The idea that certain killers attend press conferences, participate in searches, visit gravesites, and insert themselves into criminal investigations, is documented behavior.
That being said, anecdotally atleast, it doesn’t seem to happen in most cases.
It happens enough that law enforcement is on guard for it, but there’s no way of knowing if it happened here.
I think it was said for effect, in an effort to wake the community up to the belief that he is still there, walking among them.
He is their neighbor, coworker, acquaintance, or family member.
It’ll make the community hyper aware of suspicious behavior, and might lead to the identification of a suspect.