Major Twist in Idaho Slayings: Surviving Roommate to Meet with Kohberger's Defense Team
A woman who lived in the Moscow, Idaho, house where four University of Idaho students were killed in November has agreed to meet privately with the attorney for accused killer Bryan Kohberger.
Bethany Funke will be interviewed in her hometown of Reno, Nevada, according to NBC, which cited court documents.
Kohberger’s defense team had wanted her to appear at a June hearing in Idaho.
Funke was “interviewed by police on several occasions. She disclosed things she heard and things she saw,” according to an affidavit, signed by Richard Bitonti.
“Bethany Funke has information material to the charges against Mr. Kohberger; portions of information Ms. Funke has is exculpatory to the defendant. Ms. Funke’s information is unique to her experiences and cannot be provided by another witness,” the affidavit seeking to make Funke testify said.
Funke’s attorney rejected the claim as “without support” and pushed to prevent her appearance, according to the New York Post.
“There is no further information or detail pertaining to the substance of this testimony, its materiality or the alleged exculpatory information of Ms. Funke or why it would be entertained at preliminary hearing,” the filing stated.
Parties in the case are under a gag order, limiting comment to the media.
CBS reported that no date was set for Funke’s interview.
Neither Funke nor Dylan Mortensen, the other surviving roommate, have offered public accounts of the night that Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed last November.
Surviving Idaho roommate Bethany Funke fights having to testify at Bryan Kohberger trial as part of his defense https://t.co/5huDqwob09 pic.twitter.com/SZwMYdXn2S
— New York Post (@nypost) April 24, 2023
A probable-cause affidavit said Mortensen saw a figure in black clothing and a mask on the night of the killings, and that she later went to her room and locked herself inside.
According to Newsweek, the affidavit notes that Funke lived in the house and notes the location of her bedroom.
She is cited as a source for the times other residents of the house returned after a fraternity party.
The affidavit said police reviewed forensic downloads from Funke’s phone as part of their determination that the killings took place “between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 am.”
NBC reported that during a preliminary hearing scheduled for the week of June 26, prosecutors will present their evidence against Kohberger.
Kohberger, who was arrested in December, has yet to enter a plea, but is being held without bail.
No motive for the killings has been revealed.
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