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Topics: Bryan Kohberger, Crime, US News, True crime
Emily Brown
Topics: Bryan Kohberger, Crime, US News, True crime
Newly released bodycam footage shows convicted killer Bryan Kohberger insisting he was an 'honest' man as he was pulled over by police months before he murdered four University of Idaho students.
Kohberger is now behind bars after being sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in November 2022.
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to the crimes, and prosecutors have detailed evidence which linked him to the scene, including surveillance footage of his car in the area around the Moscow house where the students lived.
But months before Kohberger entered the house in the middle of the night, bodycam footage captured by a Latah County sheriff’s deputy shows him being stopped for speeding on the Pullman-Moscow Highway.
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The road connects Idaho, where the students lived, to Washington, where Kohberger was living at the time of the killings. Prosecutors have reported that between July and November 2022, Kohberger’s phone pinged off the cell tower which also served the Idaho house 23 times, all between the hours of 10pm and 4am.
Filmed at 11:40pm in August 2022, the video shows the officer approaching Kohberger's car and finding the driver inside.
The officer informs Kohberger he was going 43mph in a 35mph zone, and asks him to hand over his license before questioning whether he was wearing his seatbelt, to which Kohberger admitted he wasn't.
"There's absolutely no point not being honest," the killer-to-be said.
The criminology student received a $10 ticket for failing to wear his seatbelt, and questioned whether it would have an impact on his insurance.
He then told the police officer: "Just for future reference, I'm obviously an honest person, right? I told you I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. When people lie to you about that, say I'd lied to you about that, right? [Do] you honestly go back and look at that?"
The officer responded to explain that he was trying to be vigilant with seat belt laws, which is why he'd asked Kohberger if he was wearing his. He then left Kohberger to drive away.
Four months later, Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022, at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania.
If the case had gone to trial, prosecutors explained their plans to show the bodycam footage to help establish Kohberger’s identity, phone number and the type of car he drove.
On the night of the crimes, Kohberger's phone was shut down in Pullman at around 2am. It wasn't turned on again until just before 5am, when it was traced to the Moscow area.