Nearly four years after the Idaho murder case involving the killing of four University of Idaho students that shocked the country, surviving roommate Bethany Funke has made a return to social media with a TikTok post that drew emotional reactions online. The post, highlighted by Perez Hilton on his blog, featured a Bob Ross-inspired painting accompanied by Olivia Dean’s song I’ve Seen It.
The painting showed a peaceful landscape with a river flowing through trees beneath a pink evening sky. In his reaction, Perez Hilton described the artwork as “beautiful” and “so, so symbolic,” expressing hope that Funke had found some peace after years of trauma and public attention surrounding the Idaho murder case.
Bethany Funke was one of two surviving roommates present in the house on November 13, 2022, when University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were killed.
While the recent TikTok did not address the case directly, the post attracted attention because of the highly public nature of the Idaho murder case and Funke’s limited public presence since the tragedy.
Bethany Funke, the Idaho murder victim’s roommate, previously spoke about guilt and trauma
Bethany Funke had largely remained out of public view following the Idaho murder case, though she spoke publicly during the sentencing proceedings involving Bryan Kohberger in July 2025. According to E! News coverage published on July 23, 2025, Funke described the long emotional impact of surviving the attack and the guilt she carried afterward.
In a victim impact statement read in court, she said she had lost not only friends but also “a sister.” Funke recalled waking on the morning of November 13, 2022, without understanding what had happened inside the house. She explained that she initially woke up with a severe toothache, contacted her father for advice, took medication, and went back to sleep.
Later, she said she struggled with overwhelming guilt after learning what had happened. In her statement, she said,
“I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what had happened and not calling right away.”
Bethany Funke also explained that, despite understanding that a different response would not have changed the outcome, she continued to wrestle with survivor’s guilt.
She described the aftermath as emotionally devastating. According to her statement, she found it difficult to face the Idaho murder victims’ families and feared her own presence might intensify their pain because she survived while her friends did not.
Bethany Funke additionally revealed that she and her family dealt with intense public scrutiny following the killings. She said they received hateful messages and death threats while also being pursued by media attention during a period when they were still processing grief.
“The media harassed not just me but also my family. People showed up at our house, they called my phone, my parents’ phones, other family members phone- and we were chased while I was still trying to survive emotionally and grieve”
What happened in the Idaho murders case?
According to information detailed in E! News, the four University of Idaho students, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, were killed during the early hours of November 13, 2022, at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Goncalves and Mogen had spent part of the evening at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin had attended a fraternity event before everyone returned to the house by around 2 a.m.
Two roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, were also inside the house that night and survived. According to text messages unsealed in March 2025, according to E! News, Mortensen and Funke attempted to contact their roommates after Mortensen reported seeing a masked man inside the house.
“No one is answering,” Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m., before later sending messages asking her roommates to respond.
Authorities later connected Bryan Kohberger to the case after DNA found on a knife sheath recovered at the scene led investigators to him. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022.
The Idaho murder case ended with Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea
The Idaho murder case reached a major turning point in 2025 after Bryan Kohberger accepted a plea agreement.
According to details outlined in E! News reporting, Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of murder and one burglary charge related to the deaths of the victims Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
The plea agreement canceled what had been expected to become a closely watched murder trial. Kohberger ultimately received four consecutive life sentences along with an additional prison term related to burglary charges.
Questions surrounding motive remained unanswered even after the guilty plea. Kohberger admitted responsibility for the killings but did not explain why the students had been targeted.
The case had generated years of national interest because of both the brutal nature of the crime and the extensive investigation that followed.
Investigators later said Bryan Kohberger’s digital behavior became an important piece of evidence
New reporting published by The Independent on April 20, 2026, offered additional details about the Idaho murder investigation and how authorities examined Bryan Kohberger’s digital activity. FBI supervisory special agent Jeff Tanzola explained that investigators initially found very little evidence on Kohberger’s electronic devices because significant amounts of data had been removed.
Investigators said Kohberger appeared to create deliberate gaps in his digital activity, including during the timeframe prosecutors linked to the murders. According to forensic experts involved in the investigation, one period of complete inactivity occurred on the night of November 13, 2022.
The forensic team later concluded that the lack of activity itself became significant. Investigators determined that Bryan Kohberger had intentionally disabled Wi-Fi and cellular services before powering off his phone during the period when the murders took place.
Bethany Funke’s recent return to TikTok came without commentary about the case itself. Still, because of her connection to one of the most closely followed criminal investigations in recent memory, even a quiet post about art quickly became a moment that many online viewed through the lens of survival, grief, and moving forward.
Edited by Devangee Halder
