Body camera footage from two police forces shows both times accused killer Bryan Kohberger was pulled over in the same type of car that Moscow police in Idaho had flagged as being at the scene of four killings.
Kohberger has since been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and burglary and is being extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho.
Kohberger, 28, is a PhD student and teacher’s assistant at Washington State University, a short drive away from the University of Idaho campus where four college students were brutally stabbed to death in their beds on Nov. 13, 2022. He studies criminal justice and criminology.
Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who is representing Kohberger, told ABC News the doctoral student and his father were driving across the country to the family’s home in Pennsylvania for the holidays when they were pulled over by law enforcement twice on Dec. 15.
In body camera footage from Indiana State Police, Kohberger is seen in the driver’s seat of a white Hyundai Elantra, which just a week before, Moscow police had flagged as a vehicle of interest in their investigation. At the time, police said they were looking for the occupant of a 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that may have been near the scene of the off-campus rental home on the night that four college students were killed.
“At the time of this stop, there was no information available on a suspect for the crime in Idaho, to include identifying information or any specific information related to the license plate state or number of the white Hyundai Elantra which was being reported in the media to have been seen in or around where the crime occurred,” Indiana State Police said.
The Indiana police officer pulled the car over for following another vehicle too closely, but did not issue a ticket for the infraction.
“The Trooper, having learned the two had been stopped minutes before by a Deputy from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, who he knew was working just down the interstate from him, used his discretion and released the two men with a verbal warning,” state police added.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that one of its deputies stopped Kohberger just nine minutes before Indiana police did, and let him off with a warning for speeding. The sheriff’s office also released bodycam footage of their deputy stopping Kohberger’s vehicle.
Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec. 31 for the killing of University of Idaho roommates Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin. He agreed to be extradited to Idaho and was on a flight back to the state on Wednesday, CNN reported.
While authorities have yet to release key details in the case, such as motive, police said Kohberger’s DNA was found at the home where the students were killed.
Kohberger reportedly studied under criminology professor Katherine Ramsland during his master’s degree studies at DeSales University, according to Fox News. Ramsland is an expert on the serial killer Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK Killer.
Rader’s daughter, Kerri Rawson, posted on Twitter about the potential connection between her notorious father and the Idaho suspect, saying it made her sick to her stomach.
“Ramsland has, or did have a close academic relationship and friendship with my father,” Rawson wrote. “I have ongoing concerns, knowing how common it is for criminology students, true crime fans, and others to correspond regularly with my father, that Kohberger could have been in contact with my father at some point.”
She notes that she doesn’t have proof that the two ever met and Ramsland has not made a public statement about Kohberger.