Surviving Idaho Murder House Roommate Bethany Funke Agrees to Interview With Suspect Bryan Kohberger's Defense Team
April 27 2023, Published 9:05 a.m. ET
One of the surviving roommates from last year’s University of Idaho quadruple murder has reportedly agreed to sit for an interview with suspect Bryan Kohberger’s defense counsel, RadarOnline.com can confirm.
In a sudden development to come a few days after the survivor, 21-year-old Bethany Funke, fought a court order to testify in defense of Kohberger during his preliminary hearing in June, court documents reveal Funke will sit for an interview with the suspect’s team in Reno, Nevada.
The court documents also revealed Funke’s interview with Kohberger’s team will take place “in lieu” of providing testimony during the 28-year-old quadruple murder suspect’s preliminary hearing in two months.
“The basis for this stipulation is that BETHANY GRACE FUNKE, through her attorney, has agreed to an interview with Idaho defense counsel in Reno, Nevada, in lieu of proceeding forward with the subpoena for Preliminary Hearing now set June 26 through June 30, 2023,” the court documents, dated Wednesday, April 26, read.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Funke’s scheduled interview with Kohberger’s defense counsel in Reno comes after the 21-year-old fought a court order ordering her to testify in the suspect’s defense.
In court documents obtained by this outlet earlier this week, Funke argued she should not be ordered to testify because she lives in Reno – approximately 480 miles away from where Kohberger will be on trial for the November 13, 2022 murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Funke’s filing came after the magistrate judge in Latah County, Idaho ordered the surviving roommate to testify at the preliminary hearing because she "may be a material witness for the defendant in the case."
But Funke’s attorney, Kelli Anne Viloria, immediately fought to “quash” the “foreign subpoena.”
“There is no authority for an Idaho criminal defendant to summon a Nevada witness to Idaho for a preliminary hearing," Viloria argued in the filing. “A preliminary hearing is not meant to become a mini-trial due to its limited purpose in deciding of probable cause.”
As RadarOnline.com reported, Kohberger is accused of murdering the four university students in their off-campus Moscow, Idaho residence on the morning of November 13, 2022.
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Although Funke was reportedly home at the time of the brutal slayings, she claimed she did not witness the killings – nor the immediate aftermath – because she was living in the basement when the quadruple murder took place.
Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle, and Chapin were slain on the second and third floors of the house.
