One of two Idaho students who survived the massacre at the home they shared is waking up from self-imposed isolation a year after the attack, new photos show.
Dylan Mortensen, 21, is suffering from “survivor’s guilt,” her stepmother said earlier this month. Her father said in October that she was reclusive, staying at home and playing video games.
But newly surfaced photos show her at a sorority party on Sept. 15 with her friends from the University of Idaho and at a Halloween party on Oct. 31, dressed in a glittery gold outfit.
Mortensen’s stepmother, Patricia Munroe, said earlier this month that she dropped out of the University of Idaho and changed schools, so it was unclear whether she would visit again or whether Munroe’s information was incorrect.
Dylan Mortensen, far left, is seen in an Instagram photo posted Sept. 15 with her friends Jessa Patnode (center) and Makenah Jackson from the University of Idaho at a sorority celebration – known as a “Big Little Reveal.”
Mortensen and her friends shared all the photos celebrating the initiation ceremony on September 15th
Mortensen and Jackson can be seen at the September 15 meeting
Dylan Mortensen (left) celebrates Halloween 2023 with a friend
Mortensen and her friends celebrate on October 31st
Mortensen, second from left, is pictured with her friends celebrating Halloween
Mortensen (right) is seen in a photo with her sisters taken a month before the murders, on October 13, 2022
Idaho roommates, from left: Dylan Mortensen, Xana Kernodle, Bethany Funke, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. Only Mortensen and Funke survived the attack
Mortensen has found her life turned upside down since the November 2022 murders of her four roommates — Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20.
The four were stabbed to death in their beds in the early hours of a Sunday morning.
Mortensen said she saw a man leaving the house in Moscow, Idaho, in the early morning hours, but didn’t realize until hours later that four of her roommates had been murdered.
Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology student, was charged with four counts of murder and pleaded not guilty. He remains in prison and a trial date has not yet been set.
Mortensen left Moscow earlier this year, said Munroe, Mortensen’s stepmother.
Dylan Mortensen is one of two who survived the November 13, 2022, Idaho college dorm murders
Mortensen, far left, is seen with her roommates: Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
Munroe was married to Mortensen’s father, Brent, and helped raise Dylan from the age of seven until just before she graduated from high school.
She told the New York Post that she remains close to the family and that Mortensen is “fine.”
Munroe, 53, said: “There’s a lot of guilt because, you know, when someone says, ‘Well, Dylan was so lucky,’ you know you don’t want to take on that luck – because of all that kids deserve happiness.
“You all deserve to be spared from this.”
Mortensen told police she was in a “frozen state of shock” when “a figure dressed in black clothing and a mask walked toward her,” then “to the rear sliding glass door” and left the house.
She then locked herself in her room and didn’t come out again until the next morning.
Mortensen and Bethany Funke, the other roommate who survived the attacks, did not call police until midday the next day, leading to online trolls attacking Mortensen and Funke and claiming they were involved in the murders.
Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is pictured in Latah County District Court on September 13
“You never really think about online backlash and trolls until you deal with it, and it’s just a really hurtful thing,” Munroe said.
“I challenge anyone to be in a situation where they wake up to find four of their roommates gone without realizing it.”
“People need to understand that these children are still very young.” . You know, they’re just little kids, and it’s just a really traumatizing thing. I just think people need to have compassion.
“There must be space and time for all the details to come to light in court.”
Mortensen’s father, Brent, told author and private investigator J. Reuben Appelman that she isolated herself and played video games to deal with the stress.
Appelman told NewsNation, “In the first few weeks after these murders, she was virtually harassed on social media.”
“That was part of the trauma she experienced.”
“Dylan himself has withdrawn from the public eye, very few people see her.”
Mortensen remains reserved, her father said, and has changed universities
Mortensen’s father told Appelman that his daughter was in the process of healing despite being persecuted by bullies.
“She is in some sort of trauma therapy and is getting help from the spiritual community,” he said.
“She is isolating herself but is gradually stepping back and playing online with like-minded people in group gaming sessions.”
“She does what she can without going public.”