A flurry of court filings in the quadruple murder case against Bryan Kohberger reveal the suspect bought a knife on Amazon months before the killings and the victims’ surviving roommates used social media before calling 911.
The newly released documents illustrate how the defense and prosecution are trying to get their most useful evidence submitted in the case against the 30-year-old man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in an off-campus home in 2022. A not guilty plea has been entered on Kohberger’s behalf.
The prosecution’s new filings show Kohberger had purchased a military-style knife, a sheath and a knife sharpener on Amazon in the months leading up the killings.
The state’s filings also include a selfie believed to be taken by Kohberger the morning of November 13, 2022, just hours after the killings. The selfie shows the suspect smiling at the camera and giving a thumbs-up gesture.
But Kohberger’s attorneys took issue with what they describe as the prosecutors’ selective use of phone records for surviving roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022.
In a defense filing released Wednesday, Kohberger’s attorney questions why the two surviving roommates waited several hours between when they perceived something suspicious the morning of the killings and when they called 911.
The defense asked the judge to either ban prosecutors from showing the state’s selection of messages to the jury or allow more phone records to be admitted at trial.
‘No one is answering … I’m freaking out’
A spate of text messages between Mortensen and Funke revealed fear and panic after they couldn’t reach their roommates around 4:22 a.m., according to a recent filing by the prosecution.
Investigators believe Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapinwere killed between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m.
Around 4:22 a.m., Mortensen texted Funke: “No one is answering.” Funke replied: “Ya dude wtf.”
Mortensen then texted Funke saying she saw what looked like a masked man in their house. “I’m freaking out,” Mortensen wrote.
Funke later texted Mortensen: “Come to my room” and “run.”
Records previously released by prosecutors suggest Mortensen tried to reach others in the house again around 10:23 a.m., only after “waking up and realizing that she had not heard from her roommates.”
But the new defense filing suggests the surviving roommates were awake and using social media hours earlier.
Snapchat, Instagram and several calls to family before dialing 911
Kohberger’s attorneys say after Mortensen joined Funke in her room, their phone activity was dark for only about three hours.
Funke accessed Snapchat around 4:37 a.m. and Instagram shortly after the text exchange, the defense filing says.
Funke and Mortensen were both using their phones again by around 8 a.m., the new defense filing claims.
The defense listed details of Funke’s and Mortensen’s social media and call activity in the hours following their housemates’ deaths. The court documents identify Funke and Mortensen by their initials along with some other unidentified contacts:
7:30 BF calls dad
8:00 BF calls dad
8:00 BF calls another number
8:01 BF calls home
8:02 BF calls mom
8:09 dad calls BF
8:05:43 – 10:00:45 DM on Instagram
8:41-8:42 BF takes photos
9:04:36 mom texts BF
10:00:56 – 10:01:40 DM messages, incoming and outgoing (Snapchat)
10:01:53 – 10:03:05 DM on Instagram
10:03:30 – 10:04:02 DM on Indeed
10:04:54 – 10:23:02 DM messages, incoming and outgoing (Snapchat)
In the motion, Kohberger’s attorneys dispute the prosecution’s claims that Mortensen woke up to realize her roommates hadn’t responded to her texts overnight.
Mortensen tried again to reach Goncalves and Mogen starting at 10:23 a.m., asking them if they were awake: “R u up??”
The new defense filing says Mortensen used Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok and texted her dad hours before she reached out to Mogen and Goncalves again.
10:23:23 DM text MM
10:24:01 – 10:25:04 DM on Instagram
10:30:18 – 10:45:43 DM messages, incoming and outgoing (Snapchat)
11:21:53 JM texts BF
10:56:49 – 11:29:08 DM on Instagram and messages on Snapchat
11:29:27 DM text KG
11:29:41 – 11:32:45 DM on Instagram and messaging on Snapchat
11:35:36 DM on Yik Yak
11:36:07 DM on Tik Tok
11:37:36 DM messages (Snapchat)
11:39:09 -11:40:14 DM and dad text
11:49 BF calls JM
11:50:55 JM text DM
11:44:06 – 11:50:38 DM on Instagram
11:50:58 DM calls EA
11:51:01 JM texts DM
11 :54 :57-11 :55 :01 JM texts BF 3 texts
11:54:39 – 11:57:01 DM on Instagram
Funke eventually called 911 at 11:56 a.m. to report Kernodle unconscious at the residence, records show, and two other friends could be heard with them on the call.
What to expect at trial
Kohberger’s trial is expected to begin in August.
Prosecutors have indicated they expect both surviving roommates to testify and want to use their text messages to illustrate the timeline of the night.
But defense attorney Anne Taylor has pointed to what shedescribed as inconsistencies in law enforcement interviews with Mortensen and Funke.
Prosecutors also plan to call law enforcement witnesses to testify about a test run they conducted to show that it was possible to commit four homicides in a time frame of only minutes including time to walk to and from a car and remove blood-covered clothes, a defense filing says.
Kohberger’s attorneys say they need an expert to testify about his developmental coordination disorder to show the jury he was not physically capable of committing the crime that they argue required such speed and coordination.
