A surviving roommate of Bryan Kohberger's rampage inside a student house has returned to social media for the first time since the killings. Bethany Funke, 23, managed to survive Kohberger's quadruple killing of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at their home in Moscow, Idaho, in November of 2022.
Bethany Funke's Return to Social Media
In a new post on her TikTok page, Funke wore a teal colored dress and a cross necklace as she shared that she has taken up painting as a hobby. Funke wrote that she was inspired by painter and instructor Bob Ross, showing off a sunset river landscape to her 17,000 followers - with a song by artist Olivia Dean playing over the clip. It is the only video shared by the account under her name. Her deceased friends, Goncalves, Kernodle and Mogen all follow her page.
Background of the Tragedy
Funke has remained incognito since the killings, nominating a friend of hers to issue an impact statement at Kohberger's sentencing last year. Only Funke and fellow roommate Dylan Mortensen survived the murders, with Mortensen waking up to see a man dressed in black stalking the halls of the home. The two desperately tried to call and text their friends but got no response, Mortensen made her way to Funke's room where they stayed until morning. Around eight hours later, after the terrified students still could not get in touch with their friends, they called friends over to the home and the bloodbath was discovered.
Arrest and Sentencing of Bryan Kohberger
Kohberger was arrested around six weeks later during a raid on his parents’ home in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, where he had returned for the holidays. Autopsy findings recently released have since laid bare the full horror of the attack, revealing he stabbed his victims over 150 times within 15 minutes. He stabbed Goncalves at least 38 times, including 24 stab and incised wounds to her scalp face and neck, as well as 11 to the chest and three to her upper extremities. She also suffered punctures to the skull, injuries to her teeth and tongue, perforations of the subclavian artery and vein, and internal bleeding into the chest cavities.
Mogen sustained 28 stab wounds, including 13 wounds to the scalp, face and neck, and 10 incised wounds to the upper extremities, and five stab wounds to the chest. Kernodle was then stabbed 67 times inside her bedroom before Kohberger killed Chapin in his sleep, according to the autopsy report. She had 25 wounds to the upper extremities, 23 stab to the scalp, face and neck, seven stab wounds to the chest and four to the abdomen, three to the back, and five to the lower extremities. She also suffered punctures to the skull, perforations of the jugular vein, heart, lung and pulmonary blood vessels, hemorrhage into the chest cavities, wounds extending into the bones of the right hand, and scrapes and bruises to the face, torso and extremities.
Despite Chapin likely being the last victim, he had the fewest stab wounds, sustaining 17 in all: six incised wounds to the upper extremities; six stab and incised wounds to the lower extremities; four stab and incised wounds to the scalp, face and neck; and one stab wound to the upper chest; along with perforations of the jugular vein, subclavian vein and subclavian artery.
For more than two years, Kohberger fought the charges. Then, weeks before his trial, he changed his plea, pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary on July 2. The bombshell plea hearing came after he struck a controversial deal with prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in an emotional hearing in Boise, Idaho, on July 23. Kohberger also waived his right to appeal. The killer refused to speak at his sentencing and has never revealed his motive. No connection has ever been found between him and any of his victims. Kohberger is now being held in solitary confinement inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution where he will see out his dying days.
