Dru Moorhouse is the copy chief for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles. Over the years, authorities have honed in on several other men. Despite their grief, and maybe they found that in their grief, to never give up and never quit. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Four years on, the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German are still unsolved, but some clues have emerged. Four years after their deaths, the murders of Indiana teenagers Abigail Williams and Liberty German are still unsolved. The car had apparently been parked on County Road 300 North, near the entrance to the bridge trail, close to the Hoosier Heartland Highway. And if the victims had been shot, wouldnt the newly unsealed police affidavit mention evidence related to fired bullets in addition to the single unspent round located near Libbys body? Teacher Allegedly Put Recording Devices in School Bathr New Jersey House Explodes With 6 Firefighters Inside. The audio is muffled, but a male voice can be heard saying the words guys and down the hill.. They no longer believed that he was undoubtedly middle-aged, but rather - was somewhere between 18 and 40 years old. He eventually got out of his car and started walking the trail. That building has since been demolished, and is no longer standing. Investigators released a grainy image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: Go down the hill.. This is the sketch that would be widely-circulated in the aftermath of the crime, but - as we'll soon learn - this may not have been accurate or even helpful. ABC News' Andrew Fies, Michael Edison Hayden, Alex Perez and Avianne Tan contributed to this report. This included family members and friends: those that are typically looked into at the onset of any investigation. Trying to control two people and keep them quiet wouldn't be easy. At around 12:45 PM, officials with the fire department had followed a set of footprints to a location roughly 50 feet away from the north bank of Deer Creek - roughly half-a-mile east of the bridge. On January 8th, 2019, a 46-year old named Charles Eldridge was arrested in Union City, Indiana - about two hours southeast of Delphi. And in both cases, the details of the murder - such as the cause-of-death, the state of the remains, etc. A muddy and bloody man was spotted at 4 p.m. walking near the crime scene. Police have not revealed how they girls were murdered. Sergeant Tony Slocum, of the Indiana State Police, stated: "That young lady is a hero, that is no doubt. However, shocking new details about the murders came to light in a search warrant application obtained by podcast The Murder Sheet and shared with The Independent back in May. She came back in a box, and I can speak on that. I'll let you hear it for yourself. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. She says she eventually agreed to pose in lingerie in order to win competitions. The podcast reported that it is the investigator's belief that photos or videos were likely shot of the staged bodies to "memorialize" the crime scene. "There's no doubt in our minds that that young lady is a hero.". Investigators who for years have been working to solve the killings of two girls in Delphi, Indiana, are looking into a kidnapping suspect in nearby Lafayette, Indiana, to see if there "might" be a connection, the sheriff said. The Delphi Fire Chief reported the discovery as "not good," and indicated that it was the missing girls' bodies. So while Delphi itself has the reputation for being a small town - you know, the kind where "everybody knows everybody," that whole thing - it is really just part of a larger grid, connected to dozens of other cities and towns. I didn't want to believe it.' The girls were found murdered on Valentines Day 2017 in Delphi, after they took a hiking trip at an abandoned bridge. I sent my daughter to college. At some point he might have gotten afraid of the noise alerting someone or enraged at their persistence and just ended it. His age is undetermined; with him originally believed to be middle-aged, but that would evolve as the case continued evolving over the next couple of years. However, after this disclosure, they cautioned the public to refrain from making any more inflammatory public guesses: " outside of the person resembling the sketch, there is currently zero evidence that ties him to this case and he is not a suspect in the case. "We must keep our resolve for Libby and Abby, for this community and, frankly, to ensure that good trumps evil," Carter said. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? The hosts of the true-crime podcast The Murder Sheet took photographs showing investigators searching the Wabash River, located about 40 miles away from where Williams and German's bodies were found. At times, these police officials - lifelong public servants, who dedicated their lives to law enforcement - struggled to speak through clearly rough emotions. So I'm using logic that he chose to go up there [to Maddie and Kaylees rooms] when he didn't have to. Indiana State Police on Monday said a man in a photograph is the primary suspect in the double homicide investigation, but nothing is known about him at this time outside of a single image. