Idaho Murders: Mystery Car Spotted Passing Reporter - Was This Bryan Kohberger?
Police have revealed that accused murderer Bryan Kohberger’s vehicle drove past the scene of November’s quadruple murder in Moscow, Idaho, after the crime, leading to speculation that glimpses of the white Hyundai Elantra may have made their way onto news video feeds from the scene.
On Nov. 13, the bodies of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found in a rented house in Moscow, Idaho.
An affidavit used to charge Kohberger said that police believe the phone — which they placed at the crime scene around the time of the killings — returned more than once. Kohberger’s phone is referred to in the affidavit as the “8458 phone.”
“[T]he 8458 Phone utilized cellular resources that would provide coverage to the King Road Residence between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m.,” the affidavit said.
The car was recorded in a KTVB-TV video recorded on Nov. 14. At about three minutes into the video, a car appears in the upper right corner of the video.
John Kelly, a criminal profiler, said returning to a crime scene is not unusual for a murderer, according to Fox News.
“There are no definite statistics, because every crime is different. What they get out of it is they relive it – they feel exhilarated by returning to the crime scene,” he said.
Speculation has also raged that Kohberger attended a vigil held for the slain students.
The affidavit said Kohberger’s phone was in the area often before the murder.
The affidavit said the phone was near the rented house where the students were killed “on at least twelve occasions prior to November 13.”
“All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit revealed that according to footage police obtained, what appeared to be the same white Hyundai Elantra passed by the house where the murders took place four times between 3:29 a.m. and 4:04 a.m. on the day of the killings, according to the New York Post.
The vehicle was seen at about 4:20 a.m. leaving the area of the house.
According to Fox News, police have found a footprint inside the house where the murders took place.
The affidavit released last week said police discovered a print similar to one of a Vans sneaker. The affidavit did not say if it was matched to any shoes.
Although Kohberger was photographed with Vans sneakers last week, one expert said those are not the same as what investigators would have found.
“They could be the prison shoes that they gave him, the slip-ons, because they don’t want you taking off the laces and hanging yourself,” Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who is a retired New York City Police Department sergeant.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
