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Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger And The Plate Change

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Shortly after the University of Idaho murders, investigators learned that Bryan Kohberger had changed the license plate on his white Hyundai Elantra, a detail that quickly drew attention because police were already searching for a white Elantra seen near 1122 King Road. Kohberger’s vehicle had been registered in Pennsylvania, which required only a rear license plate, but on November 18, 2022, just five days after the murders, he obtained Washington registration and new plates after moving to the state for his doctoral program at Washington State University. The timing looked suspicious on its face because it occurred so soon after the killings, but the change also had an ordinary explanation: Kohberger had established residency in Washington and needed to register the vehicle there, while his Pennsylvania registration was due to expire later that month.

The plate change nevertheless became one more piece of the vehicle timeline investigators scrutinized as they narrowed their focus on Kohberger. Police had been combing through thousands of white Hyundai Elantras after surveillance footage captured a similar car repeatedly circling the King Road area around the time of the murders. Washington State University officers later located Kohberger’s 2015 Elantra and connected it to him through university and vehicle records. The switch from a Pennsylvania plate to Washington plates did not prove an attempt to conceal the car’s identity, but because it happened only days after the killings, it became another detail investigators had to examine alongside the Elantra’s movements, surveillance video, cellphone records and Kohberger’s later cross-country trip back to Pennsylvania.












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Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger And The Plate Change

The Moscow Murders and More

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The Moscow Murders and MoreMurder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger And The Plate Change. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

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What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. Recently we were talking a little bit about how Brian Koeberger switched his license plates right after the murders. Well, I wanted to add a little more context to that. Considering I only mentioned it in passing. Now for me, this is going to be significant moving forward. Now that he has been accused of these murders and wants it gets to a jury. Because the jury is going to look at all of this behavior right in the direct aftermath and leading up to these murders. And they're going to put together a whole entire template of who Brian Koeberger is according to the jurors. And this stuff is all going to add up. Now if you look at it, piecemeal it right. Oh, he was pulled over by their house. No big deal. Oh, he changed his license plates. Well, he just wanted to be compliant. And while those are simple excuses for these actions when you add them all up, you're going to have a lot more explaining to do.

Especially when a prosecutor is putting everything together using digital footprints, witness statements and all kinds of events. And all kinds of other evidence that has been compiled throughout the investigation. And when all of that is put together and it's presented to the jury, all of these things that look like they're happening, you know, as a one off, they get put together and it becomes a whole last picture for the jury to look at. So someone like Brian Koeberger, who is a criminology student and who allegedly is super smart. In my opinion here, he made some pretty crucial errors and some pretty basic errors like, you know, using your own vehicle in the commission of a crime, probably not the smartest idea if you hope to get away. And now looking back on it, it sure looks like it was the Hyundai Alontera that led the investigators directly to Brian Koeberger's parents doorstep. So let's jump into this article from Newsweek and let's get a little more context about the switching of the license plates.

This article was authored by Matthew Impelli. Brian Koeberger, 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 Alontera that Koeberger was driving was registered in Pennsylvania, according to a Newsweek review of Carfax documents. Koeberger was pulled over in August by officers with the Leita County Sheriff's Office in Idaho and the citation shows that the 2015 Hyundai Alontera had a Pennsylvania license plate, but that was changed on November 18th, five days after the students were killed. So not only did Brian Koeberger use his own vehicle to commit these crimes allegedly, but he had been in Moscow previously and pulled over not too far from where these murders occurred.

So again, if you're looking at it as a one off, no big deal. Easily explained. I was in Moscow for XXXX and X reason. But when you look at it all together and you have the sum total of all of the evidence, it puts it in a different light, especially when you have the prosecutors framing it for you as a juror. And now if there is some DNA evidence, say underneath the fingernails of one of these murdered students, well, Koeberger's in big trouble there, folks, because there's no way to explain that one away. You can explain why your DNA is in the house, maybe, well, I was at one of these parties, you know, even someone invited me over and I was hanging out with them. But besides that, I don't know how you're going to explain if your DNA is on the body of one of these college students who were murdered. Koeberger's former attorney, Jason LeBarr, 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.

Well, yeah, I would think anyone would be eager to be exonerated. Does that mean he's going to be? Well, I have to see. Because like I said before, with what we have seen circumstantially here, it looks like they have a pretty strong case, but we have to keep in mind that the burden of proof is on the prosecution and on the state. And as of now, Brian Koeberger is considered innocent. So the state's going to have to make their case. And that's all going to start with the release of these charging documents and the probable cause, affidavit, that is on its way. We hope later on today. Carfax documents show that the cars registration was changed from Pennsylvania, where Koeberger's parents live to Washington on November 18th, 2022. And a Newsweek public records request with the Washington State Department of Licensing showed the license plates on the White Hyundai Alantra were changed on November 19th. So if you were a juror and you heard all of the information that we know of anyway, wouldn't you be a little bit suspicious of behavior such as this.

