New video shows car resembling Bryan Kohberger's driving around the time of Idaho student murders
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Just after midnight on November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were tragically stabbed to death in their off-campus home while some were asleep. During this time, a neighbor’s security camera recorded a white car repeatedly circling the neighborhood before hastily leaving only 13 minutes later.

This previously unseen footage, obtained by “Dateline,” provides new insight into the chaotic events during the suspected time of the students’ murder.

In a two-hour special airing on Friday, the show features photographs and digital content that follow suspect Bryan Kohberger’s movements and online activity both prior to and following the shocking killings that left the small town of Moscow, Idaho, reeling.

Read more on this story at NBCNews.com and watch “Dateline” at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT Friday or check local listings.

Investigators referred to a white Hyundai Elantra, believed to be from 2011 to 2013, as a critical clue as they solicited the public’s help in finding a suspect.

It also remains one of several key pieces of evidence, including DNA and cellphone data, that prosecutors say ties Kohberger to the crime scene. Kohberger drove a white 2015 Elantra.

Cellphone tower data and phone records also obtained by “Dateline” indicate that an FBI cellphone expert said Kohberger’s phone connected to a cell tower providing coverage within 100 meters of the rental house at 1122 King Road. It connected 23 visits over a four-month period, all after dark. One visit was just six days before the killings.

Bryan Kohberger and his father were stopped by Indiana police on Dec. 15, 2022, for following a vehicle too closely.
Bryan Kohberger and his father were stopped by Indiana police on Dec. 15, 2022, for following a vehicle too closely.Hancock County Sheriff’s Department

Meanwhile, phone data from Kohberger’s phone and in the possession of law enforcement include internet searches in the weeks before and after the killings on serial killer Ted Bundy and searches for pornography with the words “forced,” “passed out,” “drugged,” and “sleeping.”

Kohberger, who at the time was a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University, was eventually arrested in late December 2022 while he was back at his family’s home in Pennsylvania.

A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in May 2023 on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

Defense lawyers have said Kohberger maintains his innocence. During a court hearing in Boise last month, they teased the possibility of an “alternate suspect.”

Judge Steven Hippler said the defense must present any such evidence by this month, ahead of Kohberger’s murder trial planned to start Aug. 11.

Kohberger, 30, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Latah County prosecutors have not detailed a motive for the attack, and a gag order prevents many involved in the case from speaking publicly.

Kohberger’s lawyers have said in court filings that Kohberger would take drives alone late at night, often hiking or stargazing, and contend cellphone data shows he was not near the crime scene when the killings occurred.

Bryan Kohberger.
Bryan Kohberger arrives for a hearing in Latah County District Court on Sept. 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho.Ted S. Warren / Pool / Getty Images file

How Kohberger may have known any of the victims — housemates Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Xana Kernodle, 20; as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20 — is unclear.

In June 2022, Kohberger moved to Pullman, Washington, to study at Washington State University, about 8 miles west of Moscow. Ten days after moving in, he was invited to a pool party in Moscow, where attendees told “Dateline” they had awkward interactions with Kohberger.

One former female graduate student said Kohberger put his number in her phone and then texted her the next day mentioning how they had chatted about hiking. The text read in part: “I really enjoy that activity so please let me know.”

“The wording of the text, as I look back on it, is kind of peculiar,” the woman said. “It was almost overly formal.”

When the fall semester began, Kohberger, who also served as a teaching assistant, had other interactions that stuck out to fellow classmates and teachers, some of whom made complaints that led a dean to discuss his professional behavior.

Prosecutors say DNA was discovered on a knife sheath located on a bed next to Mogen’s body and testing found it to be a statistical match to Kohberger’s. Investigators had used genetic genealogy to identify a source, and then pulled trash outside of the Kohberger family home in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors also contend Kohberger purchased a Ka-Bar knife from Amazon eight months before the murders on March 20, and that it was the same type of sheath that comes with a Ka-Bar found in the victims’ home.

Defense lawyers have said during court hearings that there are other unidentified male DNA samples at the crime scene, suggesting the possibility of other suspects. In recent weeks, prosecutors and the defense have argued over what should be admissible at Kohberger’s trial, including 911 calls and text messages shared by two housemates who were home at the time of the killings but were physically unharmed.

Hippler last month also said he would allow a surviving housemate to testify that she saw a masked intruder with “bushy eyebrows” inside the home. The defense sought to have that description barred, arguing it would result in unfair prejudice toward Kohberger.

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