“They happened within seconds of each other,” said Karen Southern, the Exxon manager, adding that the police had mentioned the accident to her but had not said whether they believed there was any connection to the burglary. No evidence has surfaced to link the two, and the break-in remains unsolved.

Image Mario Edwards Sr., director of player development for Florida State's football team, received a call from Mr. Williams the night of the accident. Credit... Phil Sears/Associated Press

Mr. Keith said one of the officers had asked him about the Exxon’s broken front door, and he replied that he had not noticed it. He said he believed that when the break-in was discovered — at 3:06 a.m., according to the police report — the football players had not yet returned, indicating that they could have been gone for at least half an hour.

A university spokesman said that when the Tallahassee police called Florida State asking for help, about an hour after the accident, the players had already returned. Other football players who had heard of the accident also showed up, though how many is not known.

At one point, Mr. Keith said, a football player — he did not know which one — apologized to him for fleeing and explained that they “had a lot on the line.” The player was “sort of rambling” until a female friend told him to stop talking, Mr. Keith said.

“She said to him, ‘Be quiet, you sound like you’ve been drinking,’ ” Mr. Keith said. “I remember that very clearly, because it surprised me that she would say it. But the way he was speaking, I definitely had suspicions about drinking.”