Roommates Who Survived the Idaho Murders Were Texting Around the Time It Happened — Details

In the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, four University of Idaho college students were stabbed to death while in a rental house near campus. Two of the victims were currently living there, a third was a former roommate spending the night, and the fourth individual was the boyfriend of one of the victims.

According to CNN, an employee of the property management company that owned the house said six names were on the lease. At the time of the murders, one roommate was not home but there were two who survived the attacks. In March 2025, text messages between those individuals were released to the public. They exchanged more than a dozen texts in two minutes, and the messages reveal feelings of panic and fear.

Between 4:22 and 4:24 a.m., Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke texted each other about an intruder wearing a ski mask, reported CNN. "I’m freaking out," Mortensen texted Funke, after seeing a man dressed all in black, in their house. This occurred around the time authorities believe the murders were taking place. These texts also happened eight hours before Mortensen and Funke called 911 after discovering one of the roommates was unconscious.

Mortensen later told police she was awakened around 4 a.m. because she heard sounds that sounded like one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, playing with her dog upstairs. Phone records show that Mortensen tried calling the four roommates, but no one answered. She also texted Goncalves, writing, "Kaylee, what's going on?" At 4:17 a.m., a security camera picked up audio of what sounded like whimpering, followed by a dog barking.

The only roommate who responded to Mortensen's texts was Funke, who also heard strange noises. "No one is answering," Mortensen texted to Funke. "I’m really confused rn." Funke wrote back, confused, then said, "Xana was wearing all black." Xana Kernodle was one of the victims. The person they saw wasn't Kernodle, but a man they believed was wearing a ski mask. At one point Funke told Mortensen to "run" to her room. Hours later, they called police.