IN - Abigail Williams, 13, & Liberty German, 14, Delphi, 13 Feb 2017 #8

[Miranda]

According to the presser they were involved on day one (13:18 mark):

"Nine days ago we had an Agent that was participating in the search for the missing victims and from that moment until this morning, we have stood shoulder to shoulder with our Law Enforcement partners here."

[video=youtube;mZcHfgbOcKo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcHfgbOcKo[/video]

 

[rmoeller]

Can someone who is way more tech savvy than me do an analysis on the 'down the hill' recording? It will take me 10 years to figure if out. I think someone may find it useful. A picture of the kind of info I'm looking for. TIA

 

[mpnola]

Oh. One other thing. I am so glad they released a clearer audio clip. When I watched the presser, it just sounded like my washing machine when it is off balance. I definitely hear "go down the hill".

 

[jillycat]

A few thoughts from a veteran crime reporter:

1. <modsnip>

2. Focusing on details regarding the bridge or the camera angle are useless in that they do nothing to further identify and capture the suspect(s). Examine the suspect. What can we tell? Well, it appears the blue coat is a buttoned model, as you can see the two sides pulling apart near his stomach. This suggests he's a bigger gentleman. See the hard object in his front right jacket pocket? Yet his hand in his pants pocket. Odd, don't you think? He appears to have a mustache, straight brown hair.

3. Police are sitting on a lot more. Given that they have video, most likely, releasing even a two-second clip of him walking might shed light on his posture, gait, etc. Not to mention higher photo quality. I have a suspicion that the entire encounter was captured, but the contents of that video/audio are either too sensitive to release (e.g. cries for help) or could jeopardize the investigation (e.g. the perpetrator telling the victims he's going to shoot them).

4. If the phone wasn't recovered at the scene, they have already tracked its movement, but that's not entirely helpful as it could've been discarded anywhere or turned off and the SIM card removed. If it was recovered, and I believe it was, they've got a digital record of everything the girl did prior to this encounter. That usually indicates he is a stranger.

5. His knowledge of the area would indicate he's familiar with the terrain. Who just happens to stop by a random trail near Delphi, Indiana for a walk? Had the perpetrator intended to kill at that day and that particular time, there are far greater odds of finding a victim at a location other than where this occurred. This suggests to me the attack was random and not planned.

A veteran police officer on the case said that while it's possible, he doubts that this was a chance encounter. He said the other possibility is this person knew the girls would be there that day.

Personally, I don't think there was any planned meeting, on his part or theirs. I do think that someone like this is prepared to do what he did any day of the week that he scopes a good target. That day he had two. In a place where kids hang out, on a day when there was no school and kids were more likely to be present.

 

[Gardenista]

Anyone know when the FBI joined the investigation? How soon after the girls were discovered?

Was it pretty much immediately?

Today in the PC the FBI guy said they participated in the search on Monday morning

 

[Celtsleuth]

I believe LE asks for the FBI's assistance. I don't believe there is any problem with jurisdiction when they are asked. The only jurisdiction that I know for the FBI is if someone is taken across state lines. that isn't the case here. I think in a lot of child cases, especially murder, local LE asks for their help.

 

[Elainera]

I don't understand why they wouldn't have called 911 if they had at least one working phone?


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Because he immediately tied their hands maybe? (not knowing that she had pressed the audio recording button already)

 

[FruitTingles]

Those 3 words are haunting me.

 

[dyannaON]

Perhaps Abby was "catfished" by someone she met online on a home computer as she had no phone if I recall. Suspect maybe wasn't aware of Libby's phone until afterwards or at all. Not saying this happened just something I thought about. Moo..and all that jazz.


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[Oregonmama]

I'm sure they were scared - but one of them had the presence of mind to hit "record" when the guy was talking to them, according to the Nancy Grace post on this incident. I hope kids are still having it drilled into them to always call 911 if they feel at all scared or in danger!


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I dont think Libby had enough time to dial 911. She probably hit record button very quickly and that was all the time she had. NG needs to chill because every situation is different.

 

[JJ007]

I think the differences in terrain only appear so because the most recent photo has foliage.

That's what I'm saying. I'll assume for a second that the mound/trenching that's going on there is from the cemetery. Who's to say the killer didn't work there and plan on burying them in the trenches, etc., because he had the cover of trees on the satellite? Idk, just a theory.

