Was FBI tailing Bryan Kohberger cross-country? Why Indiana police stopping him twice

MOSCOW (Idaho Statesman) — Two December traffic stops by Indiana police of the man later charged with murdering four University of Idaho students were unrelated to any active surveillance or the search for a car similar to one the suspect drove, according to state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The heavily scrutinized stops of Bryan Kohberger a month after the November slayings were instead routine interstate drug trafficking prevention operations by two different Indiana police departments, law enforcement officials in the state told the Idaho Statesman.

Kohberger and his father were pulled over along eastbound Interstate 70 on Dec. 15 as they road-tripped more than 2,500 miles from Pullman, Washington, to eastern Pennsylvania. Kohberger, 28, at the time was a graduate student at Washington State University and driving his white 2015 Hyundai Elantra when Indiana police officers working independently made the two highway stops within 10 minutes just east of Indianapolis.

The stops were first revealed in early January, with each on suspicion of following too closely, police body-cam footage released at that time showed. Jason Labar, Kohberger’s previous public defender in Pennsylvania, told NBC’s “Today” show in January that he believed the back-to-back police stops were a “random coincidence.”

But a mix of news reports that cited anonymous sources and speculation on social media have persisted in alleging the FBI was tailing Kohberger, and asked that he be pulled over.

The FBI has maintained its agents were not involved in the stops, including this week in response to questions about the incidents from the Statesman. Sandra Barker, a Salt Lake City-based FBI spokesperson, pointed to past statements from the agency to underscore denials that it played any part in them.

“Contrary to reports, the Dec. 15 traffic stops conducted on the vehicle being driven by Bryan Kohberger in Indiana were not requested or directed by the FBI,” the FBI’s Indianapolis office said in January.

Instead, the stops by Indiana State Police and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office were separate drug interdiction checks, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told the Statesman. The bodycam of the stop can be viewed in the video player below.

“Dateline” on NBC was first to report that the traffic stops of Kohberger related to the Indiana law enforcement agencies’ drug trafficking operations. Barker declined to comment on the “Dateline” report.

Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ Pennsylvania home Dec. 30. He was flown to Idaho on Jan. 4 and remains in custody in Moscow in connection with the stabbing deaths of U of I seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, each 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20.

Former New York Times reporter Howard Blum was first to write in a January article for online publication Air Mail that the FBI was in mid-December already tracking Kohberger’s every move. Blum also is working on a forthcoming book about the Moscow homicides.

“Unknown to either the father or the son, the (FBI) had been determined to keep a watchful eye on the white Hyundai’s trek across America,” he wrote. “Only, sources in law enforcement would confide with a bristle of embarrassment, not long after the car had pulled out of … Pullman, Washington, they lost it.”

Blum told the Statesman he stands by his reporting.

The FBI doubled down in disputing Blum’s assertion, which relied upon unnamed law enforcement sources.

“There are anonymous sources providing false information to the media,” an FBI statement from February read. “Publishing of false information attributable to anonymous sources is not helpful to the case against Kohberger or to the American public.”

Indiana State Police Trooper Christopher Waltz pulled over the Kohbergers on Dec. 15 at about 10:50 a.m. just down the road from a prior stop by Sgt. Nick Ernstes with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, the two departments told the Statesman. Ernstes’ decision to stop the white Elantra with Washington state plates about 10 minutes earlier “was simply a part of his routine day,” and proactive drug checks were his exclusive assignment that morning, Hancock County Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Harris told the Statesman.

“His only task was to seek out and stop vehicles to look for drug trafficking and other interstate criminal activity,” Harris, the department spokesperson, said by email. “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.”

The Indiana State Police’s special investigations unit includes a drug enforcement section. Within that group is a full-time interdiction detail, according to a state website dedicated to drug addiction issues.

Indiana State Police spokesperson Capt. Ron Galaviz declined to answer questions about the department’s drug interception program or Waltz’s stop of Kohberger, citing department policy against publicly discussing operations. Waltz also declined a Statesman request for an interview through Galaviz.

But an Indiana State Police report from the incident obtained by the Statesman through a public records request confirmed Waltz was on duty at the time as part of the department’s drug enforcement section. He reported witnessing a white Elantra driving at an “unsafe distance” behind a semitrailer, which turned out to be about four miles from where the Kohbergers were pulled over just moments before.

Indiana State Police look for signs of possible drug trafficking while making routine traffic stops, according to a presentation on the agency’s drug interdiction program. Troopers are instructed to check if drivers have matching licenses for out-of-state plated vehicles, determine whether the driver and passenger know one another, and learn about where they are going and why.

“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,” the Indiana State Police said in a Jan. 3 press release.

On Dec. 7, 2022, about 3½ weeks after the students were found slain at a home on King Road, Moscow police asked for the public’s help finding a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra with an unknown license plate seen near the off-campus home in the early morning hours of Nov. 13.

“Investigators believe the occupant(s) of this vehicle may have critical information to share regarding this case,” Moscow police said in a news release.

After more review, a forensic examiner with the FBI decided the suspect’s vehicle could also be from 2014-2016, according to a probable cause affidavit for Kohberger’s arrest.

“On the day of the traffic stop, Sgt. Ernstes did not know about any Be-On-the-Lookouts from the Moscow Police Department,” said Harris, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson. “He was not directed to stop the vehicle by anyone, and to our knowledge the car was not under any surveillance.”

In an email to the Statesman, Blum said he’s still not entirely convinced the FBI wasn’t already watching Kohberger, regardless of the agency’s ongoing denials and the latest information about interstate drug prevention stops by Indiana police.

“Bottom line: It seems impossible to me that there was no tail on (Kohberger). My source says there was,” Blum said. “Nevertheless, I kinda feel that even when the case goes to trial we’ll never learn the full story of the events leading up to his arrest.