INDIANAPOLIS – The Federal Bureau of Investigation is pushing back against reports that it directed law enforcement agencies in Indiana to pull over Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger.
Police stopped Kohberger on I-70 eastbound in Hancock County on two occasions about ten minutes apart on Dec. 15. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and Indiana State Police both released body camera footage of the encounters.
In both cases, police informed Kohberger that he’d been stopped for following another vehicle too closely. He was let off with a warning.
Kohberger and his father were stopped in Indiana while driving from Washington state to Pennsylvania for the holidays. They were traveling in a white Hyundai Elantra.
Reports later emerged that an FBI surveillance team tracking Kohberger on his cross-country drive had directed law enforcement in Indiana to stop Kohberger so they could get video of him and his hands.
The FBI said that wasn’t the case.
“Contrary to reports, the December 15th traffic stops conducted on the vehicle being driven by Bryan Kohberger in Indiana were not requested or directed by the FBI,” the agency said in a statement distributed to media outlets Thursday.
Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students: 21-year-olds Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, and 20-year-olds Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on Nov. 13.
In the probable cause affidavit released to the public Thursday, investigators said DNA, cell phone data and a white Hyundai Elantra linked Kohberger to the crime.
