An FBI surveillance team tasked with tracking suspected quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger as he drove across the country lost him for 'several alarming hours'.
Authorities had planned to keep a close eye on the criminology student, 28, as he and his dad traveled more than 2,500 miles back to Pennsylvania for the holidays.
Kohberger and his father, Michael, left Pullman, Washington, where he was studying at Washington State University but was nearly immediately lost by the FBI.
The pair had just pulled out of the parking lot of his graduate housing before he vanished from the sight of police – before being pulled over twice as he made his way back to the family home.
A Hancock County Sheriff's Department confirmed Kohberger was pulled over by a deputy at around 10:41 a.m. on December 15.
Authorities had planned to keep a close eye on the criminology student, 28, as he and his dad traveling more than 2,5000 miles back to Pennsylvania for the holidays
Kohberger and his father Michael left Pullman, Washington, where he was studying at Washington State University, but was nearly immediately lost by the FBI
Kohberger was pulled over twice within nine minutes while driving along I-70 in December, looking more concerned on the second occasion.
Sources have since told Howard Blum, who is penning a true-crime book on the horrific slayings, that the 'chief suspect in a quadruple homicide that had shocked the nation had seemingly vanished.'
He said that law enforcement let on to the potentially disastrous slip-up 'with a bristle of embarrassment.'
Blum added: 'It would be a disaster—not just professionally, but also for their own peace of mind.'
It also meant that the white Hyundai Elantra that officers painstakingly tracked down and linked him to the murders in the first place had also vanished.
Kohberger also reportedly took an ‘indirect route home’ with Michael telling a friend it was one that ‘made little sense’.
This FBI surveillance quickly went from ‘panic to despair’ according to Blum, who added that they only picked him up again after an automatic license plate reader picked up his car in Colorado.
Kohberger and his vehicle were picked up 900 miles after the cops initially lost them – around 15 hours from when they set off.
The crime took place on November 13 miles from where Kohberger was arrested. His father flew to meet his son in Washington and drove with him back to their Pennsylvania home
Two stops by Indiana Police also left the FBI ‘frustrated and angry’, insisting that they were not ordered to pull him over by lead investigators.
They feared Kohberger could flee or be arrested too soon if local cops recognized the car from appeals.
However, on both occasions, the suspected killer was let go, which allowed the agents to follow the car back to the Pocono Mountains.
A SWAT Team later swooped on the property, arresting Kohberger and raiding the home for evidence after FBI agents spotted him taking out the trash with surgical gloves on.
Those tracking him were also tasked with tracking Kohberger so they could arrest him as soon as a warrant was issued, as well as trying to get hold of an object to compare DNA to a sample found at the scene.
Law enforcement saw the suspect multiple times outside of his parents' $250,000 Pennsylvania home wearing surgical gloves.
Kohberger was also seen cleaning the inside and outside of his car, with a source adding that he didn't 'miss an inch'.
And he was reportedly spotted taking out trash to his neighbors' bins at around 4am – the contents were recovered by officers.
Officers called to the scene of the bloody crime on November 13 quickly discovered a K-Bar knife sheath next to the bodies of Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Unsealed court documents show the painstaking work done by officers, who matched the DNA found on the sheath to Kohberger's by comparing it to his father's DNA – which was a 99.9998 percent match.
He has been charged with the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13.
English (United States) ·