Bryan Kohberger Switched License Plates After Idaho Murders 

Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of murdering four University of Idaho students, changed his license plates just a few days after the crime was committed, Newsweek has learned.

For years, the Hyundai Elantra that Kohberger was driving was registered in Pennsylvania, according to a Newsweek review of Carfax documents. Kohberger was pulled over in August by officers with the Latah County Sheriff's Office in Idaho, and the citation shows that the 2015 Hyundai Elantra had a Pennsylvania license plate, but that was changed on November 18, five days after the students were killed.

Kohberger's former attorney Jason LaBar, who represented him only in his extradition case, has said that his former client "is eager to be exonerated" of the murder charges against him.

CarFax documents show that the car's registration was changed from Pennsylvania, where Kohberger's parents live, to Washington on November 18, 2022, and a Newsweek public records request with the Washington State Department of Licensing showed the license plates on the white Hyundai Elantra were changed on November 19.

Christine Anthony, a communications manager at the Washington State Department of Licensing, confirmed to Newsweek on Wednesday that Kohberger could not have had Washington license plates if the car he was driving was still registered in Pennsylvania.

Kohberger is a teaching assistant and Ph.D. student at Washington State University's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology in Pullman, which is about nine miles west of the University of Idaho.

Under Washington state law, drivers are required to register their vehicle within 30 days of moving to the state. But Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent, told Newsweek that the timing of Kohberger's plate change "is certainly interesting."

"I believe he was starting to get worried about the fact that he did use his vehicle in the commission of that crime and likely wanted to change plates so that in the event that someone saw it, it would now have a completely different state on it," Coffindaffer, who is not involved in the investigation, told Newsweek.

On December 15, Kohberger and his father were stopped by an officer with the Indiana State Police. Body camera footage of the traffic stop, which was obtained by Brian Entin of NewsNation, shows the license plate as CFB8708, which is the same number that was assigned to the car on November 18, according to documents Newsweek obtained.

In another traffic stop on the same date, Kohberger confirmed to the police officer that he was the owner of the vehicle and explained that he was driving from Washington to Pennsylvania.

After the police officer asked him to clarify information about where he was going, Kohberger's father explained that they may be a bit "punchy" because they'd been driving for hours. This stop by the Hancock County Sheriff's Office came before the stop by the Indiana State Police, and the video was also obtained by Entin.

Two weeks after Kohberger and his father embarked on the drive home, the 28-year-old was arrested for the murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle. The four University of Idaho students were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus residence on the morning of November 13.

The case sparked national interest, and attention turned to the white Hyundai Elantra after the Moscow Police Department released information about it on December 7.

The Moscow Police Department announced the vehicle was in the area of the King Road residence, where the murders occurred, in the early morning hours of November 13. They fielded thousands of tips about the vehicle and several people suspected it had been identified in Oregon, but the tip turned out to be inaccurate.

It wasn't until Kohberger was arrested that police announced they had found a white Hyundai Elantra that they suspected of being involved in the crime.

Kohberger has not been found guilty in a court and is currently being transported from Pennsylvania back to Idaho, where he will be arraigned on four counts of murder in the first degree.

Update 01/05/2023, 2:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional background information.