Court releases chilling text messages, 911 call of surviving roommates in Idaho college killings

Court documents released on Thursday show the panicked text messages between Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, the two surviving roommates in the off-campus home where four University of Idaho students were murdered in 2022, just moments after their roommates were killed.

The transcript of the 911 phone call was also released, which included crying and heavy breathing as Mortensen and Funke attempted to describe the lifeless body of one of their killed roommates to the dispatcher, according to court filings.

The brutal killings occurred on November 13, 2022, at a residence in Moscow, Idaho, which was home to five Idaho college students identified as Madison Mogen, Kaylee Gonclaves, Xana Kernodle, Dylan Mortensen, and Bethany Funke. Defendant Bryan Kohberger has been accused of entering the home around 4 am and killing Mogen, Gonclaves, Kernodle, and Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin. All of the victims were stabbed to death.

Newly released court filings, which were previously sealed, show the text messages between Mortensen and Dylan around the time the murderers occurred. Prosecutors stated they would ask the Court to submit the texts, as well as the 911 phone call, to show a timeline of the events that occurred in the early morning hours.

Text messages

Mortensen told police that she went to sleep in her first-floor bedroom (middle floor) and was woken up around 4 am by what she believed to be Gonclaves playing with her dog in one of the bedrooms located on the top floor of the house, according to court filings. It has been determined by law enforcement that Kernodle, who had a room on the middle floor near Mortensen, received a DoorDash order at approximately 4 am. Records show that Kernodle was also awake and using TikTok at approximately 4:12 am.

According to the new court filing, phone records show that Mortensen tried calling her four roommates around 4:17 am, which was the time a security camera from a nearby residence captured distorted audio voices, including a whimper, loud thud, and a barking dog. Mortensen received no response from Gonclaves, Mogen, and Kernodle.

She then texted Gonclaves: "Kaylee" and "What's going on."

Funke, the other surviving roommate, answered Mortensen's text messages, according to the court filing. Both Mortensen and Funke were in their rooms when messages were exchanged.

Mortensen and Funke sent the following text messages to one another around 4:22 am:

DM to BF: "No one is answering."
DM to BF: "I'm really confused rn."
BF to DM: "Ya dude wtf."
BF to DM: "Xana was wearing all black."

Then, Mortensen informs Funke that she saw a man wearing a ski mask inside the house. Mortensen's grand jury testimony, as detailed in previously disclosed court filings, described hearing noises and seeing a masked man in black attire inside the residence.

DM to BF: "No it's like a ski mask almost."
BF to DM: "Stfu."
DM to BF: "Like he had [something] over is for head and little nd mouth."
DM to BF: "I'm not kidding [I] am so freaked out."
BF to DM: "So am I."

Funke then tried to convince Mortensen to go to Funke's room, which was located on the bottom floor, so they could be together, telling her panicked roommate to "Run."

Both surviving roommates are expected to testify at trial and prosecutors plan to use their text messages, if permitted by the Court, to show the timeline of the night's events.

911 phone call

Court documents revealed that Mortensen attempted to contact Mogen and Gonclaves one more time, beginning at 10:23 am, before Mortensen and Funke dialed 911 from Funke's phone about eight hours after the initial text exchanges. She asked them if they were awake: "Ru up??"

The 911 call transcript revealed that Mortensen and Funke passed the phone to each other while responding to the dispatcher in fragmented sentences. The call was characterized in court filings as tearful and heavy breathing. The transcript does not specify the speakers by name; however, it indicated that an additional unidentified acquaintance also conversed with the dispatcher.

"Hi, something is happening. Something happened in our house. We don't know what," the caller states. "One of our...one of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up."

A second voice tells the dispatcher that a man was seen in their house last night.

The dispatcher then instructed the girls to stop "handing the phone around" as they took turns to convey the trauma that had been witnessed. An unknown voice said, "I think we have a homicide," shortly before the call ended and authorities arrived on scene.

The deceased body that the roommates first discovered while trying to inform the dispatcher of the matter was Xana Kernodles.

Before the case was transferred to Ada County, the Latah County judge who had previously heard the case had declared that the 911 transcript and the texts were admissible evidence; however, the order and related documents were sealed at that time.