Bryan Kohberger may not show any emotion in court — but he’s being forced to come face-to-face with it.
After pleading guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students — Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin — Kohberger is finally facing sentencing. In his hearing Wednesday he had to face the survivors of his shockingly brutal crime.
Related: Bryan Kohberger’s Parents Release Surprising Statement After Guilty Plea
Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen was every bit Kohberger’s opposite as she faced him down in court. She sobbed uncontrollably as she read out her emotional statement about losing her friends. About them being taken from her. And she really used her opportunity to drive home how much one person was to blame for this horrible ordeal.
What He Took
Dylan began powerfully:
“What happened that night changed everything. Because of him, four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason. He didn’t just take their lives. He took the light they carried into every room. He took away how they made everyone feel safe, loved, and full of joy. He took away the ability for me to tell him that I love them and that I’m so proud of them. He took away who they were becoming and the futures they were going to have. He took away birthdays, graduations, celebrations. And all the memories that we were supposed to make, all of it is gone.”
Damn. She continued:
“And all the people who love them are just left to carry that weight forever. He didn’t just take them from the world. He took them from me. My friends. My people who felt like my home. The people I looked up to and adored more than anyone. It took away my ability to trust the world around me. What he did shattered me in places I didn’t know could break.”
JFC. We don’t have the words to respond to this. Our hearts are broken just hearing her say these words…
Just Kids
Dylan next reminded everyone just how much these were kids who were victimized here:
“I was barely 19 when he did this. We had just celebrated my birthday at the end of September. I should have been figuring out who I was. I should have been having the college experience and starting to establish my future. Instead, I was forced to learn how to survive the unimaginable.”
And the nightmare went on long after that night. Dylan told the court:
“I couldn’t be alone. I had to sleep in my mom’s bed because I was too terrified to close my eyes. Terrified that if I blinked, someone might be there. I made escape plans everywhere I went. ‘If something happens, how do I get out?’ ‘What can I use to defend myself?’ ‘Who can help?’”
She then described what sounds very much like PTSD:
“And then there were the panic attacks. The kind that slam into me like a tsunami out of nowhere. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I can’t stop shaking. All I can do is scream. Because the emotional pain and the grief is too much to handle. On my chest it feels like it’s caving in. Sometimes I dropped to the floor with my heart racing, convinced something is very wrong. It’s far beyond anxiety. It’s my body reliving everything over and over again. My nervous system never got the message that it is over, and it won’t let me forget what he did to them.”
Sadly, no one even realizes what she’s going through:
“People call me strong. They say I’m a survivor, but they don’t see what my new reality looks like. They don’t see the panic attacks, the hypervigilance, the exhaustion. The way I scan every room I enter. The way I flinch at sudden sounds. They don’t know how heavy it is to carry so much pain and still be expected to keep going, and that’s because of him. He stole parts of me I may never get back. He stole that. He took the version of me who didn’t constantly ask, ‘What if it happens again? What if next time I don’t survive?’”
She took a moment to collect herself then continued:
“He may have shattered parts me. But I’m still putting myself back together. Piece by piece, I’m learning how to live in this new version of life. It is not easy. It hurts, but I’m still trying, still trying, and I’m not trying just for me. I’m trying for them, my friends.”
Dylan’s Dream
Brace yourself for this next part… This is… Dylan revealed:
“About a year ago, I had a dream about them. I got to say goodbye. I told them I won’t be able to see you again, so I need to tell you goodbye. They all kept asking why, and all I could say was, I can’t tell you, but I have to. When I woke up, I felt shattered and heartbroken, but also strangely grateful. Like maybe in some way that dream gave us the goodbye we never got. Still, no dream can replace them, and no goodbye will ever feel finished.”
Haunting…
‘Something Less Than Human’
Turning her judgment toward the man who took away her friends, Dylan declared:
“He is a hollow vessel, something less than human. A body without empathy, without remorse. He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing.”
Wow.
“He tried to take everything from me, my friends, my safety, my identity, my future. He took their lives, but I will continue trying to be like them to make them proud. Living is how I honor them. Speaking today is to help me find some sort of justice for them. And I will never let him take that from me. He may have taken so much from me, but he will never get to take my voice. He will never take the memories I had with them. He will never erase the love we shared, the laughs we had, or the way they made me feel seen and whole. Those things are mine. They are sacred, and he will never touch them.”
She then showed once again why she is the opposite of Kohberger — and why he is worse off than she will ever be:
“I get to feel sadness. I get to feel rage. I get to feel joy even when it’s hard. I get to feel love even when it hurts, I get to live. And while I will still live with this pain, at least I get to live my life. He will stay here — empty, forgotten, and powerless.”
Tell him, girl. See Dylan deliver her full statement (below):
[Image via Monroe County Correctional Facility/Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram.]
The post Idaho Murders Survivor Dylan Mortensen Emotionally Confronts ‘Less Than Human’ Killer Bryan Kohberger At Sentencing appeared first on Perez Hilton.
