My notes from
Scene of the Crime - Delphi: Evidence.
Within in a week of discovering the bodies of Libby and Abby, 25 different agencies on the local, state, and federal level were working on this case.
Superintendent Doug Carter:
“We also reached out to a lot of other agencies in Indiana where we have tips. So, just from the police perspective, we had detectives here from every one of our posts from around Indiana. We have 14 of them. So, over a hundred and fifty people within the ISP have touched this in some way or another.”
March 2017
The Delphi Command Center moved to a larger space to accommodate the larger number of personnel working on the case.
On any given day, there were approximately 20 FBI agents – in addition to 30 other LE officers – working 20 hours a day on the investigation. The FBI had taken over the tip lines in late February and moved the call center to Washington. However, they continued to funnel tips that were deemed important to investigators on the ground in Delphi via satellite trucks stationed outside the local command center.
February 23, 2017 (one month after the murders)
LE had processed 3,900 tips; 1,900 of those came in after the “down the hill” audio clip was released.
By the end of April –
16,000 tips had been reported and more than 500 people had been investigated by the ISP as a result.
The FBI created a “Seeking Information” poster that was distributed nationally. They also generated a nationwide billboard campaign and utilized 6,000 billboards in 46 states. The billboards displayed the still images of the suspect, photos of Abby and Libby, basic information about the case, and the tip line phone number.
Interestingly, the billboards stated that BG was last seen at 2:30 pm on February 13th, 2017.
Paul Holes – the DNA expert that identified the Golden State Killer – spoke with SOC about the evidence process.
Holes:
“Any time I have a case, it’s likely that there is no known relationship between the victim and the offender. I’m looking for that physical evidence that could actually identify the offender. That is really limited to two forms of physical evidence. Uh, in terms of the forensics sense. And that’s DNA and fingerprints. And so, now it’s really looking at what is present within the crime scene. Whether it be at the crime scene, objects in the crime scene, evidence collected from the victim’s clothing or the victim’s bodies that might be able to give me that critical DNA evidence. Or that critical fingerprint evidence to give me a name. Uh, that is so important. And so that’s, that’s where the focus in these types of cases has to be.”
The ISP began stopping drivers in the area within hours of the bodies being located, and they were asked if they’d seen anything suspicious or unusual. According to Sgt. Jerry Holeman of the ISP – the lead investigator for that agency –
officers spoke to as many as 600 people in this canvas.
Sgt. Kim Riley said,
“They were trying to get people driving down the Hoosier Heartland who had been on the interstate. That were in Logansport, that might’ve saw somebody walking, hitchhiking. If they saw a duffle bag laying somewhere, anything. We were just reaching out for people that saw anything within that distance.”
Investigators also tracked down people who were on the MHB trail that day to seek out information and went door-to-door at the residences located near the bridge to determine if homeowners had seen anything on the 13th.
Local registered sex offenders living in Delphi as of 2019 – of which there were 12 – and the many others living in surrounding counties were rounded up, questioned about their alibi, and polygraphed in some cases.
More than 20 people who were contacted by LE in connection to this case were arrested on unrelated charges.
70 subpoenas and 12 search warrants (that we know of) were executed in the months following the crime. The two executed at Ron Logan’s property, as well as the one on Bicycle Bridge Road about 5 miles away, have already been mentioned. On February 25, another search warrant was executed at a residence on Canal Street in Peru, IN (30 miles away). LE has said the persons at this particular residence are in no way connected to Libby and Abby.
We have no other information about the remainder of those search warrants. They may have been property searches or they may have been issued to obtain video surveillance footage from a local business or residence. They may have also been issued to obtain cell phone records, computers, or other technological information.
Robert Ives told SOC that he personally submitted several subpoenas to obtain all cell phone records from phones within a five mile radius of the trails to determine who was in the area that day. All owners of cell phones that pinged in the area of the bridge were contacted regarding their activities and asked about what they had seen. Investigators paid special attention to phone records of anyone who was new to the area or had spent several hours in the area during the time in question.
LE also tried to determine the suspect’s method of ingress and egress to and from the area.
Parameters given by LE indicate they believe the suspect left the area by 5:00 pm but was possibly still in the area when searchers began to look for the girls.
