In reviewing a number of maps that show 1) where the girls were dropped off, (there are some great maps on earlier threads on Websleuths) 2) where they were likely forced to go with the suspect and 3) where they ended up found, what strikes me is that the location of all three events, appear to be at the point in the park that is farthest away from the center of the town of Delphi. The entrance to the Moton trail at state road 25 (not the highway 25, but the state road) is basically Main St. of Delphi. Which though small, is a real little town. That state road 25 entrance was probably not all that remote, and could be reached by walking from the center of Delphi.
The entrance the girls were dropped off at off 300 N (no longer an entrance) was actually on a bit of private property, where the owners had allowed an easement of sorts. The road to get there is farmland, corn, and lots of space. (I did a virtual tour--Delphi is a really pretty place.) But that spot, like much of Delphi, is somewhat remote. It would be difficult to get to on foot. And I couldn't find any mass transportation options in Delphi.
The location the killer picked is as far as you can get from town on those trails. And the spot he abducted those girls is the end of the park. Everything after is private land.
If I were going to abduct someone in that town, and I was looking for a random victim as opposed to someone I knew and had targeted--that's where I'd do it.
Because Delphi is not a city where you are likely to find random victims very easily. People aren't just walking around. Most people travel by car, including kids who are being picked up from school or events.
A park is really the only place you are going to find someone in an isolated spot, on foot.
And the killer got far, far away from the center of town.
That spot on the bridge would have been tricky for the girls to have escaped from, if no one saw anything. To get to where they were supposed to be picked up, they would have had to cross back over the bridge. The spot where the bridge is, the creek is too deep to cross back over there. And though there are a few houses near that little public road N675, it's the middle of the day, no one home maybe. Most of the privately owned homes are nearer to 300 N. So, unless an irate property owner sees you and threatens to shoot you if you don't get off their property, you could be in that spot for a while and no one would see or hear you.
He appears to have been corralling the girls to just such a spot.
I wonder though, how he knew that there wouldn't be an irate home-owner with a gun, patrolling his own land. Or if the killer just got lucky.
I do think, though, that it's almost certain he chose that spot to find a victim, because of it's remote nature.
Could this mean that he was actually very familiar with Delphi. Maybe he lived there. Maybe he'd even done some work on the properties adjacent to that end of the park--knew the habits of some of the land owners. Could he be hiding in plain site?
He really does seem to have performed some form of reconnaissance prior to these murders. Or he got hella lucky.
