts Kate and Ellie created a GoFundMe for their niece to help her adjust to life following the tragic loss.

“Dylan has had to learn how to live in her new reality – forever lacking peace, security, safety and her closest friends,” the page read. “We know a lot of people have asked how they can help, so we created this to support Dylan in building back her life and her future – a life that will require relocation, intensive long term trauma therapy, and extra security and privacy measures.”

After getting multiple donations, Kate shared an update saying that Mortensen was “overwhelmed with gratitude.” (The page does not display the total amount fundraised.)

Bethany Funke

Funke has also kept a low profile following the tragic event. However, she seemingly transferred from the University of Idaho to the University of Nevada. According to a December 2024 Instagram post from the school’s leadership fraternity Alpha Tau Omega, Funke was nominated to be a sweetheart for the organization.

In July 2025, a friend of Funke read her statement in Court, as Funke declined to appear in person.

“I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what happened and not calling [911] right away even though I understand it wouldn’t have changed anything, not even if the paramedics had been right outside the door,” Funke said via her written statement.

She also addressed how the public interest in the tragedy took a toll on her, especially as she was privately grieving the loss of her friends.

“I was getting flooded with death threats and hateful messages of people who did not know me at all or know the dynamic of our friendship. The media harassed not just me but also my family,” the statement continued. “People showed up at our house, they called my phone, my parents’ phones, other family members’ phones — and we were chased while I was still trying to survive emotionally and grieve.”

Funke shared she struggled to “get out of bed” for a “long time,” but her friends’ memories gave her the strength to persevere.

“But one day I realized I have to live for them. They did not get the chance to keep living, but I do,” she said. “And I cannot take that for granted. So now, every day I remind myself to live for them. Everything I do, I do with them in mind.”