The Ghost on the First Floor
Trauma doesn't have a schedule. It doesn't care if you're a 21-year-old college student in a quiet town like Moscow, Idaho. Bethany Funke lived in the basement-level bedroom of the infamous 1122 King Road house, a space that was supposed to be a sanctuary. Instead, it became the center of a national obsession.
People forget there were two survivors. While Dylan Mortensen’s account of seeing a masked figure has been picked over by every true crime sleuth on the internet, the Bethany Idaho roommate story is often relegated to a footnote. But her experience—downstairs, isolated, and initially unaware—is a crucial piece of the timeline that led to the arrest and eventual guilty plea of Bryan Kohberger.
Honestly, the way the internet treated her was pretty gross. For months, she was the subject of wild theories simply because she lived through a nightmare.
Where Was Bethany Funke During the Attacks?
The layout of the King Road house is weird. It’s built into a hill, so the "first floor" is actually the basement. Bethany’s room was there, along with another vacant bedroom and a laundry area. On November 13, 2022, while the horrors were unfolding on the second and third floors, Bethany was physically separated from the noise and the violence.
By 2:00 a.m., everyone was home. The victims—Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—were settling in. Bethany told investigators she was asleep by 4:00 a.m.
The house wasn't quiet. It was a social hub.
Between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m., Kohberger moved through the upper floors with a Ka-Bar knife. Bethany, according to her later impact statements, didn't hear the struggle. This lack of immediate awareness later fueled a wave of harassment that no 21-year-old should ever have to endure.
💡 You might also like: The Video of Charlie Kirk Shooting: What Really Happened at UVU
The 911 Call Confusion
A lot of people get hung up on the timing. Why did it take until nearly noon to call the police? Recent disclosures and testimony at the 2025 sentencing hearing shed some light on this. Dylan Mortensen eventually went downstairs to join Bethany. The two surviving roommates essentially locked themselves in Funke’s room.
They were scared. They were confused.
They spent those early morning hours trying to text and call their friends upstairs. No one answered. It’s hard to wrap your head around, but when you’re in a state of shock or "frozen" fear, you don't always do the "logical" thing you'd see in a movie. Bethany described it as her brain "wiping" the memory of the immediate aftermath because it was too much to process.
When the 911 call finally went out at 11:55 a.m., it wasn't for a stabbing. It was for an "unconscious person." Bethany was the one who placed that call. She’s gone on record saying she couldn't even get the words out because she was hyperventilating so hard.
Fighting the Subpoena and the Defense
In 2023, things got legally messy. Kohberger’s defense team, led by Anne Taylor, tried to force Bethany to testify at a preliminary hearing in Idaho. They claimed she had "exculpatory" evidence—basically, something that could prove Kohberger didn't do it.
Bethany fought it. She was living back in Nevada at the time, trying to piece her life together.
👉 See also: Why the Atlanta Snow Storm 1993 Still Haunts the South
Her lawyers argued that the defense was just fishing. Eventually, they reached a deal: she would meet with the defense in Nevada rather than being forced to stand in a courtroom in Idaho before the trial even started. It was a move to protect her mental health, which was already hanging by a thread.
The 2025 Impact Statement: "The Worst Day of My Life"
Fast forward to July 2025. Bryan Kohberger stood in court and pleaded guilty. This spared the families and survivors a grueling trial, but it also gave Bethany a chance to speak her truth. She didn't appear in person; a friend, Emily Alandt, read her statement.
It was gut-wrenching.
She talked about the "survivor’s guilt" that eats at her every day. She asked the question everyone in her position asks: Why me? Why did she stay on the first floor while her "big sister" Madison Mogen was killed just two floors up?
She described the harassment from the public—the death threats, the people showing up at her parents' house, the strangers on TikTok accusing her of being involved. She called it a "vicious" cycle that made her grieving process almost impossible.
- On Xana: Bethany called her "one in a million" and the life of every party.
- On Madison: She viewed her as the older sister she never had.
- On the Fear: She admitted she still checks her room every single night. The fear doesn't leave; it just changes shape.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Surviving Roommates
The biggest misconception is that "they must have heard something."
If you’ve ever lived in an old house with roommates, you know that 4:00 a.m. noises are often ignored. You hear a thud? It’s probably just someone tripping. You hear a dog bark? It’s just Murphy. You hear a voice? They’re probably on TikTok.
Bethany was in the basement. The acoustics of that house were notoriously bad for carrying sound from the top down.
Another mistake? Thinking she was "hiding" something. The FBI and Moscow Police cleared both survivors almost immediately. They weren't suspects. They were victims of a different kind—witnesses to the aftermath of a massacre.
Moving Forward: Actionable Insights for Digital Privacy
If there is anything we can learn from the Bethany Idaho roommate experience, it's how dangerous the digital world becomes during a high-profile tragedy. Bethany's life was made significantly worse by "internet sleuths" who prioritized entertainment over human empathy.
📖 Related: Why a boat explodes in Fort Lauderdale more often than you think
If you or someone you know is ever involved in a high-profile incident, these steps are survival 101:
- Go Dark Immediately: Delete or deactivate all social media profiles. Do not just set them to private; people will find ways to scrape old photos.
- Change Your Contact Info: Bethany and her parents were inundated with calls. Getting a new burner phone or changing numbers is a necessity.
- Legal Buffer: Do not talk to the media. Use a lawyer as a shield for all communication, even with the police, to ensure your statements aren't twisted.
- Mental Health Triage: Trauma like this requires specialized PTSD therapy. Bethany mentioned she couldn't get out of bed for a long time; seeking professional help early is the only way to manage the "tsunami" of panic attacks she described.
Bryan Kohberger is currently serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. For Bethany, the "sentence" is different. It’s a lifetime of looking over her shoulder and missing the people who made her college years feel like home. She’s chosen to live for them now, trying to find joy even when it feels heavy.