Bryan Kohberger Witness List: Killer Planned to Make Surviving Roommates of Murder Victims Testify for Defense By Chris Spargo

“He is a hollow vessel. Something less than human. A body without empathy or remorse.”

That is how Dylan Mortensen described Bryan Kohberger while speaking through tears at the sentencing of the man who murdered four of her best friends as she lay just a few feet away in her bedroom.

Despite those strong feelings, Mortensen would have been called to testify by Kohberger and his defense team had the case gone to trial in Idaho, according to a recently unsealed court filing obtained by PEOPLE.

The filing does not list any of the individuals as potential witnesses, and instead reads: “Bryan C. Kohberger, by and through his attorneys of record, will call the following witness(es) at trial…”

Also on that list was Bethany Funke, the only other person to live through the night on Nov. 13, 2022, when Kohberger broke into her off-campus home in Moscow and massacred her roommates: Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

The lingering trauma from that night continues to haunt Funke, which is why she could not bring herself to attend Kohberger’s sentencing hearing and instead had a friend read a statement on her behalf.

“I was scared the person who did this would come for me next,” Funke wrote in her statement, which was read in court by Emily Alandt.

Funke and Mortensen were not the only Idaho students Kohberger had planned to call in his attempt to prove he was innocent of the crime he confessed to just two months after filing this list with the court.

Among the other witnesses he wanted to take the stand were Alandt and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson, who were first to arrive on the scene the morning that the bodies were discovered.

It was Johnson who discovered the bodies, at which point he quickly instructed Funke and Mortensen to exit the residence and then checked to make certain there was no one hiding out in the home.

Jack DuCoeur, the ex-boyfriend of Goncalves, was also on the defense witness list.

Kohberger did not, however, list two of the other individuals who arrived on the scene that morning and had close ties to one of the victims — Hunter and Maizie Chapin.

Those two attended the University of Idaho alongside their triplet, Ethan.

Despite her own children not being called to testify, the triplet’s mother, Stacy Chapin, said that the fact these students would not have to appear in court during a trial was the best thing to come out of the plea deal Kohberger struck with prosecutors on July 2, 2025.

“And there were so many kids, including our own, that had been subpoenaed that no longer have this hanging over their heads. I mean, we just all get to go live our life,” Stacy said at the time.

It was not just students either, as Kohberger planned to call 138 people in total, according to the witness list.

There were also 53 individuals Kohberger listed as mitigation witnesses he might call to testify during the penalty phase of his trial if he had been convicted of murder by a jury.

That list included members of the murderer’s family, like his sisters Amanda and Melissa Kohberger; his parents Michael and Maryann Kohberger; and Washington State University professor John Snyder.

Kohberger worked as a teaching assistant for Snyder at Washington State University.

It is unclear why Snyder would have been called to take the stand given that he complained about Kohberger following a verbal altercation between the pair, which resulted in the criminology department issuing Kohberger a warning about his conduct.

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In the end, only Alandt and Mortensen found themselves face-to-face with Kohberger in a courtroom.

“He chose destruction, he chose evil. He feels nothing. He tried to take everything from me,” Mortensen said during sentencing on July 23, 2025.

She then spoke about the victims just before Kohberger learned he would spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason,” Mortensen said as Kohberger sat emotionless.

“He didn’t just take their lives, he took their light that carried into every room.”