Bryan Kohberger’s Secret Trial Plan: The Survivors He Planned to Call for His Defense-WEEK IN REVIEW
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
According to newly unsealed court filings, Kohberger planned to call friends of the victims — and even the survivors themselves — as defense witnesses. Among them: Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, the two young women who lived through that horrific night in November 2022. Also on the list were Emily Alandt, Hunter Johnson, and Kaylee Goncalves’ ex-boyfriend, Jack DeCoeur.
Imagine it — the two surviving roommates, who lost four of their closest friends, being forced to testify for the man accused of killing them.
That was the reality Kohberger’s defense was preparing for before he struck a plea deal in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty.
In this episode, Tony Brueski breaks down what that trial might have looked like — and how Kohberger’s strategy reveals far more about his psychology than any confession ever could. Why would a killer want his survivors on the stand? What kinds of questions would they have faced? And what kind of manipulation drives someone to keep controlling people even after their arrest?
This deep-dive dissects the legal and psychological layers of the case: from the 138 witnesses Kohberger planned to call, to the devastating emotional toll that trial would have inflicted on every surviving friend and family member.
Because for Kohberger, control wasn’t just about life and death — it was about owning the story.
And this time, he lost it.
🎧 Watch the full analysis now on Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski.
Subscribe for daily deep-dives into real crime, courtroom psychology, and the hidden human stories behind the headlines.
#BryanKohberger #IdahoMurders #DylanMortensen #BethanyFunke #HiddenKillersPodcast #TrueCrime #TonyBrueski #UniversityOfIdaho #JusticeForTheFour #CrimeAnalysis
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Looking for a true crime podcast that goes beyond the headlines. |
| 0:03.6 | When I interviewed her 20 years on, she said that Fred told her there were hundreds of bodies buried in Gloucester. |
| 0:11.4 | It's a deeply disturbed love story. |
| 0:14.7 | Join Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt and journalist Helen Fospero on true criminals, |
| 0:22.7 | a weekly deep dive into the cases that shook the world with insights so shocking they still haunt our imagination today. |
| 0:28.4 | This is True Criminals. |
| 0:31.9 | Hey, I'm Patrick. |
| 0:33.2 | And I'm Gillian. |
| 0:33.9 | We've been making the True Crime Obsessed podcast for almost nine years now. |
| 0:38.3 | Yeah, each week on TCO, we tell a riveting true crime story by recapping a documentary about the case. With nearly 400 million downloads and over 30,000 five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts, we can say with confidence that if you've never checked out true crime obsessed, now might be the time to give us a try. We cover the cases everyone is talking about and also highlight the cases that have been |
| 0:56.5 | underreported, overlooked, or forgotten. |
| 0:58.5 | Find True Crime Obsessed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. |
| 1:05.0 | Looking for a true crime podcast that goes beyond the headlines. |
| 1:08.5 | When I interviewed her 20 years on, she said that Fred told her |
| 1:12.5 | there were hundreds of bodies buried in Gloucester. It's a deeply disturbed love story. |
| 1:19.6 | Join Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt and journalist Helen Fospero on true criminals. |
| 1:25.9 | A weekly deep dive into the cases that shook the world, |
| 1:29.1 | with insights so shocking they still haunt our imagination today. |
| 1:33.4 | This is True Criminals. |
| 1:36.8 | Hey, I'm Patrick. |
| 1:38.2 | And I'm Jillian. |
| 1:38.8 | We've been making the True Crime Obsessed podcast for almost nine years now. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.