According to reports, the FBI tracked Bryan Kohberger and his father as they drove between Washington State University and Pennsylvania, asking Indiana police to stop him in order to obtain hand prints.
It is likely that investigators were looking for visible signs of injury on the suspect after he was said to have used a large knife to commit the bloody crime.
Law enforcement sources told Fox News that an FBI surveillance team monitored the pair during their cross-country drive last month, during which they were stopped twice for following too closely.
Sources told the outlet that the feds asked Indiana state police to stop a white Hyundai Elantra on Dec. 15 because they were seeking video images of the murder suspect’s hands.
The autopsies of the four slain victims revealed that some had defensive wounds and that each had been stabbed repeatedly.
Several online sleuths speculated that the focus was on the hands of the alleged killer.
“This is interesting: looking for size, cuts, bruising, etc?” one user tweeted.
“Just me seeing things or are these cuts/brusies (SIC) on Bryan Kohberger via 2nd police stop body cam?? Check out the ‘marks’ on BK’s hands/wrists from the video I saw on @TMZ. Are these cuts/brusies?” wrote another.
It was suggested by another user that the cops stopped Kohberger a second time since they were unable to obtain clear images of his hands the first time.
“His hands were not filmed properly during the 1st stop, so they pulled him over again, 9-minutes later,” according to the user.
According to a third, “If this doesn’t restore your faith in the FBI… I mean, this is incredible thinking!”
A case was still being built against Kohberger, 28, who was arrested at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and charged with four counts of murder.
He was stopped twice in quick succession by police for following too closely on I-70 in Hancock County outside of Indianapolis, officials said.
In both encounters, the officers issued a verbal warning to Kohberger and his father, Michael Kohberger, 67.
In a recently released bodycam video of one of the traffic stops, the pair appear jumpy as they discuss a shooting at Kohberger’s university with a Hancock County Sheriff’s office officer.
It was earlier that same day that a SWAT team killed a man near Washington State University Pullman, where Kohberger had recently completed his first semester as a PhD student. This man had threatened to murder his roommates.
The incident was unrelated to the murders that occurred at the University of Idaho.
He was arrested Friday in connection with the fatal stabbing of Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13.
Kohberger appeared in Pennsylvania court on Tuesday, where he agreed to be extradited to Idaho. It is expected that he will appear in court on Thursday after arriving in Idaho late Wednesday.
Following his Idaho court appearance, prosecutors will be able to make public his probable cause affidavit, as required by local law.
The extradition attorney for Kohberger has indicated he intends to plead not guilty, and his family has urged the public not to prejudge the suspect.