Oh, I agree the woods are dark at night. Easy enough to hide EXCEPT IMO when searchers are combing through.
According to this timeline from shortly after the murders, family was searching for them already between 2:30 PM, still light outside, until 5:30 PM.
When that was fruitless, by 5:30 PM, (dark in February) the family had contacted LE, the Fire Department, and rescue workers who all searched until midnight. Obviously they would have used a variety of lights at their disposal.
It’s my belief that had a murderer been hiding in the woods all that time he would have been found. Most particularly because the trees are mostly denuded in the winter.
Of course sadly the girls were not discovered until the next day, so it’s fair to say that the first searches did not reveal the girls. IMO that’s because they were obscured by the leaves, twigs and sticks.
Whereas from the point of view of the murderer, there is no advantage to hanging around. I believe the murderer would’ve jetted out of there ASAP after he had done what he wanted.
You seem like a decent person,
@FrostedGlass, so I presume when you went camping in the dark, no one was shining a spotlight on you! Of course I don’t know, but I imagine you were more likely to camp in summer when the trees are heavily leafed. Very few of the people I know who love to go camping would go in winter.
JMO
On February 13, 2017, Liberty "Libby" German and Abigail "Abby" Williams went for a hike near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. Here's a look at what has happened since that day.
www.wrtv.com