Survivor Dylan Mortensen Breaks Silence at Kohberger Sentencing: ‘He Is a Hollow Vessel’

Dylan Mortensen, the only person to see Bryan Kohberger the night he murdered four University of Idaho students, delivered a powerful and emotional statement at his sentencing hearing, publicly sharing her experience for the first time.

Speaking through tears, Mortensen didn’t hold back as she addressed Kohberger directly, just feet away in the courtroom.

“He is a hollow vessel. Something less than human. A body without empathy or remorse,” she declared.

In her victim impact statement, Mortensen described the deep trauma she still carries nearly three years after the brutal killings of her friends Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.

“He chose destruction. He chose evil. He tried to take everything from me,” she said.

Too emotional to stand, Mortensen sat in the prosecutor’s chair as she described how the murders still shape her daily life.

“I make escape plans everywhere I go,” she said. “If something happens, how do I get out? What can I use to defend myself?”

At one point, she admitted:

“All I can do is scream, because the emotional pain and grief is too much to handle.”

Kohberger, who has shown little emotion throughout the proceedings, remained expressionless as Mortensen spoke.

A Glimpse of the Killer

Mortensen is the only eyewitness to have seen Kohberger at the scene. According to police documents, she heard crying and strange noises around 4 a.m. that morning and, upon investigating, saw a masked man in black clothing walking past her bedroom. Unaware of the horror that had unfolded upstairs, she texted her roommates. Only Bethany Funke replied.

She later told police that while hurrying downstairs to join Funke, she passed by Xana Kernodle’s body but thought she might have been drunk. The two surviving roommates locked themselves in a bedroom and spent the next eight hours trying to contact the others before finally discovering the tragedy around noon.

Living With the Loss

Mortensen reflected on the lives that were taken and the light that was lost.

“Because of him, four beautiful, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason. He didn’t just take their lives — he took their light,” she said.

She also shared a deeply personal moment — a dream in which she was able to say goodbye to her four friends.

The sentencing marked the first time both Mortensen and Funke publicly addressed the court. Until now, they had only been identified in documents as “D.M.” and “B.F.”

On July 2, Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders and is expected to receive four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.