Idaho murders: Mystery white cars on video near crime scene day after student stabbings

University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger allegedly returned to the crime scene at least once hours after the crime, according to a police affidavit – and news videos from the following morning reveal at least two sightings of a white car driving through the area as police and the media were at work.

Kohberger, a 28-year-old studying for a Ph.D. in criminal justice and criminology at the nearby Washington State University, was arrested on Dec. 30 in connection with the brutal slayings in an ambush attack that the coroner said likely began with the victims asleep.

Shortly before the slayings in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022, a white Hyundai Elantra makes three passes by the victims' six-bedroom rental home on King Road, according to court documents. On the fourth visit, just after 4 a.m., Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, are believed to have been stabbed to death. 

Two other housemates were inside at the time and were not attacked, including one who detectives revealed last week saw a masked man exiting the house.

IDAHO MURDERS: BRYAN KOHBERGER HELD WITHOUT BOND IN STUDENT SLAYINGS AMID CHILLING NEW DETAILS

Sixteen minutes after the white car arrived, the suspect vehicle is seen on camera speeding away, the affidavit alleges.

The same document states that Kohberger's cellphone, referred to as the "8458 Phone," came back to the area about five hours after the crime, before heading south out of town.

WATCH: Idaho murders: White car seen near Sigma Chi house on Nov. 14

"Further review indicated that the 8458 Phone utilized cellular resources on November 13, 2022, that are consistent with the 8458 Phone leaving the area of the Kohberger Residence at approximately 9 a.m. and traveling to Moscow, ID," the affidavit states. "Specifically, the 8458 Phone utilized cellular resources that would provide coverage to the King Road Residence between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 am."

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO MURDERS TIMELINE

Pat Diaz, a retired Miami-Dade homicide detective with 35 years of experience, told Fox News Digital that someone going for a Ph.D. in criminal justice could use their studies as a legitimate excuse to visit a crime scene so close to home. But Kohberger's alleged ping near the King Road house came at around 9 a.m. on the day of the stabbings – roughly three hours before police said they received the 911 call.

If the suspect had returned the following day, he would have seen crime scene tape and investigators at work.

John Kelly, a criminal profiler and psychotherapist who has interviewed numerous serial killers, said perpetrators often return to the crime scene at least once. 

"There are no definite statistics, because every crime is different," he told Fox News Digital Monday. "What they get out of it is they relive it – they feel exhilarated by returning to the crime scene."

One example he gave was Richard Allen, the suspect in Indiana’s Delphi murders, who police arrested in October nearly six years after the slayings of teen friends Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, whom he said hiked the same trails where the girls went missing for years.

"The Delphi guy, he went back God knows how many times," Kelly said. "Not that he went specifically to where the kill was, but he definitely walked by that abduction zone, I’m sure, many times over five years."

Kohberger's phone was found to be "utilizing cellular resources that provide coverage to the area of 1122 King Road" at least 12 times prior to the murders as well, according to the affidavit, written by Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne. He said detectives placed the "8458 Phone" near the King Road home "on at least twelve occasions prior to Nov. 13," citing the phone records obtained through a search warrant.

"All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days," Payne wrote.

Then on Nov. 14, white cars were seen on video passing near the home at least twice, and the phone made one last connection with a cell tower providing coverage to at least a portion of Moscow.

"Investigators found that the 8458 Phone did connect to a cell phone tower that provides service to Moscow on November 14, 2022, but investigators do not believe the 8458 Phone was in Moscow on that date," Payne wrote. "The 8458 Phone has not connected to any towers that provide service to Moscow since that date."

The investigation was in full swing that morning, with help from state police and the FBI.

"The Moscow Police Department is actively working, with support from multiple other agencies, to investigate this incident," Moscow Mayor Art Bettge said that morning. "At this time, there is only limited information that can be shared without jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation."

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That afternoon, as a group of officers at the scene walked toward the band field, a Fox News Digital camera recorded a brief sighting of a white car heading up Nez Perce Drive. The field separates Taylor Avenue, the cross street with King Road, and the campus' Greek Row, where Chapin lived at the Sigma Chi fraternity house.

The car can be seen at the top of the frame as two officers talk on the near side of the field around 2:08 p.m. PT on Nov. 14.

Web sleuths previously pointed out that an ABC 7 news camera recorded a white car over a correspondent's shoulder as he did a live shot in front of the King Road house that morning.

Police linked the "8458 Phone" that pinged near the crime scene to Kohberger because he identified it as his phone during an Aug. 21, 2022, traffic stop in Moscow.

He was driving a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra at the time — the same vehicle he drove in an Oct. 14, 2022, traffic stop at Washington State University. 

READ THE AFFIDAVIT BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE.

Judge Megan Marshall issued a gag order on the case last week, barring investigators and attorneys for both sides from making public comment on many aspects of the case.

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Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary charge for allegedly entering the house with the intent to kill.

Fox News' Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.