The alleged Idaho student murderer’s defense team sent a subpoena to a roommate who lived in the house where the massacre occurred.
Bethany Funke, one of two survivors from the appalling massacre, is challenging the subpoena that demands she testify on behalf of murder suspect Bryan Kohberger.
On Friday, April 21, Funke submitted a motion to nullify the subpoena, stating that she possesses no information that could absolve Kohberger and arguing that the defendant’s assertions are unfounded. Kohberger’s attorneys maintain that Funke’s testimony is crucial to the trial and could potentially acquit their client of the murder charges. They assert that no other witness can provide the information that is unique to her experience. The subpoena was filed in Washoe County, Nevada, where Funke resides.
Funke’s legal representatives argue that the court lacks the authority to call a witness from Nevada to Idaho for a preliminary hearing. It remains unclear what information Funke holds about the murders that could clear Kohberger as the primary suspect. Funke lived on the first floor of the house with the other survivor, Dylan Mortenson, who is said to have come face-to-face with the murderer during the attack.
The two survivors discovered the victims, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, brutally stabbed to death in the upper levels of the house. It has not been publicly disclosed where the surviving roommates were in the hours leading up to the murders, but they returned home shortly after 1 am, an hour before the rest of their fatally wounded housemates.
At around 4 am, Mortenson awoke to the sound of voices and saw a man clad in black with a mask covering the lower half of his face approaching her. The individual walked past her and exited through the back door. Mortenson then locked herself in her room, and one of the surviving roommates reported the murders to the police later that morning.
Authorities have stated that the surviving housemates were cooperative throughout the investigation and were quickly eliminated as suspects.
Kohberger’s hearing is set to commence on June 26