A California woman is defending the roommate who didn't call 911 after Bryan Kohberger allegedly killed four University of Idaho students – saying she reacted in a similar fashion after a rape at the University of Buffalo about 30 years ago.
Alanna Zabel, 50, of Santa Monica, was living in a three-story home with five Chi Omega sorority sisters in 1992 when one of them was brutally attacked and raped, the Independent reported.
When she entered the home she was overcome with an odd smell, which she discounted at first.
"I was drunk and didn't understand why it smelled weird and I just kind of crashed in my room," Zabel told the news outlet.
A short time later, she said, she heard someone enter her room briefly before leaving. She thought it was one of her roommates, but it turned out the intruder was the attacker.
The next morning, Zabel discovered her roommate, who was lying in a pool of blood that she didn't notice. "I had a really unique experience as I found my housemate and I didn't see the blood," she told the Independent. . “I just saw liquid. My friend was taking her pulse and I thought that she had choked on her own vomit. Right away I said it was vomit.
"Then when the paramedics arrived, they stepped into the room and said the word 'blood.' And in that millisecond the entire room was red," she added.
Zabel explained that her inability to register the blood at first was the result of a defense mechanism against trauma.