New details about the college student murders in Idaho have been revealed. On the morning of November 13 one of the roommates who was not attacked thought the noises that she heard coming from upstairs during the killing spree were party noises.
At around 4 am on the day of the murders, Dylan Mortensen opened her door to ask her roommates to keep the volume down because she was finding it difficult to sleep. Since the noises kept on bothering her, she once again opened her door, only to see the alleged killer, 28-year-old Brian Kohberger, standing in front of her.
She may have thought he was a partygoer.
Mortensen did not recognize the man and proceeded to lock herself in her room. She and another roommate, Bethany Funke, 21, remained unharmed.
After around eight hours, police were summoned to the scene to help an “unconscious person,” court documents indicate. When interviewed, Dr. Akeem Marsh of the New York University Grossman School of Medicine at NYU Langone Health speculated that Mortensen possibly went into a “dissociation state” after seeing what happened.
Reports said that Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, were the first students murdered. Soon after, Ethan Chapin, 20 was slashed on the neck on the second floor of the residence, in the doorway of Xana Kernodle’s room. 20-year-old Xana Kernodle was the last to be murdered, as she reportedly attempted to fend off Kohberger by grabbing his knife. She was found with cuts on her fingers.
In December 2022, Bryan Kohberger, a PhD student studying criminal justice at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania while he was visiting his family for the holidays. DNA taken from the Kohberger home’s garbage matched the DNA on the knife sheath left at the crime scene. His phone records also showed suspicious activity, with him being in the area several times prior to the murders and on the night of the crimes.
The Goncalves family is being seen as potential witnesses to the case. According to reports, 30 news organizations have asked the Idaho Supreme Court to remove a gag order that has been placed on them. They have a lot more to say.