And now obviously right here and this evidence here of him changing plates, that's not enough to convict nowhere close to being enough. But when you look at it in the totality of everything else, that's where it becomes important. And it's kind of like building a puzzle, right? You have to start at the corners. You start at the corners, you work your way in and as you get more pieces put on to the puzzle. Well, the picture starts to reveal itself. Koeberger is a teaching assistant and PhD 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 Coffin Daffer, a former FBI agent told Newsweek that the timing of Koeberger's plate change is certainly interesting. No doubt about it. He was there for a whole last semester and he doesn't change the plates. All of a sudden four college kids are murdered and a white Alantra was the vehicle that's being that was allegedly used in the crime.

And now he wants to change his plates. You don't have to have a suspicious nature to find some shit like that to be suspicious. I believe he was starting to get worried about the fact that he did use his vehicle in 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. Coffin Daffer, who was not involved in the investigation, told Newsweek. And Jennifer Coffin Daffer has had a pretty solid opinion all the way through this. Somebody who has worked these cases before someone with some on hand's knowledge of what's going on. So it's always nice to hear from people who actually have some experience in the field. On December 15, Coberger 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 Enten of News Nation shows the license plate as CFB 8708, which is the same number that was assigned to the car on November 18 according to documents Newsweek obtained.

I'm very interested to see how his defense goes about this when it comes to these license plates because this is going to be pretty significant for the jury moving forward. I have no doubt about that because if you're sitting on a jury and you hear this news, right? Oh, well, he's been there for a whole semester already as a PhD student and he doesn't change his plates. Now all of a sudden four college kids are killed in Moscow. And he goes and changes these plates right away, certainly sending off alarm bells in my head. And I'm sure that there's going to be jurors who were sitting in hearing this evidence and this information, who that's not going to sit well with. In another traffic stop on the same date, Coberger confirmed to the police officer that he was the owner of the vehicle and explain that he was driving from Washington, the Pennsylvania. After the police officer asked him to clarify information about where he was going. Coberger's father explained that they may be a bit punchy because they've 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 Enten.

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Whether you're getting ready for crisp mornings, cozy nights or everyday moments, QVC has what you need for the season ahead with brands like Laura Geller, philosophy, ninja and so many more. Shop now at QVC.com. And we now know that that was all part of an operation that was unfurled by the FBI to continue to gather information on Brian Coburger. They were looking to get a closer look at his fingers, his hands, see if there's any cut wounds, any injuries so that they can continue to build this case and get the probable cause warrant that they needed. Two weeks after Coburger and his father embarked on the drive home, the 28 year old was arrested for the murder of Kayley Gon-Solves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Zana Kernotl. The four University of Idaho students were found fatally stabbed in an off campus residence on the morning of November 13th. The case sparked national interest and attention turned to the White Hyundai Alonstra after the Moscow Police Department released information about it on December 7th.

That must have really rattled Coburger, knowing that this information was public now, knowing that that's his vehicle and that people might be looking at him sideways. I bet he couldn't wait to get out of Washington and get back to Pennsylvania. 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 13th. 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 Coburger was arrested that police announced that they had found the White Hyundai Alonstra that they suspected of being involved in the crime. Coburger has not been found guilty in a court and is currently in Idaho where he will be arraigned on four counts of first degree murder. So the license plate switch is going to come back to Hauntum folks. That's one of my predictions here. I don't make many of those, but I think that this license plate situation will come back to Hauntum when we're talking about the murder.

I'm talking about a Jerry and a Jerry looking at all of the pertinent information and the evidence that's been collected. All right folks, that's going to do it for this one. If you'd like to contact me, you can do that at Bobbi Kapuchi at proton mail.com. That's B O BBY C APU CCI at proton mail.com. You can also find me on Twitter at B O BBY underscore C APU CCI. The link that I discussed can be found in the description box. Mr. World. Hi, this is Dave Roberts heading into summer without a medical emergency kit. That's a risk. Summer colds can linger and getting sick on vacation can derail everything. That's why everyone needs a medical emergency kit. It includes doctor prescribed medications to treat common and serious illnesses. So if you wake up sick at home or on the road, you already have what you need. It's like having an urgent care and pharmacy at home. Say $45 with code blue at urgent care kit.com slash blue urgent care kit.com slash blue.

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