U.S. NEWS
Bryan Kohberger said name of victim during attack on Idaho students, documents show

A surviving roommate in the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students told police she heard a male voice say, "It's OK, Kaylee, I'm here for you."

Aug. 18, 2025, 10:46 AM EDT
By Erik Ortiz

A surviving roommate who encountered the masked intruder who slaughtered four University of Idaho students in an off-campus home in 2022 initially told investigators she heard an unknown male voice refer to a victim by her name. … Amid the rampage, roommate Dylan Mortensen said she had opened her door and "heard a male say, 'It's OK Kaylee, I'm here for you,' and crying," according to a newly unsealed document written by Idaho State Police trooper Jeffory Talbot, based on a briefing received from a police sergeant in Moscow, Idaho.

Investigators said Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was fatally stabbed on the third floor of the apartment house in the same room with another victim, Madison Mogen, 21. Two others were killed in the home: Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, who was staying over that night. They were murdered on another floor, police said.

Investigators used DNA found on the button of a knife sheath left behind the room where Goncalves and Mogen were killed to help tie the attack to Bryan Kohberger, then a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University.

Mortensen later adjusted what she told police after gathering "additional information," and said she believed it was Kernodle who had been crying in a bathroom, according to the documents, adding, "She advised she knows the male's voice was not Ethan's voice."

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