 

[janesmith787]

I can't imagine anyone questioning these CHILDREN. Teenagers or not, they're still kids. Huge props to her for getting what she did!! It's probably more helpful than calling 911 and having nothing but her voice. One can't say what they would or wouldn't do in that situation. I can only imagine how absolutely terrifying that would be, and I don't know that calling 911 would be first thing I would do either, although logically that makes sense. JMO


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[Eastonwatson]

I wondered some of the same things. It probably took them time to listen to all the audio, discuss with speech experts to decipher which words would be best to release that capture his normal speaking voice. I would guess there is more audio of him speaking however it is probably too traumatic to release to the public. They only get one chance to release audio to get the most impact and exposure. These are reasons why I think it took so long. If the released audio doesn't lead to any good tips I could envision them releasing more audio even though it might be more traumatic. I can't imagine what other audio might be heard and I guarantee it isn't pretty.

After some initial stumbles by LE in this investigation, I thought the press conference was very well done.

<modsnip> I have confidence and trust LE knows what they are doing and will catch the guy.

The audio of "down the hill" needs to be shared over and over so the right person hears it and can be tied to the perpetrator.

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Thanks for the insight.

 

[TravelingBug]

So he's within 2 hours of Delphi and he hitchhikes from his house to Delphi? Because didn't the investigators kinda stress if any one saw him maybe on the main road? Wouldn't that imply he was walking or trying to hitch a ride?

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The former is the poster's opinion.

As to the bolded, they did.

"We're trying to get people that were driving down the Hoosier Heartland, that were on the interstate, that were in Logansport that might have saw somebody walking, hitchhiking-- if they saw a duffle bag laying somewhere, anything. We're just reaching out for people that saw anything within that distance," explained Sgt. Kim Riley with Indiana State Police.

http://www.wthr.com/article/tips-pou...ouble-homicide

 

[galaxygal]

I recall that when they discovered them the local media said the "Crime Scene Processing Team" (or some fancy name) from the Indianapolis FBI Field Office was asked to help with processing the crime scene. But that was early in the case and it may have been not the real reason.

I can see that being the case with a small town police station, they may not have access to a fancy lab. But it appears they might be doing more than just lab work for local LE as they have placed the suspect on their Most Wanted list and have info about the crime on their site.

 

[rpgman]

The former is the poster's opinion.

As to the bolded, they did.



http://www.wthr.com/article/tips-pou...ouble-homicide

Thank u...thats what I remenbered...they stated he might have been hitchhiking....

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[TravelingBug]

38-year police veteran says killer is NOT a local.

http://www.wthr.com/article/this-on...ective-optimistic-about-finding-delphi-killer

Not to discount his opinion, but based on how things have gone in this thread...

For those who don't read the link, that's THE OPINION of a 38 year old veteran cop, NOT someone actively working on this case.

Not that it invalidates it, but just to try to prevent people saying they read one of the people assigned to the case said that if they don't read the actual article and go off this headline only...

 

[Eastonwatson]

I think they explained the reasons for withholding a lot of the details/video/audio very well in the press conference. It's a good way to weed out tips that are not useful. Someone overhears some dude in a bar say that they hit someone on the head. The listener calls it in but the police know that's not what happened. So they bin the tip and move on. The other reason of course is to avoid the false-confession whackjobs that always seem to show up in cases like this.

But risk giving every opportunity for someone to recognize this guy in a time sensitive Mannar over being able to quickly decipher through tips/fake confessions?

This is what I had gathered before and it just seems like such a flawed way of thinking.

But I'm open to the fact I'm new and maybe it's me that has the flawed thought process right now.

Thanks for the reply

 

[LWH]

I'm sure they were scared - but one of them had the presence of mind to hit "record" when the guy was talking to them, according to the Nancy Grace post on this incident. I hope kids are still having it drilled into them to always call 911 if they feel at all scared or in danger!

Her recording could have been accidental - if she had been recording video earlier, she may have "butt dialed" the video camera to play again - there's been several times I have done that - looked down to see my camera was on when I didn't intentionally turn it on.

 

[Jethro4WS]

I wondered some of the same things. It probably took them time to listen to all the audio, discuss with speech experts to decipher which words would be best to release that capture his normal speaking voice. I would guess there is more audio of him speaking however it is probably too traumatic to release to the public. They only get one chance to release audio to get the most impact and exposure. These are reasons why I think it took so long. If the released audio doesn't lead to any good tips I could envision them releasing more audio even though it might be more traumatic. I can't imagine what other audio might be heard and I guarantee it isn't pretty.

After some initial stumbles by LE in this investigation, I thought the press conference was very well done.

<modsnip> I have confidence and trust LE knows what they are doing and will catch the guy.

The audio of "down the hill" needs to be shared over and over so the right person hears it and can be tied to the perpetrator.

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I think they are aiming for one or both of two things to happen. Someone that knows this person's voice will give that person up or someone is going to go on the run if they hadn't already or both. So in the latter case they would be looking for someone to not show up for work anymore or someone that told their spouse they were headed out for a loaf of bread and never come back home as two examples.