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison, where he is undoubtedly going to rot until his death. Following his arrest, Miller confessed to the crime to investigators, and later pleaded guilty. ', Death toll keeps rising in Greece's deadliest train crash, Brunt of storm moving out of SoCal, light showers on tap Wednesday. this category of killers, not without exception, are the ones who document (pics, videos, even drawings) or take trophies or tokens. Some of these behaviors may have included - but weren't limited to: - Following the case through the media (with a sense that was "not normal"), - And, finally, conspicuously having conversations about where they were when the crime unfolded on February 13th (perhaps an attempt to cement an alibi with those they knew). In particular, they were looking for anyone that had been at or around the Monon High Bridge between 2:30 and 5:30 PM on February 13th, 2017. In addition to the number of useless leads being called in to officials, it is believed that officials had to deal with a number of individuals confessing to the murders but not knowing any of the intimate details of the crime itself. I earned that. Candles and flowers are left at a makeshift memorial honoring four killed University of Idaho students, Nov. 15, 2022. The FBI has released a description for the suspect, which is that he is a white The search warrants mention of a [redacted] weapon has led to speculation that the girls may have been stabbed. Could be why this time he was more in control. "Maybe they're scared," she adds. Mr Allen appears to have no prior criminal record. sexually motivated murders don't always need to include rape or molestation. "Some days are harder than others. The Indiana State Police had completely overhauled their suspect information, starting with an updated composite sketch - which is remarkably different from the original composite released in June of 2017. The witnesses descriptions of the mans clothes arent exactly the same, but most mention him wearing jeans and a jacket, walking with a hood up. From witness accounts placing Allen at the scene, including statements from Allen himself, to grisly details about the crime scene, heres what weve learned about the case and what we still dont know. In both cases, family members were seemingly ruled out as suspects, meaning that a strange individual - who was likely previously unknown to the victims - had abducted and killed the girls. This was the type of crime that had never been seen before in this region, and - despite police releasing several details of this supposed killer to the public - he has managed to escape identification and prosecution in the years since. Police would claim that this sketch was the result of information called into the tip line, as well as additional information obtained through follow-up investigations. Abby was known as a person that was hard to crack at least, at first. After searching for them, the two girls families called the police and reported them missing. The victims bodies were found on Feb. 14, 2017, less than a quarter mile from the Monon High Bridge, the railway bridge where the girls captured their alleged murderer on video. Indiana State Police claim that this sketch "is representative of the face of the person captured in the video on Liberty German's cell phone as he was walking on the high bridge." Obviously, it gets difficult, especially around the 13th and 14th of every month. I paid for that funeral. Just know how grateful I am for all of you. The loved ones of Abby and Libby continue to speak to the press and raise awareness for the investigation, having started an initiative in 2017 to install orange light bulbs all throughout Indiana. They added that Allen had been moved to a state facility for his own safety. The word for the weapon was redacted in the document. On February 16th, 2017 - just two days after the girls' bodies were discovered in the woods - police conducted a search warrant at a home along West Bicycle Bridge Road, roughly 5 miles away from the crime scene on the other side of Delphi. It was unknown if police recovered Libby's phone at the crime scene - or if the files were taken directly from the cloud backup her phone was linked to - but her quick-thinking had given police their first real lead in the case. A woman driving on a street that parallels the Monon High Bridge trail said she saw a man who was muddy and bloody, wearing a blue jacket and blue jeans, walking toward her on the road, according to the affidavit. Why would they meet outside a grocery store? On the day the girls went missing, Libby had posted photos on Snapchat of her and Abby walking along the trail. Why did they release two completely different composite sketches of a suspect, whom they said were two different men? Steven Goncalves joined Fox News again on Dec. 4, saying on Fox & Friends that, assuming the killer entered through the sliding door on the middle floor (where Xana and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were sleeping), his entry and exit are available without having to go upstairs or downstairs. Richard Allen, a 50-year-old married Delphi man, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. In a move that propelled the investigation forward, Libby also captured a grainy video on her phone of a man dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Within days, police had identified a suspect in the Catholic Supply shooting: a 53-year old named Thomas Bruce. Last week, the Indiana State Police announced that thanks to an anonymous donation of $100,000, the reward for information leading to a conviction in the case has increased to $325,000. To many, this lead about the vehicle hearkened back to the local rumors about a woman encountering a young man in a truck near the crime scene. Mr Logan owned the land on which Libby and Abbys bodies were found and his home was just 1,400 feet from the crime scene. "Someone knows who this individual is," Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter said. The biggest question, of course, is why it took police five years to encounter Allens 2017 police statement, which proved key to his arrest. Until further