Tag Archives: Dylan Mortensen

One of the intriguing aspects of the Idaho 4 case has of course been the fact that two of the six people living there/visiting in the home at 1122 King Road on Nov. 13, 2022 survived the deadly massacre.

Roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke made it out alive on that fateful day.

As we come up on the sad one-year anniversary of this tragedy this Nov. 13, much has been made online about the whereabouts of Mortensen and Funke since the tragedy took place.

Some accounts have Funke out of state now, possibly living and going to school in California. There have even been rumors that the former resident of 1122 King Road in Moscow is now engaged.

Meantime, not much has been put out there about what Mortensen, a Boise native, has been up to. Well, that is until now.

According to one report, Mortensen has been getting therapy in a sense and also has turned to the world of gaming. How much of this is true of course is up for debate.

One thing that is not really debatable is the attention Mortensen has gotten online.

While she certainly has her online supporters willing to treat her with kid gloves, others have been less than hospitable.

Honestly, I find myself in the middle ground when it comes to the former resident of 1122 King Road.

On the one hand, I do not believe she was directly involved in the killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. There has been absolutely no evidence outside of the gag order that supports Mortensen having a hand in their deaths.

On the flip side of the coin, her actions (in truth inaction) during the time between when the murders reportedly took place and when 911 in fact was called are sketchy at best.

I will just say that anyone who had to open their bedroom door three times to “investigate” noises etc. at that time of the day and saw a masked individual only steps away from them had to know something was amiss.

Yes, the home had a reputation of being a party house off campus. Even with that in mind, it is by no means NORMAL to have a masked individual walking around your home at 4ish in the morning. It was not a frat prank nor was the mask being worn due to COVID.

So, Mortensen was either totally out of it and what she said in the PCA carries no water or she was sober and neglected to check on her roommates once safe to do so. Sorry, but she and her backers can’t have it both ways.

While I am happy Mortensen and Funke both survived, the fact they were allegedly texting one another during the timeline in question that the killings took place is also a little disturbing. While no one is saying they should have stormed into the second floor living area with the perp or perps in the home, once safe to do so to see what all the commotion was is more than a reasonable idea in many people’s minds.

At the end of the day, let us hope that we and more importantly the families involved get the answers to so many questions once the trial takes place.

As of now, there are more questions than answers when it comes to the survivors, notably Dylan Mortensen.

If you got chance to catch this past Saturday night’s 48 Hours episode on CBS, would you say you learned anything new by it?

As one who has been wrapped up in this case, I would say I did not learn much.

My observations of the recent episode would be:

• Steve Goncalves (father of victim Kaylee Goncalves) seems open to the idea the killer or killers could be those other than currently held Bryan Kohberger. Meantime, Kristi Goncalves (mother of Kaylee) seems quite certain that Kohberger is responsible for her daughter’s death and the deaths of Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
• It was nice to see and hear from the father and sister of Kernodle. The Goncalves Family has mostly been in the forefront of this case, notably doing interviews. It is important to hear from the other three families should they choose to speak. We did hear early on in the case from the Chapin Family but not so much lately. Mogen’s parents have been rather silent to date on the case. Of the four victims, Mogen was the only one without siblings. I respect each family in deciding how they best want to handle media requests and so on.
• Dismissing drugs as a motive for the tragedy I feel is premature. Just because officials said early on there was no drug connection does not make it true. I think it is important to keep all possibilities on the table until the trial ends. I still would like to know what it meant when Maddie told Kaylee that night while walking in downtown Moscow hours before their deaths that she had told Adam everything. What was it that Maddie supposedly told Adam? I seriously doubt it had to do with boyfriends etc.
• Howard Blum (one of those interviewed for 48 Hours and writing a book on the case) was spot on when noting this was far from a slam dunk case. If the best the prosecution has is some touch DNA on a knife sheath, I’d say there is a good chance at least one juror could send this case to a not guilty verdict. The cell phone evidence and the defendant’s vehicle reportedly being spotted (though never positively identified) in the neighborhood can be explained away by a good defense attorney such as Anne Taylor.
• One thing I did not hear in this recent episode and would love to know is have any of the families (notably the Goncalves Family) talked with survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke? I still think this case could be swung one way or the other on their testimony at trial. I’d be shocked if the defense does not call both to testify. Given Mortensen’s story is shaky at best, it will be interesting if we find out if the four families have had any conversations with DM before the gag order went into effect.

If you watched 48 Hours from this past Saturday evening, any new takeaways for you?

As we await the trial of quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger in the Idaho 4 killings, many still wonder what the two surviving roommates were doing.

Let me be clear that I do NOT think either Dylan Mortensen or Bethany Funke were in on the tragic killings. If they did have any role in it, there is no evidence to indicate so.

With that to think about, I do question Mortensen’s replay of events during the estimated timeline that a killer or killers were in the house and took the lives of the four University of Idaho students.

As for Funke, we have not been definitively told where she was. Most assume she was asleep in her first floor bedroom and did not awake until much later the morning of Nov. 13, 2022. Others like myself wonder if she was at home during the killings to begin with.

If we assume Funke was home during the time of the murders, how might one sleep through such a thing?

Sure, earbuds or headphones listening to music, possibly being passed out if there was a night of drinking and other reasons could be in play. Still, it is hard to imagine four lives being taken, two on the floor above you and two on the floor above that, yet you would not hear a thing.

I get that off-campus homes can be party central and noises galore can fill the air. Even with that in mind, it is hard to fathom that one would not hear commotion on the floor above them at 4ish-4:25ish in the morning and not have questions.

Another possible theory is that Bethany in fact was not home during the killings and returned sometime later that morning.

Okay, this of course could be a possibility.

If this is true, would she go right to her bedroom on the ground floor or perhaps go upstairs to the second floor where the kitchen was? Assuming she came in through the front door on the ground floor if she had been out, she may not have noticed anything strange with the second floor kitchen patio slider door.

As for Dylan, her comments made in the PCA definitely lend themselves to questioning.

Among the things to wonder:

• How does one open their bedroom door three times in a short period of time and not think there is a problem in the home? – One of those instances Dylan reportedly heard crying come from Xana’s room and also a male voice say (presumably to Xana) that he was there to help her. If true, why would Ethan say such a thing to Xana? Wouldn’t Dylan know Ethan’s voice by now? Thus, one would have to figure there was at least one other male in the home during this time period.
• Is a masked individual in your home between 4 ish and 4:25 ish a.m. not cause for alarm? – Given Dylan reported seeing a masked individual walk by her bedroom door, is that not cause for concern? One would assume it is not Ethan for starters. You would also assume it is not a weather or COVID issue to be masked up inside the home.
• Were Dylan and Bethany texting back-and-forth during the time period police estimate the killings took place? – Like many aspects of this case, rumors have been flying high. One of them is that the two survivors were in fact texting back-and-forth during this time. If so, hard to image they would then simply go back to sleep after things settled down. Rumors also stated that there were attempts made via texting to make contact with the other four in the home but to no avail.

When we do get to trial, I would be shocked if lead defense attorney Anne Taylor does not call both Dylan and Bethany to testify.

If she does in fact call them, would one or both try and plead the Fifth? In doing so, could they be setting themselves up for legal trouble?

While I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, something is amiss with the two survivors and especially Dylan’s story.

What that is could very well determine the fate of Bryan Kohberger being found guilty or innocent.

So, what’s your take on Dylan and Bethany and what they may or may not know.