Bryan Kohberger, the criminal justice student accused of stabbing four college students to death in a rental house in Idaho, was stopped by traffic officers on his way to Pennsylvania twice in one day but the officers let him go.
Video from body cameras shows the 28-year-old Kohberger’s encounter with police while traveling with his father to celebrate Christmas.
The defendant’s own lawyer, Jason LaBar, confirmed to the media that the intervention took place sometime between December 13 and 16. The legal advocate said a visit to his parents’ home in Albrightsville had been in the works for months.
“I only know that he was arrested in Indiana almost back to back. I think that once he went for speed and another time for hitting a car in front of him,” the lawyer told KTVB.
The authorities in Indiana indicated that the intervention was carried out on December 15 at about 10:50 a.m.
In the footage, Kohberger is seen in the driver’s seat with his father in the passenger seat. Both were traveling to Pennsylvania from Pullman, where Kohberger was studying for his Ph.D. at Washington State University.
Both tell the officer that he had previously been detained by a Hancock County Sheriff’s Department officer.
“I am not going to give you another ticket or warning if you have already been arrested. Just make sure you keep enough space,” the state official said.
Just a week before this encounter, specifically, on December 7, Moscow police had asked for the public’s help to find the owner of a 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra who would be connected to the murders.
Despite the public call, the Indiana State Police claimed in written statements quoted by local and national media that they were not aware of that information.
“At the time of this arrest, there was no information available from a suspect in the crime in Idaho that included identifying information or any specific information related to the state license of the car or number of the white Hyundai Elantra that has been reported in the press as the one that was seen in or in the vicinity of where the crime occurred,” the office said.
The video was released by the Indiana State Police shortly after Kohberger waived his extradition rights at a hearing Tuesday in a Pennsylvania court.
Kohberger agreed to be transferred to Idaho, the state where he was arrested last week.
Kohberger’s attorney had already announced his decision not to fight the transfer petition, calling today’s hearing a “formalty.”
Press reports indicate that the suspect was identified by the Police through a DNA analysis using public databases.
The murder weapon has not yet been recovered, but authorities believe it was a fixed-edge knife. However, the Hyundai was impounded. The car led investigators to look for Kohberger at her parents’ house. At the moment, the authorities have not disclosed the possible motive for the crime, since the accusation is sealed until the suspect appears before an Idaho court.
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