Who are Daniel Tiengo and Curtis Whitman? WSU cops helped arrest Bryan Kohberger by tracking down his car
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently
PULLMAN, WASHINGTON: A white Hyundai Elantra became the center of the Idaho murder investigation holding key information in the case after Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier stated that they are searching through a database of 22,000 white Hyundai Elantras with matching registrations on December 15, as previously reported. This came weeks after those four University of Idaho students - Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 - were found dead in an off-campus house on November 13, 2022. However, it was two Washington State University (WSU) police officers, Daniel Tiengo and Curtis Whitman, who ultimately led to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger, the 28-year-old criminology student, on December 30, 2022.
According to Law&Crime, Kohberger was allegedly first linked to the murders on November 29, 2022, when WSU police officer Tiengo found a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra registered to Kohberger. Later that same day, another WSU police officer Whitman tracked down the same car in the parking lot of the suspect’s apartment complex. The officer ran the tags and they allegedly returned a match for Kohberger.
READ MORE
Investigators narrowed in on Kohberger as the suspect based on DNA evidence and by establishing his ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra. According to a law enforcement source, Kohberger was spotted traveling across the country in the white Hyundai Elantra linked to the murders. The source claimed that police were keeping tabs on him when he was driving and were also watching his parents' house in Pennsylvania. Before his arrest, an FBI surveillance team followed him for four days as law enforcement and prosecutors tried to establish enough probable cause to obtain a warrant, as per CNN.
Discovery of victims' bodies and DNA
In an affidavit, released on January 5, Brett Payne, who is a duly appointed, qualified, and acting peace officer within the County of Latah, State of Idaho, narrated how he first found the bodies of the victims. The affidavit read, on November 13, 2022, at approximately 4 pm, Moscow Police Department (MPD) Sergeant Blaker and I responded to 1122 King Road, Moscow, Idaho, hereafter the "King Road Residence," to assist with scene security and processing of a crime scene associated with four homicides." The Idaho State Lab “located a single source of male DNA” that was “left on the button snap of the knife sheath." The affidavit added by saying, “On December 28, 2022, the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash and the DNA profile obtained from the sheath, identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of [the suspect]. At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.”
Details about Bryan Kohberger
Kohberger, who graduated from DeSales University in Pennsylvania in May 2022 with a master of arts in criminal justice and is a PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was arrested by the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police on December 30, arraigned by a Monroe County judge. He faces four counts of first-degree murder for the brutal stabbings of four students. At a court hearing on December 3, Kohberger waived extradition as he agreed to be extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho in his first court hearing, as previously reported by MEAWW. He is now being held on bail and will appear in court on January 12.
The Moscow Police Department is asking anyone with information about the killings or Bryan Kohberger to call 208-883-7180 or email tipline@ci.moscow.id.us.