Harrowing transcript from 911 call made by Idaho murder survivors eight hours after attack
Warning: This article contains discussion of content that some readers may find distressing.
The transcript from a 911 call made by the survivors of a quadruple murder in Idaho sheds more light onto the aftermath of the situation.
Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Maddie Mogen were stabbed to death in their student house by Bryan Kohberger in 2022, with fellow students Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke being able to hide.
They called the emergency services eight hours later, with a psychologist suggesting it was because they froze due to the threat, and unsealed court documents containing the transcript of their emergency call provides some insight into what happened.
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Mortensen and Funke pass the phone between them and understandably sounded distressed as they said Kernodle was 'not waking up' and 'saw some man in their house last night'.
"Something is happening. Something’s happened in our house and we don’t know what," the two women said.
On the call they said that their friend was passed out and it was confirmed that she wasn't breathing, the call ended when the emergency services arrived at the house.
Other communications from the horrific murders include the text messages that Dylan and Bethany sent to each other when they were trying to figure out what was going on.
The women had tried to contact their housemates and not received a response, while Bethany said she saw a man wearing something like a 'ski mask'.
Kohberger initially pleaded guilty to the four murders and was given four life sentences, though avoided the death penalty, but he recently announced he wanted to overturn his plea deal and claimed he was innocent.
A timeline of the Idaho murders
12 November 2022
Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, attend a party at Chapin’s fraternity Sigma Chi. Meanwhile, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, go to sports bar the Corner Club.
13 November 2022
1.45am - Kernodle and Chapin return home to their house on King Road
1.56am - Goncalves and Mogen arrive home
2.44am - Kohberger’s Hyundai sedan is spotted by a CCTV camera at Washington State University. Shortly afterwards, the car is seen again heading towards a road that connects Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, where the victims live.
4am - Bryan Kohberger is believed to have entered the property
4.17am - A security camera reveals the sound of a barking dog, voices and what sounds like a thud. At some point around this time, their housemate Dylan Mortensen is awoken and hears a male voice say: “It's OK, Kaylee, I'm here for you.” She later hears crying and sees a masked man in the property.
4.19am - Mortensen attempts to call Kernodle, Goncalves and Mogen, but all calls go unanswered. She started texting Bethany Funke, saying she’s ‘freaking out’ after seeing a man in a ‘ski mask’. Mortensen joins Funke in her room and they lock themselves in.
11.58am - After Mortensen calls her friend Emily Alandt, she and her boyfriend Hunter Johnson come over to the King Road property. Johnson discovers Chapin and Kernodle's bodies and calls 911.
17 November 2022
Preliminary autopsy results show all four victims were attacked with a large knife
7 December 2022
Police say they are looking to speak to any occupants of a white Hyundai Elantra from 2011-13.
30 December 2022
Kohberger is arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary. Police later reveal they used DNA on a knife sheath to link him to the crime scene, and tracked his car and phone across the area.
22 May 2023
Kohberger remains silent when asked to enter a plea during his arraignment. The judge enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.
26 June 2023
Prosecutors announce they will seek the death penalty for Kohberger.
28 December 2023
The King Road property where the murders took place is demolished to allow the community to heal.
17 April 2024
Kohberger’s defence team claims in court documents that phone mast data shows Kohberger was miles away from Moscow, Idaho at the time of the murders.
4 March 2025
Kohberger’s defence team say he exhibits traits of autism spectrum disorder, and putting him to death would be unconstitutional.
2 July 2025
Weeks before the trial is set to begin, Kohberger pleads guilty to burglary and four counts of first-degree murder.
23 July 2025
Kohberger is sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, plus 10 years for the burglary charge.
He comes face to face with the families of his victims for the first time, who read out impact statements.
Goncalves' sister Alivea reads a statement and Mortensen says she’s suffered from debilitating panic attacks since the night of the murders, telling Kohberger he has taken away her ‘ability to trust the world’.
27 July 2026
Kohberger announces he is seeking to take back his guilty plea and overturn his conviction.
He tells the New York Times: “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
Topics: US News, Crime, True Crime, Bryan Kohberger
Joe Harker