BG only had a few options to avoid being seen and only two of those are likely:
- north thru Ron Logan’s property or the cemetery on County Road 300 North
- west thru the woods along the north bank of Deer Creek, rejoined the MHB trial before the start of the bridge, and then walked back to Delphi or elsewhere via the Freedom Bridge Trail
These routes are close to the Hoosier Heartland Highway and Interstate 25 (both of which could have provided a quick exit).
It is not known if the suspect had a vehicle or where he parked it if he did. Many believe the most logical place to have left a car was the cemetery abutting Ron Logan’s property. This is within close proximity to the location of the bodies and would have been a somewhat short – if treacherous – hike to the bridge.
It was reported that a witness who lived near Ron Logan saw a man leaving the cemetery that day. If the suspect drove to the bridge that day, the evidence was likely destroyed when the many volunteers arrived to help the families search.
Every social media platform used by either of the girls was thoroughly analyzed by LE and every contact was interviewed. These platforms included Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Libby was friends with both Kelsie and her grandparents across all platforms.
Kelsie:
“We had to be friends with them, so they could see what we were posting. Um, and I’m sure they checked our messages without us knowing because they have our passwords.”
10 days before the murder, Libby reset her iPhone 6 with the help of her Aunt Tara because of glitches in service (like her screen and/or apps kept freezing up).
The video of BG was recorded with the iPhone’s standard camera app, and the audio was extracted from the video.
LE has confirmed that additional audio and video exist.
LE has never released the time the video was taken or discussed if the sequence of events were revealed. They’ve even refused to say how much audio and video exist on the phone (in terms of duration).
On an iPhone 6, videos are interrupted by incoming calls and we know that a call was made by Derrick at 3:11 pm. When the video is interrupted, recording stops and the video is saved to the phone but it doesn’t resume recording when the call ends. The recording may have continued until the phone died if a call didn’t come in while recording. We also don’t know if Libby had her ringer turned off/on at the time.
Because LE has stated that BG is the killer, something on the video must confirm it. However, we know it wasn’t the crime itself because Sheriff Leazenby said it was not recorded.
The MHB was constructed with six, small wooden platforms sticking off the side in staggered locations -- which are large enough for two people to stand on. Based on the location of BG in the photo, which was determined by the forked tree visible behind him (located approximately 280 feet from the end of the bridge) and the fifth platform seen behind him (located approximately 220 feet from the bridge), we know
he was approximately 60 feet away from the end of the bridge when the video was recorded.
Robert Ives:
“The image of the suspect is an image from a video from a cell phone camera at great distance.”
It is believed that Libby was standing at the end of the bridge as Abby approached her, and both girls were aware of the suspect drawing closer to them.
Becky, Mike, and Anna were permitted to watch the video and listen to the audio. Anna said she could hear the audio even after she wasn't able to see anything anymore. And the audio portion of “down the hill” sounds somewhat muffled – as if the microphone is covered or blocked.
Anna says the images of BG revealed to the public are the absolute best that can be obtained from the video – even after being enhanced by experts at NASA and Disney.
Robert Ives:
“People kept asking… ‘well why don’t they enhance that picture… why don’t they enhance the pixels?’ There’s no pixels to enhance. There aren’t very many pixels there. And, so they did a marvelous job at getting the picture up to the quality of image it is. And I know that’s confused people out in the public. Cause there’s no magic that you know. I mean, you have X number of pixels. Those pixels are of a certain color. It may be that you can enhance the image by adding the contrast or reducing the contrast, but you can’t do anything to change the fact that you’ve got X number of pixels making up the picture. And, as such, you only have certain resolution when you’re dealing with a picture like that.”
ISP has revealed that in the part of audio not released to the public, Abby and Libby can be heard engaging in typical girl talk and discussing the man behind them. The family has also stated that the girls can be heard whispering between themselves and wondering where they would possibly go. Anna told one interviewer that Abby said something like, “well… the path ends here, so we can’t go any farther.”
The bodies of Libby and Abby were located about 170 yards from the end of the bridge and 50 feet from the north bank of the creek.
