Marshall ordered disclosure as Bryan Kohberger seeks to withdraw his guilty plea
Dylan Mortensen, one of the roommates spared in the 2022 killings of four University of Idaho students, asked Latah County Judge Megan Marshall to help blur her face in a broad set of investigative recordings that the city of Moscow is preparing to release. In an Oct. 29 affidavit, Mortensen described what she told police: she saw “a strange man with bushy eyebrows and a ski mask” in the home the night her roommates were killed. She wrote that her life “has changed in ways I never could have imagined.”
Her affidavit supports a motion to intervene in the city’s records case and asks Marshall to ensure that her face is blurred in any police interviews, body-camera footage and other investigative recordings released. Mortensen said people can already hear her statements to law enforcement through recordings that have been released.
Mortensen wrote: “I am already being recognized despite the privacy protections currently in place, and I worry that making additional footage of my face available would make it even easier for strangers to identify me in everyday situations.”
The affidavit describes a broad effect on Mortensen’s life. She said the “amount of attention and hostility” she had received had “affected nearly every aspect” of her life and had forced her and her family to move nine times while enduring “years of hateful messages and threats.”
Mortensen said she had received “numerous unsolicited messages from strangers accusing me of participating in my friends’ murders, blaming me for their deaths, and making cruel statements about what they believe should happen to me.” Mortensen characterized the accusations against her as unfounded. To limit exposure, she said she uses an alias at work, often gives a different name when meeting people and does not use her real name for package deliveries because she does not want strangers to know where she lives.
Although Mortensen said photographs and videos of her are already online and her identity is publicly known, she believes “there is a significant difference between the photos and videos people have already seen of me and the lengthy police interviews and body-camera recordings taken during one of the most traumatic and vulnerable periods of my life.” Mortensen said the release of the “extended footage” of how she talks, reacts and expresses herself could make her more recognizable. She also said she did not want her facial expressions used as fodder for people to analyze, criticize or make accusations.
She wrote: “I want to be able to work, meet new people, attend concerts, celebrate important moments with friends, and enjoy ordinary experiences without constantly worrying about being recognized or confronted.”
EWU Media, a company that produces crime documentaries, sued the city of Moscow for records in the case. Judge Marshall ordered the release of those records last month. In an Oct. 20 decision, Marshall wrote that the city had not demonstrated that specific records were properly withheld and ordered disclosure, absent any applicable exemption under the Idaho Public Records Act.
Marshall also said the act does not broadly exempt the identity of witnesses in an investigation. The Associated Press reached out to the city by email and phone Tuesday and emailed EWU Media and Mortensen’s attorney to request comment.
Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison last year after pleading guilty in the Nov. 13, 2022, stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in Moscow, Idaho. He is now trying to withdraw that plea. No motive has emerged for the killings, and it remains unclear why Mortensen and another roommate were spared.
A motion hearing on Mortensen’s request to intervene is set for next week.