On July 13th, 2012, a pair of cousins went missing in Evansdale, Iowa - about 400 miles northwest of Delphi, Indiana. He was photographed walking with his head down and his hands in his pockets. The case is continuously being investigated by the FBI, the Indiana State Police, Carroll County Sheriff's officials, and many more. After organized searches, the bodies of the two girls were found Feb. 14 outside Delphi in the woods near Deer Creek, about three-quarters of a mile from an abandoned railroad bridge where they were dropped off the day before to go hiking. 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. Got a confidential tip? "Someone knows who this individual is," Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter said. 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. Was Allen identified as a suspect because of one or both of the sketches? A makeshift memorial to Liberty German and Abigail Williams near where they were last seen and where the bodies were discovered, Oct. 31, 2022. WebOn Monday, police announced that Richard Allen, 50, of Delphi, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Libby and Abby. Following the release of this image, authorities lauded Liberty German, one of the two victims, who had managed to capture not only an image of this man before her death, but also video and audio. Richard Allen, a 50-year-old married Delphi man, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. but if victim compliance was compromised this is a viable scenario. Police have released a video clip from Libertys phone, which they say was recorded at some point during the ill-fated hike. Investigators say the man in the video is the main suspect in the homicide investigation, but have not yet managed to identify him. Video of her car passing the Hoosier Harvestore, an agriculture company, narrows the time she would have seen him to 3:57 p.m. An unspent bullet found between the girls bodies allegedly matches a gun owned by Allen. The implication that an alleged clerical error by an FBI employee caused years of delay in identifying this defendant is misleading. But I think it's a rumor that is intriguing enough to mention. More than once, theyve had to issue clarifications to their own statements; people are still debating what the description of it as a targeted attack means exactly; tiny details about the 911 call and the surviving roommates have been shared in a piecemeal fashion; and police were forced to issue press releases to clarify contradictory statements made by their own prosecutor. The warrant, filed by an FBI agent investigating the murders back in 2017 and partly redacted, was to carry out a search on the home of a local man Ronald Logan. According to a press release issued by his defense attorneys on Dec. 1, Rick volunteered to meet with a Conservation Officer outside of the local grocery store to offer up details of his trip to the trail on the day in question.. But detectives still maintain that the best evidence they have in the case came from Libby's phone: audio and video of the prime suspect, taken while the teen's were hiking the Delphi Historic Trails. Libbys grandmother Becky Patty told The Independent in December that the teenager had never mentioned speaking to anyone online prior to her death and that there had never been any indication that the two girls had arranged to meet anyone online the day they were killed. At the time the search was called off, police did not suspect foul-play. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. For the record: that man is not suspected of any wrongdoing. 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. "I can't wait for the day he is caught. She had just recently celebrated her 14th birthday ahead of her best friend, Abby - whom she had become close with after playing on the same 7th grade volleyball team. Eldridge, who bears a striking resemblance to the original sketch released by investigators in the Delphi murders, was held without bond. As of this moment, though, Bruce has not been convicted of anything - and police have yet to speak publicly about any possible connections between him and the Delphi crimes. (A local photographer previously said hed seen girls clothing in the creek near the bridge. State Trooper Has Used Deadly Force on 4 Separate Occas Will Pickpocket Steal Bait Wallet From Backpack? He had had several run-ins with law enforcement over the years - including drug offenses - and also had a history of domestic violence. Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby did not believe the girls were in immediate danger, and did not think that further efforts - such as issuing an Amber Alert - would be necessary. On Monday, Indiana State Police announced Mr Allen is charged with two counts of murder and has pleaded not guilty. The audio quality is not great, but police said it's enough for someone to recognize the person's voice. this category of killers, not without exception, are the ones who document (pics, videos, even drawings) or take trophies or tokens. She had even started taking classes over in Lafayette; most specifically, at Purdue University. The family members of Abby and Libby - who were unaware of the information that would be shared - met with police just a short time before the press conference on Monday, April 22nd. "We're not going anywhere," Gregory Massa, the FBI assistant special agent in charge in Indianapolis, said at the news conference this morning. 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. He might have wanted to get them to another location but couldn't get them under control. Speaking to reporters from the Gazette, she stated: "I can't tell if that is him or not. After failing to make it to the pickup location, family members of Abby and Libby began to canvas the area looking for them. The girls German, 14, and Abigail "Abby" Williams, 13, both of Carroll County were reported missing by their families Feb. 13 after the two did not return from a hike. One of the girls said that he just glared at them when she said hi, and that he was walking with a purpose like he knew where he was going, and had his hands in his pockets and kept his head down, the affidavit says. This unknown subject - who has been nicknamed "Bridge Guy" or "BG" in various online circles - was originally named a "person of interest" by police, who simply wanted to speak to him. One of the earliest theories in this case is the belief that the murders of Abby and Libby might be related to a similar crime that unfolded roughly five years earlier. According to the probable cause affidavit, Allen, a longtime resident of Delphi, told a law enforcement officer in 2017 that he was on the trails between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 13. Citizens can provide information about this case by calling the Delphi murder tip line at 844-459-5786. Journalist Gersh Kuntzman Fixes Defaced License Plates. Following his arrest, Miller confessed to the crime to investigators, and later pleaded guilty. Obviously, it gets difficult, especially around the 13th and 14th of every month. I don't think there's multiple pieces of the puzzle. ), The girls cause of death remains unreleased, though an FBI agent noted in a March 2017 search warrant that the victims had lost a large amount of blood and because of the nature of [their] wounds, it is nearly certain the perpetrator of the crime would have gotten blood on his person/clothing; they had had no visible signs of a struggle or fight; and their wounds were caused by a [redacted] weapon. (The document has not been publicly released, but the Murder Sheet podcast obtained a copy and published it in May.). In a statement, J.M. The press conference was put together by Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter, who had been publicly involved with the case for more than two years now. However, even if the development does bring some closure to the case, the families of Libby and Abby will never have closure from what happened, she said. Give it a listen. Several female bodybuilders are coming forward saying they were sexually exploited in order to advance their careers. Rather, this is just the natural starting point for any similar investigation. 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. The bodies of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, were discovered Feb. 14, 2017 after the pair vanished while hiking on an Indiana trail. ", Kaylees injuries were much worse than Maddies. Local store owner Laura Greene said that the community has never been the same after the murders. 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." I sent my daughter to college. Some creeps get sexual satisfaction when others are hurt by their hands. By the time their bodies were discovered, the case had long grown cold. Mike Patty, Liberty's grandfather, said on this broadcast: "Somebody knows something. But the one thing I'm not going to buckle on, he did not have that jacket.". WebHe handcuffed her and forced her into his car, driving to his familys property on County Road 750 East, where he sexually assaulted her during the five hours he held her However, that would change several days later - on February 19th - when he was officially named the primary suspect in this investigation. Town of Delphi, Indiana, left heartbroken and rattled by murders of 2 teenage girls 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. How Abby, 13, and Libby, 14, died has still not been released to the public. This is quite the vague window, but investigators believe that the killer might look much younger than he actually is. Their hands much younger than he actually is discovered, the case long. 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