Deer Creek is somewhat of a misnomer as it resembles more of a river than a creek, and it’s as deep as a river in certain areas. While many parts of the creek are too deep for people to traverse comfortably,
there’s an area near a bend located toward the northeast of the bridge that has a sandbar and is shallow enough to cross. Many believe the bend is where the girls crossed over the creek and into Ron Logan’s property on the other side and believe they were likely killed where they were found.
Ron Logan said the path taken -- from the bridge to where their bodies were located -- is difficult to navigate. There is rocky steep terrain, a deep ravine, and woods and thickets. Kelsie told SOC that the girls were found in a valley of sorts. It was unthinkable to RL that the girls would voluntarily make that walk. Someone either forced them to take it or the girls ran from someone who overtook them there.
Robert Ives told SOC the wooded area is by no means completely isolated. In fact,
one home located on top of the ridge to the northeast of the bridge has an unobstructed view to where the girls bodies were found. Kelsie believes the girls tried to escape by running through the creek.
Kelsie:
“She probably ran through the water and it [the shoe] fell off.”
2:07 pm – Snapchat photo posted
3:11 pm – Derrick called Libby’s phone and she didn’t answer
2:20 – 2:30 pm – the video of BG that produced the still images was filmed (estimation determined by StudioMax – a high end 3D application which calculates time based on light, shadows, time of year and geographical location)
If the suspect was on the bridge at 2:30 pm and the phone call from Derrick went unanswered at 3:11 pm, the crime likely occurred during that 40-minute window. The family received confirmation that the girls were killed that day and were no longer alive throughout the night when people were searching for them. In fact,
LE believes the suspect left the area well before dark that afternoon. There is no evidence to suggest the girls were taken to another location before being killed on RL’s property, and LE believes the girls were killed where they were found.
LE has never conclusively stated that a full profile of the DNA of the perpetrator exists. However, they have confirmed that some form of DNA from the crime scene has been collected. As Sgt. Jerry Holeman put it,
“We are still working on finding all of the DNA that we have there.” On February 23, Sheriff Leazenby told the media that LE has requested DNA evidence to be fast tracked, but he later backtracked and said he hadn’t intended to confirm or deny the evidence of perpetrator DNA.
Despite the vague references about the presence of DNA, many were asked to give DNA samples in the days and weeks following the murders. The families have all given samples of their DNA samples, and Kelsie says she’s given them DNA three separate times. In addition,
the Delphi residents spoken to during the course of the investigation were also asked to give voluntary DNA samples.
Robert Ives:
"I’m still stunned by it. To think that we had a crime scene, we had bodies within 24 hours of their death. That we had a video recording and audio recording, I would have thought – and I promise you everybody else thought – we’re never gonna have this much evidence. I mean, there’s… as I say, there’s more. That we have all these facts. Some of them, somewhat unusual. And there’s going to be something about these facts that’s gonna point to somebody. I am, I’m shocked… I’m stunned. When I say that, I don’t mean that I think anybody failed. Many, many great police officers have worked their tails off on this, and it’s just… they're just not finding anything. And, there were promising leads at one time or another. Amazing things… but they didn’t lead to anything. You know, they didn’t lead to a person that was even close to chargeable.”
Paul Holes:
"You know as I was monitoring the headlines, uh, as this case was coming more and more prominent in the public domain… umm, it just seemed to continue to remain unsolved. I was a little bit surprised, but I’ve seen that with other cases. And, there’s just so much that goes on behind the scenes with these types of cases, these types of investigations. You know it’s hard to jump to, ya know, a foregone conclusion. Oh! We’re just gonna solve this case. Or, they’re just gonna solve this case right out the gate.”
Anna:
“The detectives were like… this is not going to take that long. It’s a small town, somebody’s gonna say something and this is all going to be over soon. I mean, we just… the first couple of weeks, that’s what it felt like. Any day now, ya know… and then all of a sudden, a couple of weeks turned into a couple of months.”
Doug Carter (in response to Kelsie asking him if he was surprised that the video and audio didn’t immediately lead to a suspect):
“I was… and I was a little disappointed, probably.”
By March 13, LE had worked more than 13,000 tips and cleared 2,000 of these. The reward fund for information about the killer was up to $224,000.
Despite having several persons of interest, the possibility that this crime could fall into the category of the hardest to solve – random crimes of opportunity committed by a stranger – was beginning to become more and more real.
