Surviving roommates break silence after baffling Idaho student murders

Two surviving roommates who were asleep when four college students were killed in their sharehouse have broken their silence at a memorial service.

The two roommates who survived the University of Idaho massacre have broken their silence, sharing memories of the “four beautiful people” in letters read at a memorial service.

Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen were asleep on the first floor of the sharehouse in Moscow, Idaho, where Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed on November 13, reports New York Post.

Three weeks after the killings, police have not named any suspects or motive.

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

“Maddie, Xana, Kaylee and Ethan were all one of a kind,” the pastor read from letters written by the two survivors, CBS News reported.

Slain University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 with roommates Dylan Mortensen (left) and Bethany Funke (right). Picture: Instagram

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

The four “changed the way I look at life,” she said.

“My life was greatly impacted to have known these four beautiful people,” Ms Mortensen said in her letter, CNN reported.

“My people who changed my life in so many ways and made me so happy. I know it will be hard to not have the four of them in our lives, but I know Xana, Ethan, Maddie and Kaylee would want us to live life and be happy and they would want us to celebrate their lives,” she said.

Ms Funke wrote of the four: “[You] were all gifts to this world in your own special way – and it just won’t be the same without you.”

She added that Madison Mogen was the older sister she’d always wanted but never had.

Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. Picture: Instagram

Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle. Picture: Instagram

“You always told me that everything happens for a reason,” Ms Funke wrote about Ms Mogen.

“But I’m having a really hard time trying to understand the reason for this,” she wrote.

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

She described Kaylee Goncalves as a “sweet and giving” person with a great sense of humour.

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

She described Ms Kernodle as “loving, fun, energetic, funny, passionate,” and Mr Chapin as having “the brightest, most fun personality”.

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

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

Jake Schriger recalled his first date with Maddie. Picture: Instagram

Mogen’s boyfriend Jake Schriger also broke his silence at the event, where he shared his memories of Madison.

Mr Schriger, who knew all four victims, recounted his first date with Ms Mogen, 21, and how that friendship blossomed into romance.

“She was the first person I talked to every morning and the last person I talked to before bed,” Mr Schriger said at the vigil. “She was the person that I loved most.”

Speaking of the massacre, he said “none of these people deserved this”.

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission