Nine days before their deaths, the three young women later killed by Bryan Kohberger, along with their two surviving roommates, discovered their home in a state of alarm, suspecting a possible burglar.
Dylan Mortensen, one of the surviving roommates, recounted the unsettling event in a newly unsealed interview with Det. Vicki Gooch of the Idaho State Police obtained by PEOPLE.
Mortensen explained that the group—himself, Bethany Funke, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Ethan Chapin—had gone to Starbucks together and returned to find the front door “wide open.” None of them believed they had left it that way, and their concern grew when they noticed the washing machine running.
To protect themselves, the roommates decided to search the home and retrieved Ethan Chapin’s golf clubs for safety. Funke later told investigators the incident occurred on Nov. 4, 2022, and that Kernodle’s father came over a few days later to repair the door.
Mortensen also shared another concerning episode from around the same time involving Kaylee Goncalves. She had reported being followed by a man at a local supermarket.
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“Kaylee told her about a male subject who followed her from the Winco store all the way to Kaylee’s car, even when Kaylee went to leave, the subject was standing by Kaylee’s car,” Det. Gooch wrote.
Although the roommates did not ultimately encounter a burglar, these incidents occurred amid a series of unusual events around their home. Both Mortensen and Funke told the Moscow Police Department that Goncalves had felt watched while taking her goldendoodle, Murphy, for walks.
Funke recounted that Goncalves described seeing “an unknown male up above their house to the south who was staring at her when she took Murphy out to go potty.” Around the same time, friends noticed Murphy running unexpectedly into nearby woods, as if pursuing someone.
A neighbor also reported seeing a man who “looked nervous” walking through her backyard before returning along the same route. She later told police she was 92 percent certain the man—described as having “curly hair with a large nose”—was Kohberger.
According to Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson, Kohberger appeared to be surveilling the victims’ neighborhood in the weeks before the murders, based on his cell phone activity. Thompson also noted the possibility that Kohberger may have broken into the home on this occasion.
Two weeks after finding the door open, Kohberger would return and fatally attack Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle, and Chapin.
Kohberger is currently serving four life sentences after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty as part of a plea deal.
