Indiana law enforcement officials say two traffic stops of University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger and his father as they traveled across the country to the Kohberger home in Pennsylvania were not connected to the investigation into the November 13 murders.
Kohberger, 28, was pulled over twice within 10 minutes along Interstate 70 east of Indianapolis on December 15, as CrimeOnline reported. The first stop, at 10:41 a.m., was conducted by a Hancock County Sheriff’s deputy, and the second was conducted by an Indiana State trooper. Both stops were for following too closely, and the officers sent the Kohbergers on their way with a warning in both cases.
Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home on December 30 for the murders of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves.
Sources later reported that law enforcement had been tracking the pair as they drove across the country and that the FBI requested the Indiana traffic stops, possibly to get a look at the suspect’s hands.
The FBI denied those reports, and now, Indiana officials have done so as well.
Hancock County Sheriff’s Captain Robert Harris told the Idaho Statesman that both stops were routine drug interdiction checks. The first stop, by Sheriff’s Sgt. Nick Ernstes, was “simply a part of his routine day,” Harris said.
“His only task was to seek out and stop vehicles to look for drug trafficking and other interstate criminal activity,” Harris said, noting that the Kohbergers were in a vehicle with Washington state plates. “He did not see any of the typical indicators to warrant further investigation for illegal drug activity, so he released the suspect with a verbal warning for following another vehicle too closely.”
Harris said that Ernstes was unaware of any “be on the lookouts” about the car when he made the stop and “was not directed to stop the vehicle by anyone, and to our knowledge the car was not under any surveillance.”
An Indiana State Police spokesperson declined to discuss the traffic stop or the department’s drug interdiction program, but a police report on the incident indicated that Trooper Christopher Waltz, who made the second stop, reported noticing the white Elantra following a semi-trailer at an “unsafe distance.”
“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,” state police said in a January 3 press release.
Former New York Times reporter Howard Blum, who is writing a book about the Idaho murders, published an article on the online site Air Mail in January citing sources who reportedly told him the FBI was tracking Kohberger’s every move by mid-December, including the Indiana traffic stops. He told the Statesman he stands by his reporting.
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[Featured image: Screenshot/YouTube via WTHR]
