Bryan Kohberger was stopped by police minutes from Idaho murder victims’ home late at night in August

At the time of the August incident, Mr Kohberger was driving his white Hyundai Elantra – the same vehicle that would later be at the centre of the investigation into the murders

Suspected murderer Bryan Kohberger was pulled over by police late at night in his Hyundai Elantra just minutes from the home where he allegedly knifed four students to death three months later.

A citation from Latah County Sheriff’s Office, obtained by The Independent, reveals that the 28-year-old criminology PhD student was stopped by police on 21 August for failing to wear his seatbelt.

The traffic stop took place at around 11.40pm at the intersection of West Pullman Road and Farm Road in Moscow, Idaho.

It is not clear what Mr Kohberger was doing in the area at the time – just 1.7 miles and a five-minute drive from the home on King Road where Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death on 13 November after returning from a night out.

At the time of the August incident, Mr Kohberger was driving his white Hyundai Elantra – the same vehicle that would later be at the centre of the investigation into the murders and ultimately lead to his arrest.

Records show the case – an infraction – was closed in September.

Three months on from the August police stop, Mr Kohberger is accused of breaking into the King Road home and murdering the four students in the early hours of 13 November.

Officials have so far remained tightlipped about Mr Kohberger’s connections to the four victims and it is not clear if he knew or interacted with them prior to allegedly killing them.

As a criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, he lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman.

Prior to her death, Goncalves is said to have complained to friends and family about having a stalker. Throughout the investigation, Moscow Police said that they had been unable to verify the claims.

After Mr Kohberger’s arrest, Goncalves’ father Steve Goncalves said that he had found unidentified “connections” between his daughter and the murder suspect.

Bryan Kohberger is led out of court after his extradition hearing (via Reuters)

While details remain under wraps for now, police sources told CNN that the Washington State University PhD student and teaching assistant was linked to the savage attack when the white Hyundai Elantra seen near the crime scene was traced back to him. His DNA was then also matched through genetic geneology techniques to DNA found at the crime scene, the sources said.

Since early December, Moscow Police had been seeking the public’s help in tracking down a white Hyundai Elantra which had been spotted in the “immediate area” of the crime scene at the time of the murders.

Mr Kohberger’s vehicle was seized during his arrest in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania on Friday.

Bodycam footage has now also been released showing Mr Kohberger and his father being pulled over by police in the Elantra one month on from the murders – before being let go.

The incident unfolded on 15 December when the father and son were making the 2,500-mile journey from Washington state to Pennsylvania together so that they could spend the holidays as a family.

In the video, an Indiana State Police trooper is seen pulling the car over and approaching the vehicle where a startled Mr Kohberger is behind the wheel.

The officer tells Mr Kohberger and his father that he was trailing too closely behind a truck trailer as he drove.

The conversation is largely unintelligible due to road noise, but Mr Kohberger’s father is heard telling the officer that his son attends Washington State University and that there had been a shooting there recently.

One day earlier on 14 December, a man had barricaded himself in an apartment near WSU and threatened to kill his two roommates before being killed in a shootout with police.

Investigators began searching for a white Hyundai Elantra in early December (City of Moscow Police Department)

Mr Kohberger’s concern over the shooting at his son’s college indicates his lack of awareness that his son would soon be arrested for a quadruple murder.

The father and son also tell the officer that they have just been pulled over by another trooper. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed it also carried out a stop on the suspect’s car that day.

The Indiana State Trooper told Mr Kohberger and his father that he was not giving them a ticket or warning but urged them to be “giving yourself plenty of room” on the road.

Indiana State Police said that, at the time of the stop, the trooper had no information linking Mr Kohberger to the murders in Moscow.

It was sometime during this cross-country journey that investigators began tracking Mr Kohberger’s movements.

After days of surveillance, a team of agents swooped on the Kohberger’s Pennsylvania family home in Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County, and arrested him for the murders.

Now, Mr Kohberger is on his way back to Moscow, where he will face the murder charges.

The suspect was picked up from the Monroe County jail around 6am ET on Wednesday, beginning his transfer into Idaho custody.

His extradition comes after he waived his extradition rights in his extradition hearing in Monroe County on Tuesday.

Once he is back in Idaho, key details about the case are expected to be made public, including what exactly it was that led investigators to suspect the criminology student of carrying out the brutal murders that shocked the small border town of Moscow.

Bryan Kohberger and his father in bodycam when they were pulled over by Indiana State Police on 15 December (ISP)

Under Idaho state law, officials are limited about what they can release before a suspect makes their initial court appearance in the state.

The probable cause affidavit is currently sealed and cannot be unsealed until Mr Kohberger is returned to Idaho and is served with his arrest warrant.

Monroe County First District Attorney Michael Mancuso hinted in the press conference that the affidavit contains damning evidence as he suggested that Mr Kohberger’s eagerness to learn what information investigators may have was behind his decision to waive his extradition rights.

“I definitely believe one of the reasons he decided to waive his extradition rights was a ‘need to know’ what was in the documents,” Mr Mancuso said.

Following the extradition hearing, a gag order was issued banning law enforcement from revealing information about the murders and Mr Kohberger’s case.

Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall made the unusual move to issue a non-dissemination order barring investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and members of both the prosecution and the defence from sharing any new information about the investigation or the suspect before a verdict is reached at trial.

Under the ruling, authorities can still quote from or refer to “the public record” without making further comment.

Moscow Police Department said in a statement that, due to the order, it will no longer be communicating with the public or the media regarding the case.

The gag order is not expected to impact the release of the probable cause affidavit – a document that will cast light on what evidence investigators have connecting Mr Kohberger to the slayings.

Mr Kohberger moved to Washington to begin the criminology graduate program at Washington State University in August and has just completed his first semester.

Before this, he studied criminology at DeSales University – first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, took this photo together hours before they died (Instagram/Kaylee Goncalves)

While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He also carried out a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime”.

He reached out for participants on Reddit, with the chilling survey resurfacing in the wake of his arrest.

“In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience,” the post said.

His arrest marked a huge break in the seven-week-long investigation into the murders which rocked the small college town back on 13 November.

The four victims were stabbed to death in their beds with a fixed-blade knife at around 3am or 4am that morning.

Two of the victims were found on the second floor and two on the third floor of the three-storey student rental – a stone’s throw from the University of Idaho campus.

Two surviving roommates slept through the attack in bedrooms on the first floor. The students’ bodies were discovered at around midday.