New defense filings shed light on communications by roommates of killed University of Idaho students before 911 call

New court filings in the University of Idaho case continue to fill out the timeline of communications by two surviving roommates in the hours between four other students were killed in their house and when they called 911.

New court filings in the University of Idaho case continue to fill out the timeline of communications by two surviving roommates in the hours between four other students were killed in their house and when they called 911. The brutal killings of the four University of Idaho students – Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin – took place at an off-campus residence in Moscow in 2022. Bryan Kohberger is charged with their murders, has pleaded not guilty and faces the death penalty in a trial that is set to begin in August. In a court filing released Wednesday, defense attorneys for Kohberger took issue with what they say is the state prosecutors’ selective use of phone records for surviving roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke on the early morning of November 13, 2022. They advocated for the judge to prohibit prosecutors from showing the prosecutor’s selection of the roommates’ messages to the jury – or for the judge to allow more phone records to be admitted at trial so the jury can see what they call a fuller picture of what transpired. CNN previously reported that phone records show Mortensen and Funke exchanged panicked text messages when they couldn’t reach their other housemates around the time investigators believe the killings occurred, between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22, saying “No one is answering.” Funke says, “Ya dude wtf.”