Kriti Mehrotra
When four University of Idaho students were found heinously stabbed to death in a three-story off-campus house on November 13, 2022, it left the entire community shaken to its very core. There were actually six young students at home in the early hours of that fateful day, yet four were targeted in two different bedrooms before the killer allegedly fled in his vehicle. Dylan Mortensen could have been victim #5 since she did reportedly come face to face with the perpetrator, but as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Terrible Night on King Road,’ her fight or flight response saved her.
Dylan Mortensen’s Entire World Turned Upside Down in 2022
It was in 2001 when Dylan Mortensen was reportedly born in Boise, Idaho, only to be primarily raised there under the watchful eye of her father and stepmother until she graduated from high school. She reportedly shared a good relationship with them and gradually even referred to them as a little family, yet she didn’t come home on that fateful weekend despite being so close by. That’s because the University of Idaho freshman had a formal on the evening of November 11, 2022, before a big senior-day football game the following evening, which they followed with a few parties.
According to court records, following the football match, Dylan had attended a party with her flatmate Bethany Funke before the duo returned home at around 2 am. This was around the same time flatmates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen also returned home from a party and burger stand, whereas fellow roommate Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, already seemed to have settled in for the night. Xana did order food at around 4 in the morning, unaware that mere minutes later, her home would be broken into.
As per official documents, an intruder came into their 1122 King Road home through the second-story kitchen before he made his way to Madison Mogen’s room. Kaylee was asleep with her friend on the bed, so they were both stabbed to death, the noises of which had Xana worried and out of her room to investigate. Little did she know that her attempt to run after seeing the intruder would only fuel him to attack her too, so he stabbed her and her boyfriend in her room. Dylan had heard what sounded like cries, too, so she stepped out of her room half awake at 4:30 am, just to be frozen in shock when she saw the intruder. Her frozen, no response state while she was half-asleep and drunk had the intruder just walking away, following which she locked herself in her room in a panicked state.
Dylan Mortensen Didn’t Know Her Friends Had Been Killed Until 7 Hours Later
After Dylan locked herself in her room, she began texting each and every one of her flatmates to figure out what was going on, only to receive a response from Bethany alone, who was in her room on the first floor. So, she explained to her roommate how she had just come across a figure clad in black clothing and a mask covering the bottom half of his face like a ski mask before he walked by her “towards the back sliding glass door.” She described him as a 5’10” guy who seemed to have an athletic build and bushy eyebrows, yet no other distinctive feature, so when Bethany asked her to run to her room just to be safe, she did so. She caught a glimpse of Xana lying on her bedroom floor during this, but her immediate thought was that her friend was just passed out in a drunken state.
Neither Dylan nor Bethany could have ever imagined that their friends were dead, so they spent the majority of the hours to follow trying to get in touch with them via texts, calls, or social media. It wasn’t until they invited a friend over to figure out what was wrong that they learned the truth, as they had brought along her boyfriend, who suggested that they go upstairs to check things themselves. Dylan again saw Xana and assumed she was still passed out, but the boyfriend immediately had the girls turn away, go back downstairs, and call 911. It was when the police arrived mere minutes later that they found the four college students heinously stabbed to death.
Dylan Mortensen is Seemingly Trying to Move Forward With Her Life Today
Dylan survived purely by chance on that fateful day, which is something she came to realize days later after telling officials she was in a dazed state from sleep and alcohol when she saw the intruder. If she had made any noise, attempted to flee or challenge him, or made any sudden movements, she likely could have been stabbed too, so there is a lot of guilt she carries. Of course, there is the guilt of her not calling 911 as soon as she had managed to lock herself in her room, even though she was just a young girl who had no idea what was really going on, and then there is the survivor’s guilt. As per her ex-stepmother, she has struggled a lot over the years.
Unfortunately, though, the backlash from the public didn’t help Dylan’s situation either, as she kept on being asked why she hadn’t contacted officials sooner. There is also the fact that during one of her four police interviews, when she was shown a picture of her roommates’ alleged killer, Bryan Kohberger (without a mask of any kind), the first thing she said was that she had never seen him before. So, with him scheduled for trial in August 2025, she will likely be a significant witness even though she has long since preferred to lead a quiet life well away from the limelight to grieve in private. All we know is that the now 24-year-old changed universities in 2023 for safety as well as privacy reasons, and she is now likely hoping to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a professional nurse.
Read More: Bryan Kohberger’s Parents and Sisters: Where Are They Now?
