Bryan Kohberger’s Secret Trial Plan: The Survivors He Planned to Call for His Defense
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 908 Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 13 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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. |
| 0:02.8 | Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:06.3 | You know, the scariest thing about Brian Koberger isn't what he did. |
| 0:13.5 | It's what he planned to do next. |
| 0:16.1 | Because before he even took that plea deal that spared him the death penalty, Koberger and his defense |
| 0:22.7 | team were building a trial strategy that if you can believe it, would have dragged the survivors, |
| 0:31.4 | the friends, the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims onto the stand. |
| 0:35.7 | For him. |
| 0:37.3 | Not for justice. Not the stand. For him. Not for justice. |
| 0:39.2 | Not for closure. |
| 0:41.0 | For him. |
| 0:43.8 | Let that sink in for a second. |
| 0:47.3 | Two women who lived through that nightmare in Moscow, Idaho, Dylan Mortensen, and Bethany Funk, |
| 0:54.4 | would have been forced to look the man who slaughtered their friends in the eye |
| 0:59.4 | and answer his lawyer's questions. |
| 1:01.7 | Because according to a newly unsealed filing, |
| 1:04.5 | Brian Coburger planned to call them as defense witnesses. |
| 1:10.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:11.8 | That's how twisted this nearly became. |
| 1:16.3 | When you look at the actual list, 138 people in total, you realize this wasn't going to be a simple, reasonable doubt defense. |
| 1:24.3 | This was going to be a siege, a psychological chess match. Mortensen, Funk, Emily |
| 1:30.1 | Alden, Hunter Johnson, Jack DeCore, Kaylee Gonzalez's ex-boyfriend, names that belong to the very |
... |
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