notice, the stories of Liberty German and Abigail Williams remain unresolved. And then we'll get our answers. Police have been intentionally vague about this potential link, with Indiana State Police Sergeant Kim Riley stating, in response to a question about Miller: "We have 1,000 names out there, and we're still looking at all of them.". The police handling the separate cases have kept many details guarded, and refuse to budge on specifics. The document also says that his voice was not inconsistent with the man captured in the video by Libby. German's older sister, Kelsi posted on Twitter on October 28, writing: "Just know how grateful I am for all of you. It has been stated that Nations has given his DNA to investigators in the Delphi case, and - when speaking to reporters with the Gazette - Daniel Nations later stated: "I feel like a victim in this situation. However, the Carroll County Jail record lists Mr Allen as also going by the alias of Craigh Ross Rentfrow. (After the affidavit was unsealed, his defense lawyers also confirmed that Allen was there.) Justice has eluded best friends Libby German and Abby Williams for more than four years now, as the person who abducted and murdered the Delphi, Ind., teens has never been caught. I just didn't believe it. Nobody lives in total isolation in today's world, and I'm asking that person: please help us out.". You can call the tip line by dialing (844) 459-5786 and you can anonymously email any tips to Abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com. Anyone with information on the Delphi case is asked to contact abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com. According to an affidavit, Kline posed as the model in order to groom underage girls and get them to send nude photos and their addresses and try to get them to meet him. After his arrest in Union City, Randolph County officials shared Eldridge's information with the FBI, informing them that a link to Delphi might be possible. They would also refuse to say whether or not they were looking for a murder weapon or anything like that. She says that Libby was "huge on science" and had been inspired to become a science teacher while attending Delphi Community Middle School. She had even started taking classes over in Lafayette; most specifically, at Purdue University. It was hard to go anywhere without their loved ones being constantly reminded of their loss in some way. At the time the search was called off, police did not suspect foul-play. The order will remain in place until at least Jan. 13, 2023, when the next hearing on the case will be held. Libby and Abby went missing on 13 February 2017 after they set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana. Bruce was a U.S. Navy veteran, an avid advocate for gun rights, and had been a pastor between 2003 and 2007. When police played some audio from the clip at a news conference in the town of Delphi this morning, reporters heard just three words from a deep voice: "Down the hill.". I mean they have built softball fields to bring awareness to their children and its just a beautiful thing that they are just so strong, she said. Web The murder of two teen girls rocked the small town of Delphi. Anyone that had been in the vicinity was a suspect to police, and them coming forward to provide information could only help clear up their potential involvement - and help decipher whether or not they had potentially encountered either the girls or their killer. They have accepted DNA from prior suspects and other persons-of-interest, and seem to be ruling out individuals through forensic testing. The reward fund - which was originally announced as $41,000 in February - soon blossomed to more than $200,000. But this morning Slocum said at the news conference, "We are actively looking for this person. Nations - was a registered sex offender from Indiana that had been driving around with expired Indiana license plates. Xana Kernoldes mom, Cara Denise Northington, told NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield on Dec. 2, I do not think it was the house that was targeted. Once in-custody, the mugshot of Charles Eldridge went viral, and people all over the world began to compare it to the composite image released by Indiana State Police in June 2017. Police gave the description of the man as a white male aged between 16 and 40 years old, between 5 6 and 5 10 in height and weighing between 180 and 200 pounds. WebDelphi, Indiana, police have been notoriously tight-lipped about the killings of 14-year-old Libby German and 13-year-old Abby Williams since the first news conference after the there's no reason, based on what we know, that it can be categorically ruled out as a possibility. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. In Lafayette -- about 20 miles away from Delphi -- (A local photographer previously said hed seen girls clothing in the creek near the bridge. Local store owner Laura Greene said that the community has never been the same after the murders. Give it a listen. A composite image of this man was released to the public months later, in June of 2017. ISP says, yes, Fox 59 - Indiana State Police clarify why they released new sketch in Delphi investigation, WTHR - Old Delphi suspect sketch is no longer person of interest, Fox 59 - Prosecutor says cops likely have met Delphi killer or received crucial tip due to scope of probe, Kimberly Riley & Jeremy Britt-Bayinthavong, Paul Skiba, Sarah Skiba, and Lorenzo Chivers, June & Jennifer Gibbons (The Silent Twins). Place until at least Jan. 13, 2023, when the next hearing on the Day the went... The noise alerting someone or enraged at their persistence and just ended.... 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