December 20, 2025 • 7 mins
Former FBI Agent & NewsNation Contributor Jennifer Coffindaffer explains how law enforcement tracked down the Brown University and MIT professor shooter and what questions remained unanswered.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go to the highline and bring in retired FBI
agent and News Nation Law and Justice contributor Jennifer coffin
Effer is with us this morning. You can follow her
on x for more at coffin Effer. FBI and Jennifer,
thank you so much for taking a few minutes to
come on the show. And now that we have a
resolution in this Brown University shooting and the shooting of
(00:23):
the MIT professor those cases, what is it that stands
out to you about what we've learned so far?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, Rian, thank you for having me. First of all,
how this was solved. It really came down to the public,
particularly a homeless person, a former Brown student that was
living on that campus that also posted on Reddit about
a vehicle and about a suspicious person. He was really
the lynchpin that caused this case to be to be solved.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And that is the person, correct me if I'm wrong,
that was in those images, that second person we saw
a few days ago, right, those images that were released
by law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's correct. A very good move on behalf of law
enforcement to release those images, particularly of this individual who
they classified as just a person of interest because they
saw the interaction, so it was great.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So they had so law enforcement released those pictures of him.
He had already been posting on Reddit about the vehicle,
but he hadn't gone to authorities with that information. Is
that what happened.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, that's correct. Essentially, the people on Reddit really pushed
him to send out a tip to the FBI, which
he did, but obviously they found him about the same
time as all of this was going on behind the
scenes with Reddit.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
You know, it's interesting. This is kind of like what
we saw with the Luigi Manngioni case, where it felt
like the leads had kind of dried up and the
case might not be going anywhere, and then all of
a sudden, boom, you have a witness come forward and
it changes everything.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
No, you're absolutely right, Ryan, And when you look at
these cases that are unusual. In other words, somebody is
from out of state, somebody is doesn't have any criminal history,
there's no idea that this person would be on campus
in this area. You need the public's help. It's just critical.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So you wrote on x you posted a picture of
the shooter and said the eyes, and then you said,
I wonder who else he was targeting. Was he done
with his vengeance. And one question that I have is
with somebody like this who you know. We had contact
with the MIT professor thirty years ago in the nineties,
he went abroun in the two thousands. What would make
(02:45):
somebody carry some type of a grudge for twenty something
years or thirty years.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, that's such a great question, and I think the
piece we're missing is what was the proximal event that
led to this? In other words, I belie there would
have been something with his communication with that MIT individual,
something that led to just igniting and sparking vengeance and
anger within this person.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
We're joined by retiring FBI agent and NewsNation Law and
Justice contributor Jennifer kaffen Daffer. We learned that it was
the vehicle. It was seen at Brown University, it was
seen in the area where the MIT professor was shot
and killed. Sounds like there were some evasive measures taken
by the suspect and changing the license plates. But for
(03:33):
a while there you had these two cases about fifty
miles apart, But initially it sounded like there was no
connection between them, and then that vehicle information that seems
to be what really linked it all. Together.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Well, right at the press conference specifically the sac of
Boston with the FBI and the police chief said there's
no link that they knew of, but it was a
little premature to say something like that. And anytime you
have those unique yes, right, that they would happen so
in the same timeframe as one another, you just can't
(04:06):
close the door as that being a possibility.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
How difficult is it going to be now to try
to figure out the motivation here? We're just talking about
this a minute ago, kind of speculating on maybe what
it could be. But you have a dead suspect, so
obviously you're not going to get any information directly from him.
Is this just a matter of really going through communications,
(04:33):
going through travel history things like that, and trying to
figure it out that way?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, you know, the digital forensic footprint that he leaves
behind is going to be the key. It's going to
be interesting also to look at the MIT professor's communications
and how much in touch they might have been, and
who else from Brown would have been in touch with
this individual possibly, So it's the digital footprint that's going
to lead to a lot of answers.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So do you think that there were any there was
anything that the initial investigators after the Brown University shooting happened.
Did they do anything wrong. I know there's been some
criticism about how they kind of said people are safe now,
you know, there's no more danger, and then he ended
up shooting somebody else forty eight hours later.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, of course, the messaging and just I think, you know,
not to armshare quarterback. But I've quite frankly, in twenty
eight years of law enforcement, never seen anything like not
having a central point of what we call a PIO
to actually message to the public from the individuals involved
in a case. And you saw what a messod became.
