One of the surviving roommates of the four University of Idaho students murdered by Bryan Kohberger in 2022 spoke at his sentencing hearing Wednesday. 

It was the first time Dylan Mortensen had spoken publicly since the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders earlier this month as part of a plea deal the spared him from the death penalty. He is expected to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. 

“What happened that night changed everything,” Mortensen began, reading her victim impact statement through tears after taking a few moments to gather herself. “Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.”

Mortensen, who had turned 19 shortly before the murders, said Kohberger also took away her ability to trust the world around her. 

“What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break,” she said. “I should have been figuring out who I was. 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.”

She described being terrified to be alone or close her eyes and having panic attacks that happen “like a tsunami out of nowhere.”

“I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t stop shaking,” she said. “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.”

Without saying his name, Mortensen described Kohberger as “a hallow vessel, something less than human, a body without empathy, without remorse.”

“He chose destruction, he chose evil, he feels nothing, he tried to take everything from me: my friends, my safety, my identity, my future,” she said. 

But, Mortensen said he can’t take her voice.

“Living is how I honor them,” she said. “Speaking today is to help me find some sort of justice for them and I will never let him take that from me. He may have taken so much from me, but he will never get to take my voice.

“He will never take the memories I had with them. He will never erase the love we shared, the laughs we had or the way they made me feel seen and whole. Those things are mine, they are sacred and he will never touch them.

“I get to feel sadness, I get to feel rage, I get to feel joy even when it’s hard, I get to feel love even when it hurts, I get to live, and while I will still live with this pain, at least I get to live my life. He will stay here, empty, forgotten and powerless.”

After finishing her statement, Judge Steven Hippler thanked her for her courage. 

Just before Mortensen spoke, a statement from the other surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, was read by a friend.

In her statement, Funke said when she woke up that day, she didn’t know what had happened.

“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,” she said. 

Funke faced death threats and attacks online following the murders, she said. 

“Social media made it so much worse and strangers made up stories to entertain themselves,” she said. “The media harassed not just me but also my family. 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 the loss of my friends.”

Funke also expressed feeling survivor’s guilt. 

“I still think about this every day: Why me? Why did I get to live and not them? For the longest time, I could not even look at their families without feeling sick with guilt,” she said. 

Funke also described feeling fear that “never really leaves,” but said she reminds herself to live for her friends. 

“Everything I do, I do it with them in mind,” she said. “I know that they would want me to keep living my life to the fullest.”