Idaho murders: Cops still baffled why surviving roommates waited 8 hours before calling 911
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently.
MOSCOW, IDAHO: Investigators are reportedly still puzzled about why it took surviving roommate in the Idaho quadruple murders, Dylan Mortensen, eight hours to call 911 after the brutal slayings took place in their rented home in Moscow, according to a law enforcement source. On November 13, when the four students were stabbed to death by suspect Bryan Kohberger, Mortensen, 21, opened her bedroom door around 4.am and saw an unknown "figure dressed in black and wearing a mask" leaving.
The unknown figure fled the scene taking the home's back exit, as per her statement to the police. However, around eight hours later, surviving roommate Bethany Funke dialed 911 to inform the deaths of the University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. The eight-hour delay “has been something that we are puzzled over — we don’t know if it was an issue of intoxication, or of fear,” an investigator said, according to the New York Post.
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Moments before the students were killed while they were reportedly asleep on the two upper floors of their off-campus home in Idaho, the surviving roommate Mortensen thought she heard slain victim Goncalves saying, “There’s someone here,” followed by the sound of crying from Kernodle’s room and a male voice ringing out, “It’s ok, I’m going to help you,” as per the recent police affidavit released.
The cops said that both Funke and Mortensen who lived on the bottom floor of the Moscow house brought their friends to the crime scene before one of them called the cops at 11.58 am. Investigators have stated that these two roommates were ruled out as suspects and they have cooperated with the murder probe throughout.
According to the news outlet, the source said investigators “are really, really confident about it not being an issue of [Mortensen] being involved,” despite the puzzling delay. “We look at these things through the lens of rational adults — and when we do that, sometimes things don’t make sense to us — but she’s a 20-year-old girl and we don’t know what she was doing, or if she was scared,” the source added.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to it — there are no ties between them. Nobody has said ‘we’ve found the link’ — and that would include Dylan,” said the source as law enforcement has not yet come up with any information on the links between the six Idaho students and alleged murderer Bryan Kohberger, 28. Apparently, Kohberger was pursuing a PhD in criminology at Washington University, Pullman which is around nine miles (15 km) west of Moscow, Idaho, where the slain students resided.
From Kohberger's parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, the accused killer was taken into custody on December 30. Alongside his father, Kohberger was spotted driving cross country in his Hyundai Elantra, the vehicle which was previously seen near the Idaho home of the slain victims on the night of the crime.
The former chief medical examiner of New York City, Dr Michael Bade stated, “The four were dead when the guy left, and they weren’t crying for help, they weren’t moving or trying to get out.”
“They weren’t in a condition where an ambulance could save their life, on the basis of what we know now. People are concerned about [the delay in calling for help], but it isn’t a concern from a forensic point of view. Nothing was interfered with by that delay,” Baden added.
Disclaimer: This is based on sources and we have been unable to verify this information independently.