The Delphi Murders, Indiana, USA In 2017
Richard Allen
This case has two victims. Liberty German and Abigail Williams were 14 year old girls who went for a walk on 13th February 2017. The small town they lived in, Delphi, is surrounded by many trails both official and unofficial. That day the girls were dropped off at the Monon High Bridge trail. The path leads to an old 63ft high railway bridge over a waterway called Deer Creek.
Please Note Update: A male, Richard Allen, was arrested and has since been charged with the murders of these poor kids. Click here to go to all the details
The word ‘creek’ in North America can mean anything wider than what we would call a stream. Some ‘creeks’ are what we would call a river and that was the case here. The old bridge can take 10 minutes to cross. It is without handrails and you step from wooden sleeper ( the big wooden slabs rails sit on) to wooden sleeper. You can see the drop in the gap between them.
At about 2pm the girls crossed the bridge. We know this because Ms German posted an image of Ms Williams crossing at that point.
The girls were found the following day at around noon. They were on the north bank of Deer Creek. The below image is approximately where this discovery was made.
In order for the girls to have got there they would have had to go east from the bridge’s southern end and through the trees or they would have had to have re-crossed the bridge from where the image was taken and then east. This issue was answered when Ms German’s phone was examined.
Not only had she taken that picture of her friend but she had also videoed a man walking over the bridge behind them. He then approached them and ordered them ‘Down the hill.’
We know this because Ms German placed her phone in her pocket after filming the man and it continued to record audio. Those few words were the only ones the police have released but apparently there is far more available as evidence. A search also located some clothing that indicates how the girls ended up at the place their bodies were found.
They were lying side by side, Ms German was naked. The cops have not said how the girls were killed nor the nature of the assault on them. Leaked messages between the searchers indicate they were stabbed.
You might think that video and audio evidence would have this case closed within hours. Unfortunately the video was taken at a distance and the suspect was wearing what appeared to be several layers of clothing. He was also watching his step from sleeper to sleeper so his head was angled down. The audio will help in court but the clip that was released is somewhat distorted as it was in Ms German’s pocket.
Looking at it, it does look like an older guy. The clothes give an impression of a scruffy man, maybe someone who was homeless. That is not what the cops believe and it seems that my impression is because of the poor quality of the video. They released a sketch of an older guy. More recently they have revised it to this image.
There are many persons of vague and more acute interest to the police in this case. Cops, and the press, seem interested in a particular individual. The theory goes that this situation may be linked to online grooming using the ‘catfish’ method. Catfishing is where some inadequate, often ugly, moron takes pictures from online of a nice looking person and pretends to be them. They then get girls, boys etc to send them pictures and even meet them.
This is a favourite modern method used by people who like to have sex with children. You know? Those creatures. It is a theory at least.
I have not named this man because it is all up in the air. Despite years he has not been charged and I will leave the police to that and wish them luck.
One source I came across that discusses the twists, turns and suspicions is this guy below. I’m not endorsing him or his channel but the presentation was good. Also I don’t like just taking someone’s work and writing it all down. It seemed fair to link the channel to this for those of you who want bucket loads of detail and theorising.
The murder of Abigail Williams and Liberty German is well known online and fascinating. There is no doubt about that but I don’t forget it is another awful example of suffering for everyone involved.
Take care
Tim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Abigail_Williams_and_Liberty_German
