As someone suggested, he could have easily driven home through Canada and made himself more difficult to track.
I don’t know why anyone would believe such a thing — especially in a post-9/11 world. You drive across the USA-Canada border in either direction today, and both governments have a permanent electronic record of all kinds of things (license plate, vehicle registration information, Social Security number, facial photograph, etc.).
“As someone suggested, he could have easily driven home through Canada and made himself more difficult to track.”
They were waiting for him at his parents’ house.