Is this why we’d never heard about this piece of evidence before?
If you’ve been following the University of Idaho murder case, you probably saw this week that new files released by the Idaho State Police included a pretty big statement we’d never heard early on. And it seemed like at least a partial explanation of why four young people lost their lives that night in 2022.
Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen told investigators in an early interview that when she was first woken up in the early hours of November 13, she thought she heard a man’s voice saying:
“It’s OK Kaylee, I’m here for you.”
That would change everything. Bryan Kohberger is already serving his four consecutive life sentences — yet we still don’t know anything about his motive or mindset in committing these horrible crimes. But if he was saying the name of one of his victims, that certainly implied she was the target, right? And Kaylee Goncalves had complained of a stalker, so it all fit. Plus, the way he killed her was so much more brutal than the others…
Related: Idaho Murder Victims Came Home To ‘Wide Open’ Door But Didn’t Call 911
So why wasn’t this made public sooner? We assumed, like most of what’s come out since the sentencing, that this had been intended to be produced in the trial. But it turns out the cops dismissed the idea!
Moscow Police Department chief Anthony Dahlinger spoke out against the state police report this week, saying it was inaccurate. He told Fox News:
“I’m not quite sure where they got that, that report, but that doesn’t seem accurate to me.”
The report was written by Idaho State Trooper Jeffory Talbott, based on information he got from Moscow Police Sgt. Dustin Blaker. Perhaps there was a game of telephone as the quotes were repeated from one law enforcement agency to another? Because Dahlinger says the quote was a little different:
“The only thing that I believe was reported was that he said something – someone heard a voice say something along the lines of, ‘It’s OK, I’m here to help you.’”
“OK”, “Kaylee”? Did someone mishear? Or perhaps Dylan did say that was what she thought she heard at first?
Dahlinger was even more confident in a letter to the Idaho Statesman on the subject, saying that after Dylan had time to “collect her thoughts and provide in-depth responses” in a later interview, investigators no longer believed Kaylee’s name was said:
“The investigators do not believe the suspect uttered any names. What was confirmed was that Dylan reported hearing a male’s voice stating something to the effect of, ‘It’s OK, I’m going to (or I’m here to) help you.’”
We guess that blows up that proof. The theory was around even before that seeming confirmation, of course. But this seems to pretty definitively debunk the use of Kaylee’s name.
Maybe one day Kohberger will tell everyone the truth, and we won’t have to wonder.
[Image via Monroe County Correctional Facility/Kaylee Goncalves/TikTok.]
