One of the roommates who survived the quadruple homicide at an off-campus residence near the University of Idaho is fighting a subpoena from the accused killer to testify at his preliminary hearing.
Bethany Funke, who lived at the off-campus residence at the time of the murders but now lives in Nevada, is arguing through her attorney that she shouldn’t have to testify at the preliminary hearing or during the trial, NewsNation reported. The subpoena was issued on April 11, but Funke’s attorney moved to quash it ten days later, arguing that it was “improperly issued” because a hearing must be held first to determine if Funke can be required to testify.
“There is no authority for an Idaho criminal defendant to summon a Nevada witness to Idaho for preliminary hearing,” the motion says, according to NewsNation. “There is also no authority for an Idaho criminal defendant to summon a Nevada witness to an Idaho matter without a hearing.”
Funke’s attorney also argued in the motion that a “preliminary hearing is not meant to become a mini-trial due to its limited purpose in deciding of probable cause.”
A source close to the victims’ families previously told NewsNation that Funke was the only roommate living in the basement at the time of the murders and did not discover the bodies, nor did she go upstairs after her roommates were killed.
Idaho Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall on March 24 ruled that Funke “may” be a material witness for the case and thus would be required to attend the preliminary hearing scheduled for June 28.
The accused killer, who will not be named per Daily Wire policy, allegedly murdered Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, back on November 13 at their off-campus home. The suspect was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania six weeks after the four friends were stabbed to death.
An ID belonging to someone at the house where the students were killed was reportedly found in the car of the man arrested for the crimes.
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Police haven’t confirmed who the ID belongs to due to a gag order in place, but NewsNation reported that it belongs to someone who lived in the house. A search warrant unsealed earlier this year stated that police had seized IDs from the 28-year-old man suspected of the murders but have not provided additional details.
“It’s a big deal. That is a smoking license,” retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told NewsNation on Thursday. “Just like the sheath was a smoking sheath found next to Maddie with his DNA on that clasp, it’s the same thing in this situation. Why would he have an ID related to one of those people from that house?”
More than 60 warrants have also been served to major companies and banks in connection to the murders, including Amazon, DoorDash, Reddit, and the owner of dating sites such as Tinder and OkCupid. The contents of the warrants are “sealed and redacted” as part of the murder case against the suspect.
Monroe County First Assistant Michael Mancuso told BRC 13 that when the suspect was arrested, he “was found awake in the kitchen area dressed in shorts and a shirt [and] wearing latex medical type gloves and apparently was taking his personal trash and putting it into … separate zip lock baggies.”
Mancuso implied that the suspect was removing the trash to conceal his DNA. Investigators had been surveilling the home for weeks prior to the suspect’s arrest, and during that time, they searched the trash cans outside.
“A trash pull that was done days before recovered DNA profiles but not from him, only from his family members,” Mancuso told the outlet.