(05:38):
It was almost like a political rally instead of really
providing law enforcement the opportunity to give information. I was
glad when it finally took a turn after that huge
mistake they made arresting because he was really in custodial
custody for hours before he was released. So once that
mistake was made, it seemed like they really made a
(06:01):
turn and really got on that video evidence to release
it to the public.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And last question for you, how much of that could
be the fact that this is Providence, Rhode Island, and
I think they've dealt with like two murders this whole year.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Right, No, that's exactly the problem. It was a four
hundred man department. You had the Brown University folks, which
is about a forty five man department. And so in
cases like this we saw in Idaho, you want to
see where they really give the FBI the lead, the
investigative lead. Yes, in the background, they have venue. They're
(06:36):
the ones that get a call the final decisions. But
you need to have an authority like the Bureau that
has all this experience leading the charge.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Retired FBI agent and News Nation Law and Justice contributor
Jennifer Coffendaffer with us this morning. You can find her
on x for more at Koffindaffer FBI, and of course
you could watch her on News Nation. Jennifer, thanks so
much for taking the time to break all of that
down for us this morning. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Thank you so much for having me
Let's go to the highline and bring in retired FBI
agent and News Nation Law and Justice contributor Jennifer coffin
Effer is with us this morning. You can follow her
on x for more at coffin Effer. FBI and Jennifer,
thank you so much for taking a few minutes to
come on the show. And now that we have a
resolution in this Brown University shooting and the shooting of
(00:23):
the MIT professor those cases, what is it that stands
out to you about what we've learned so far?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, Rian, thank you for having me. First of all,
how this was solved. It really came down to the public,
particularly a homeless person, a former Brown student that was
living on that campus that also posted on Reddit about
a vehicle and about a suspicious person. He was really
the lynchpin that caused this case to be to be solved.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And that is the person, correct me if I'm wrong,
that was in those images, that second person we saw
a few days ago, right, those images that were released
by law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's correct. A very good move on behalf of law
enforcement to release those images, particularly of this individual who
they classified as just a person of interest because they
saw the interaction, so it was great.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So they had so law enforcement released those pictures of him.
He had already been posting on Reddit about the vehicle,
but he hadn't gone to authorities with that information. Is
that what happened.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, that's correct. Essentially, the people on Reddit really pushed
him to send out a tip to the FBI, which
he did, but obviously they found him about the same
time as all of this was going on behind the
scenes with Reddit.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
You know, it's interesting. This is kind of like what
we saw with the Luigi Manngioni case, where it felt
like the leads had kind of dried up and the
case might not be going anywhere, and then all of
a sudden, boom, you have a witness come forward and
it changes everything.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
No, you're absolutely right, Ryan, And when you look at
these cases that are unusual. In other words, somebody is
from out of state, somebody is doesn't have any criminal history,
there's no idea that this person would be on campus
in this area. You need the public's help. It's just critical.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So you wrote on x you posted a picture of
the shooter and said the eyes, and then you said,
I wonder who else he was targeting. Was he done
with his vengeance. And one question that I have is
with somebody like this who you know. We had contact
with the MIT professor thirty years ago in the nineties,
he went abroun in the two thousands. What would make
(02:45):
somebody carry some type of a grudge for twenty something
years or thirty years.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, that's such a great question, and I think the
piece we're missing is what was the proximal event that
led to this? In other words, I belie there would
have been something with his communication with that MIT individual,
something that led to just igniting and sparking vengeance and
anger within this person.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
We're joined by retiring FBI agent and NewsNation Law and
Justice contributor Jennifer kaffen Daffer. We learned that it was
the vehicle. It was seen at Brown University, it was
seen in the area where the MIT professor was shot
and killed. Sounds like there were some evasive measures taken
by the suspect and changing the license plates. But for
(03:33):
a while there you had these two cases about fifty
miles apart, But initially it sounded like there was no
connection between them, and then that vehicle information that seems
to be what really linked it all. Together.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Well, right at the press conference specifically the sac of
Boston with the FBI and the police chief said there's
no link that they knew of, but it was a
little premature to say something like that. And anytime you
have those unique yes, right, that they would happen so
in the same timeframe as one another, you just can't
(04:06):
close the door as that being a possibility.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
How difficult is it going to be now to try
to figure out the motivation here? We're just talking about
this a minute ago, kind of speculating on maybe what
it could be. But you have a dead suspect, so
obviously you're not going to get any information directly from him.
Is this just a matter of really going through communications,
(04:33):
going through travel history things like that, and trying to
figure it out that way?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, you know, the digital forensic footprint that he leaves
behind is going to be the key. It's going to
be interesting also to look at the MIT professor's communications
and how much in touch they might have been, and
who else from Brown would have been in touch with
this individual possibly, So it's the digital footprint that's going
to lead to a lot of answers.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So do you think that there were any there was
anything that the initial investigators after the Brown University shooting happened.
Did they do anything wrong. I know there's been some
criticism about how they kind of said people are safe now,
you know, there's no more danger, and then he ended
up shooting somebody else forty eight hours later.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, of course, the messaging and just I think, you know,
not to armshare quarterback. But I've quite frankly, in twenty
eight years of law enforcement, never seen anything like not
having a central point of what we call a PIO
to actually message to the public from the individuals involved
in a case. And you saw what a messod became.
(05:38):
It was almost like a political rally instead of really
providing law enforcement the opportunity to give information. I was
glad when it finally took a turn after that huge
mistake they made arresting because he was really in custodial
custody for hours before he was released. So once that
mistake was made, it seemed like they really made a
(06:01):
turn and really got on that video evidence to release
it to the public.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And last question for you, how much of that could
be the fact that this is Providence, Rhode Island, and
I think they've dealt with like two murders this whole year.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Right, No, that's exactly the problem. It was a four
hundred man department. You had the Brown University folks, which
is about a forty five man department. And so in
cases like this we saw in Idaho, you want to
see where they really give the FBI the lead, the
investigative lead. Yes, in the background, they have venue. They're
(06:36):
the ones that get a call the final decisions. But
you need to have an authority like the Bureau that
has all this experience leading the charge.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Retired FBI agent and News Nation Law and Justice contributor
Jennifer Coffendaffer with us this morning. You can find her
on x for more at Koffindaffer FBI, and of course
you could watch her on News Nation. Jennifer, thanks so
much for taking the time to break all of that
down for us this morning. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Thank you so much for having me
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