The best friend of one of the murdered University of Idaho students found his pal stabbed to death in bed, then called 911, rather than one of the surviving two roommates in the house, according to a report.
NewsNation reported Wednesday that Ethan Chapin was found dead in bed with his girlfriend Xana Kernodle by a longtime buddy, who went as far as to check his pulse before calling 911, according to their sources.
Chapin and Kernodle, both 20, were killed on Nov. 13 in a knife attack along with friends Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
It had been previously reported that the phone of Dylan Mortensen, 21 — who survived the attack alongside Bethany Funke — was used to call the police almost eight hours after the slayings happened in the early hours.
NewsNation withheld the name of Chapin’s best friend, but said they were the one who used Mortensen’s phone to make the call.
Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, who were dating, were found stabbed to death in the same bed. Xana KernodleMortensen had come face-to-face with the killer on the night of the murders, telling police she saw an unknown “figure clad in black clothing and a mask” walking past her, toward the home’s rear exit, just after 4 a.m.
A police affidavit reads: “Mortensen described the figure as 5′ 10″ or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows. The male walked past [her] as she stood in a ‘frozen shock phase.’
“The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. Mortensen locked herself in her room after seeing the male.”
Dylan Mortensen (right) was a surviving roommate in the Moscow, Idaho, off-campus house. VSCO / Dylan MortensenIt was another eight hours before the alarm was raised to the cops, with sources saying Mortensen went into shock after the encounter.
“She was scared. She was scared to death, and rightly so,” Shanon Gray, a lawyer for victim Kaylee Goncalves’ family, told Fox News. “This guy had just murdered four people in the home.”
Here’s the latest coverage on the brutal killings of four college friends:
- Why Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea means he may get the last laugh — and torment his victims further
- Byran Kohberger’s former criminology professor fears her serial-killer courses inspired him
- Prosecutors offered Bryan Kohberger a plea deal despite a mountain of damning evidence — here’s what they had
- Deluded Bryan Kohberger fans known as ‘probergers’ insist he’s innocent – despite guilty plea deal: ‘Reeks of a coverup’
- Families of slaughtered Idaho students vow to fight Bryan Kohberger plea deal: ‘Idaho has failed’
Bryan Kohberger, a PhD student at nearby Washington State University Pullman, was arrested in December after a multistate manhunt and charged with the quadruple murder, but has indicated he will plead not guilty when he is arraigned later this year.
The four University of Idaho students who were found dead in off-campus housing were identified as Madison Mogen (top left), 21, Kaylee Goncalves (bottom left), 21, Ethan Chapin (center), 20, and Xana Kernodle (right), 20.
Mortensen allegedly called out to her friends to quiet down as the murders were taking place, believing they were partying, NewsNation previously reported.
The delay by Mortensen and the other surviving roommate, Bethany Funke, in notifying authorities puzzled investigators, an Idaho law enforcement source told The Post, saying police weren’t sure if it was “an issue of intoxication, or of fear.” Neither was ever considered a suspect in the case.
