By Antonio Planas and Matthew Mata —
NBC News
On two occasions, Indiana authorities detained the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students and let him go, both times on the same day, authorities said Tuesday.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was held about two weeks before his arrest in Pennsylvania.
On December 15, deputies pulled over Kohberger in Hancock County, Indiana, for "following too closely" on Interstate 70, the sheriff's office said in a statement Tuesday.
Kohberger was driving and carrying a passenger, who was not publicly identified, when the Hyundai Elantra was pulled over around 10:40 a.m., the agency said.
He was released with a verbal warning.
The young man accused of murdering four students will be extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho
Jan 4, 202302:02
“At the time of the traffic stop, there was no information available on a suspect in the crimes in Idaho, to include identifying information or any specific information related to the status of the license plate or number of the white Hyundai Elantra that was being reported. in the media of having been seen in the vicinity of where the crime occurred," the statement said.
And nine minutes after sheriff's deputies pulled him over, Indiana State Police stopped the vehicle, authorities said Tuesday.
Once again, Kohberger, who was carrying a passenger, was released with a warning for driving too closely, state police added.
The state agency noted that when a police officer made the stop, no information was available on a suspect in the Idaho murders or any information related to the Hyundai's license plate number.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger leaves court following an extradition hearing in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, January 3, 2023.MARK MAKELA/REUTERS
“The deputy, learning that the two had been stopped minutes earlier by a Hancock County Sheriff's Department deputy, who he knew was working just down the interstate, used his discretion and released the two men with a verbal warning," state police said.
The arrests in Indiana came about a month after Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Wash.;
Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho;
Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona;
and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho, were killed in a home near the University of Idaho campus.
Last week, about 2,500 miles away, Kohberger was pulled over by Pennsylvania State Police in the deaths of the students.
He appeared briefly in a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, court on Tuesday and waived extradition, paving the way for him to face murder charges in Idaho.
Authorities said he will be charged with four counts of first-degree murder and robbery when he is returned to Idaho.
Law enforcement have not publicly released crucial information about the case and the arrest, such as the possible motive, Kohberger's relationships with the victims or the evidence that led police to locate him.
Michael Mancuso, Monroe County's first assistant district attorney, told a news conference after Kohberger's court appearance Tuesday that authorities had obtained three search warrants and the attached affidavits remained under wraps.
One of the warrants was to collect DNA from Kohberger, another was for the Hyundai Elantra, and a third was for the home of Kohberger's parents.
Kohberger was taken into custody there without incident, according to authorities.
Kohberger, a doctoral student in the department of criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, 9 miles from Moscow, Idaho, was known for making “creepy” and inappropriate comments to employees and customers at a Pennsylvania brewery, he said. the business owner.