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Bryan Kohberger Trial: DNA Evidence From 3 Individuals Found Under Victim's Fingernails
More details about the murder of four University of Idaho students have come to light.
Ahead of the upcoming trial of suspect Bryan Kohberger, who has been accused of murdering roommates Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Kernodle's boyfriend Ethan Chapin in 2022, text messages between the two surviving roommates, included in documents obtained by E! News, paint an image of the harrowing night.
With their four roommates not responding to messages and calls, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke—who were only identified by their initials in the documents unsealed March 6—tried contacting their roommates after the former saw a masked man moving through their rental house.
"No one is answering," Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m. Nov. 13, 2022, the day the bodies were discovered. "I'm rlly confused rn."
Mortensen described the mask as resembling a "ski mask," writing, "I'm not kidding [I] am so freaked out."
As the pair continued to assess the situation, Funke wrote, "Come to my room. Run. Down here."
The chilling exchange was included in the motion, in which prosecutors argued that the messages are not hearsay and should be included as evidence to establish "a timeline for the morning."
As Mortensen continued to call their roommates, which went unanswered, she also texted them, urging them to respond. "Pls answer," she texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m. and again at 10:23 a.m. "R u up??"
A 911 call was placed at 11:58 a.m. after Kernodle was found unresponsive, according to an additional motion obtained by E! News that admitted the call
recording into evidence.
Pool via Getty Images
"Something happened in our house," a woman, only described as A in the transcript, told the 911 operator. "We don't know what."
Another woman, described as A1, shared more insight about the state of the situation.
"One of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up," A1 told the dispatcher. "They saw some man in their house last night."
Kohberger—who had a judge enter a not guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges on his behalf after remaining silent at his 2023 arraignment—could face the death penalty if found guilty on all counts.
Monroe County Correctional Facil/UPI
The latest documents come after an investigator discovered DNA evidence from three individuals under Mogen's fingernail, which the defense noted in a motion unsealed on March 4 and obtained by E! News would mean comparing Kohberger's DNA would be "inconclusive."
"All of these individuals sit in the same shoes as Mr. Kohberger," the defense wrote in their filing, which had the investigator's testimony redacted from its pages. "Thus, Mr. Kohberger's inconclusive LR is similar to almost every other person for whom an LR was generated and focusing on his 'inconclusive' LR would mislead the jury."
Kohberger's legal team has been working to exclude parts of the prosecutor's evidence before his trial in August, including suppressing DNA evidence that could link him to the murders. However, the judge ultimately denied the request.
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