Emails reveal how campus police tracked down Bryan Kohberger’s car weeks before he became a suspect

Internal emails recently released by Washington State University revealed how campus police tracked down Bryan Kohberger’s car weeks before he became a suspect in the murder of four Idaho college students.

In an email to Washington State University Police Department staff, then-chief Gary Jenkins outlined how Officer Daniel Tiengo and Sergeant Curtis James Whitman managed to track down Kohberger’s car, a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra, just 16 hours after receiving information about the possible suspect vehicle on November 28, 2022.

Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022.

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In his email to staff on January 5, 2023, the then-Washington State University Police Chief noted that officers identified the Hyundai Elantra earlier than the arrest warrant affidavit stated.

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“Note that the timeline for locating the vehicle is not entirely correct in the affidavit. The affidavit indicates that area law enforcement agencies were asked to be on the lookout for the suspect vehicle on November 25 [2022] when, in fact, they did not ask for that until the morning of November 28 [2022],” he wrote.

The email was sent just after the arrest warrant affidavit was made publicly available on December 29, 2022. In those emails, he praised the two officers for their work in quickly identifying Kohberger’s car.

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“You are all probably aware that Kohberger’s arrest warrant affidavit was made available to the public today. “The affidavit describes the great work Officer Tiengo and Sergeant Whitman did in tracking down a possible suspect vehicle which was, as it turned out, the suspect vehicle.”

“We should now all look to embrace opportunities that reframe how others view WSU PD. The difficulties in the past will not define us. It is the great work of Tiengo and Whitman that puts WSU PD in a favorable light on a national stage,” Jenkins added.

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The emails from Jenkins were made available on Thursday through a public records request to the university.

Timeline of Nov. 13, 2022:

• 4 a.m.: Suspect arrives at house
• Between 4 and 4:17: Time of murders
• 4:19: Roommate calls three victims; no one answers
• 4:22 to 4:24: Surviving roommates text each other from inside house
• 4:27: Roommate calls victims again; no one answers
• 4:32: Roommate texts Goncalves, “Pls answer”
• 10:23: Surviving roommate texts victims; no one answers
• 11:39: Roommate calls her father
• 12 p.m.: 911 call placed from roommate’s phone

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In a separate email dated Nov. 27, 2022, then-Moscow Police Department Lead Detective Corporal Brett Payne also released on Thursday, he urged local law enforcement agencies not to stop the white 2015 Hyundai Elantra under any circumstances.

“The vehicle in the flyer is of interest to MPD Investigations, however you must understand YOU ARE ORDERED NOT TO STOP, DETAIN, OR CONTACT THE DRIVER unless it is a life-or-death emergency,” Payne wrote.

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Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves in a July 2, 2025 deal that took the death penalty off the table. The four University of Idaho students were found dead Nov. 13, 2022, at their house in Moscow, Idaho, located near campus.

In exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table, Kohberger will serve four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.