Surviving Idaho students break the silence with letters commemorating murdered roommates

The two housemates who survived the University of Idaho massacre broke their silence by sharing their memories of the “four beautiful people” in letters read at a memorial service.

Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen slept on the first floor of the off-campus Moscow home where Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed on November 13.

At a livestreamed service in Post Falls, Idaho, where Kernodle grew up, a local pastor read a letter from Funke and Mortensen.

“Maddie, Xana, Kaylee and Ethan were all unique,” the Real Life Ministries pastor read aloud from the letters from the two survivors, CBS News reported.

“To Xana and Ethan: you were the perfect couple together and had this unstoppable relationship,” Mortensen wrote, according to the news outlet.

The four “changed my perspective on life,” she said.

“My life was greatly impacted by knowing these four beautiful people,” Mortensen said in her letter, CNN reported.

“My people who have changed my life in so many ways and made me so happy. I know it’s going to be hard not having the four of them in our lives, but I know Xana, Ethan, Maddie, and Kaylee want us to live life and be happy, and they want us to celebrate their lives “, added her.

Funke wrote that the four murdered students “were all gifts to this world in your own special way — and it just won’t be the same without you.”

She added that Mogen is the older sister she always wanted but never had.

“You always told me everything happened for a reason,” Funke wrote of Mogen, who she described as her “big guy” in the school’s Pi Beta Phi sorority, according to the Idaho Statesman.

“But I’m having a really hard time understanding why,” she wrote.

“I wish every day I could hug them all one last time and say how much I loved them,” Funke added. “I’ve thought a lot about what I would say to each of them if I could.”

She described Goncalves as a “sweet and generous” person with a great sense of humor.

Funke also said Kernodle and Chapin, being in a relationship, “made people believe in true love,” CNN reported.

She described Kernodle as “loving, funny, energetic, funny, passionate” and Chapin as “the brightest, funniest personality”.

Funke also noted that she always looked up to Mogen, who gave her the best advice and always offered her help.

It was unclear if Funke and Mortensen attended the event, which reporters were not allowed to cover in person.

Mogen’s friend Jake Schriger also broke his silence at the event by sharing his memories of the murdered student.

“She was the first person I spoke to every morning and the last one I spoke to before bed,” Schriger said. “She was the person I loved the most.”