Authorities in Indiana have released a photograph of a man they want to interview in the double homicide investigation of two teen girls who were found dead near a creek.
State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said autopsies performed Wednesday confirmed that the bodies found Tuesday in a wooded area by volunteers searching for the missing girls near Deer Creek were those of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, both of Delphi, about 75 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The girls had been reported missing Monday.
State police released a photograph late Wednesday of a man who was on the Delphi Historic Trails on Monday and investigators want to identify and locate him so they can interview him on what he may have seen. Police also want to talk to anyone who was parked at the High Bridge Trail Head on Monday afternoon.
Riley declined to release a cause or manner of death for the girls, citing an ongoing investigation.
“The investigation is still in its baby steps, so to speak, and we don’t want to put that information out yet,” Riley told reporters.
News of the double homicide rocked the small community of Delphi, a town of 3,000 residents — some of whom said they were shocked to learn of a killer in their midst.
“Devastated,” community organizer Dan McCain told the Lafayette Journal & Courier of how he felt when learning police were treating the deaths of the middle school students as homicides. “Just devastating for those families. For this town. For all of us. Just … how?”
McCain, who did not know the girls directly, said their deaths will “strike a fear” in the quiet, tight-knit community.
“We have a trail system that’s glorious,” he told the newspaper. “It’s a big part of who we are in Delphi … I know people will be afraid now. I just know that. And for that, I’m devastated, too.”
Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullins said he wouldn’t advise people to stop using the Monon High Bridge Trail — where the girls were hiking — but said hikers need to be aware of their surroundings.
One longtime resident told WLFI that the killings have had an immediate, pervasive impact throughout Delphi.
“I’ve lived here for 50-plus years and things like this are happening every day in bigger cities, like Chicago and Indianapolis and whatnot,” Richard Gardiner told the station. “And in a small community when it happens, everybody goes berserk.”
Gardiner said he never stops giving advice and safety tips to his grandchildren, who are about the same age as Abigail and Liberty.
“I tell them to follow the rules and stay on the high road,” Gardiner said. “And I also tell them not to be talking to strangers on the internet.”
Prior to their disappearance, Liberty posted a photo on Snapchat of Abigail looking somber on a railroad bridge in Delphi. The post marked the last time either girl was seen alive, Time reported.
Anyone with information about the case, especially those with information about the man in the photograph or those who hiked the Delphi Historic Trails on Monday, is asked to call the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department at (765) 564-2345.