The Delphi Double Murder

Tragedy strikes the small town of Delphi Indiana five long years ago. Two beautiful souls were taken long before their time. The community was shaken and the families of these two girls' hearts were broken.

The Backstory

Abby Williams and Liberty German were thirteen and fourteen years old. They had been friends since 7th grade. The two girls met through their school's volleyball team and seemed to get along quite well. They had similar interests and hobbies and frequently spent time together. Many of the students at their middle school know them as Abby and Libby and refer to them as loyal, interesting, funny, smart, bright, and quiet. The two girls attended the Delphi Community Middle School and had many friends who all miss them dearly.

February 13th, 2017

The day before valentine's day, the girls had spent the night together the night before and found the winter day to be unusually warm. They thought it would be nice to go hiking in an area that Libby was familiar with. The trails are known as the Delphi historic trails. During the afternoon around 1:40 pm, Libby's older sister dropped them off at the trail's head. This was known as Freedom Bridge. These historic trails run along abandon railroad tracks and can be dangerous, the trails run across an old 1890s wooden railroad bridge as well.

During their adventure through the trails, Abby and Libby both posted Snapchat stories which included a photo of the bridge itself and a video of Abby crossing the bridge This was the last activity the two posted on social media, and this was also the last known location of the teen girls.

Around 3:00 pm, Derek, Libby's father, showed up at their predetermined location to be picked up. Derek had called Libby's phone a few minutes prior to let her know that he was about to arrive, but Libby did not pick up the phone call. Once Derek had called Libby multiple times and had not received a response, he got out of his car and started walking the trails. At the beginning of the trail, he came into contact with an older man who appeared to be in his 70s and asked if the man had seen two young girls walking the trails, the older man said no, and Derek continued on his way.

Other family members showed up on the trails and searched for the two girls, unfortunately, they could not find the girls. After searching for a few hours, the families decided to call the police and report the girls missing. Officials were sent out to scope the area where the two girls were last seen. Many different departments of law enforcement were sent out on foot in search of Libby and Abby. The police department tried to receive pings from the girl's cellphone, but the devices had been turned off earlier that day and were no longer available or online. With nightfall coming close and temperatures dropping, the search ended around midnight.

The search continued on February 14th (valentine's day) at 10:00 am. This time the search included a k-9 unit and a special dive team. They searched a large amount of land and the bodies of water surrounding the area. Around 12:45 pm, a horrifying discovery was made by the fire department. The chief was heard on the radio saying that the discovery was "not good" and the discovery was the missing girl's remains.

No information about the findings of the remains has been public. The cause of death has not been made public knowledge and the scene has not been set for the crime. The only detail pertaining to the remains was in relation to the location of the bodies. They were discovered along Deer Creek on a large plot of land which belonged to Ronald Logan. Ronald Logan is not a suspect at this time and has remained that way.

February 15th

The day after Valentine's Day, the media was let in on the discovery. Two bodies had been discovered on the banks of Deer Creek and the bodies belonged to the missing teens, Abby Williams and Liberty German. An autopsy of both Abby and Libby was performed but the findings were hidden under lock and key. Although the police had released that the two teens had been victims of homicide, they did not release a cause of death. The chief of police came onto live television and said...

There is Someone out there who did this crime, and we are going to find them.

Later that day the police released a photo of a middle-aged man who they wanted to speak to. This man was walking the trails at the same time Libby and Abby were walking. They did not name this man as a suspect but as a person of interest. Libby had recorded this suspicious man on her phone that day, it is unknown if the phone was found at the crime scene or if the photo was taken from an iCloud library. This "person of interest" had been caught not only on camera but on audio and video. There is a theory that Libby had the phone concealed in her pocket recording until the phone died. This theory makes it evident that the audio of the crime would have been caught as well. This would be very sad, but it would help a trial against the killer.

Days after the "Bridge guy" was labeled as a person of interest they named the man a suspect. The investigation continued and the family and friends of Abby and Libby were interviewed. Police secured video footage from multiple establishments around the area. Four months later the police told media outlets that over 18,000 tips were called into the tip line and looked at by investigators. When the case became national attention, the press conferences became national as well. Law enforcement could be seen at the conferences with heavy emotions and tears in their eyes.

The police remained heavily censored and details about the crime still were not released to this day. Ronald Logan was questioned multiple times; he had owned the property the remains were found on for 50 years prior and had been seen driving trash to the dump the day the two teens were murdered. As bazar as that would look to officials the man was cleared and there is no suspicion linked to Ronald Logan.

The Meat Plant

In Delphi around 2.5 miles away from the trails, there is a meat plant. The plant hires hundreds to thousands of men, young and old. About a week after the double homicide, a bomb threat was called into the meat plant. Police surrounded the facility and there are many photographs of police taking boots and other evidence out of the facility. Many speculate that this evidence from the facility could in fact be connected to the double murder. Maybe a footprint was found at the crime scene that correlated with the boots that had been taken from the meat plant or maybe a suspect works there and this was a chance to get evidence. Later, the police stated that the raid at the meat processing plant had been unrelated to the double homicide.

The community support

Delphi is a small community with a population of 3000. The community was extremely supportive, they helped financially with a memorial, funerals, and a reward fund. In a short amount of time, the reward fund went from $41,000 to $200,000 through donations. The community showed their support emotionally as well by helping the grieving families and friends.

Five years earlier... A lead?

Five years earlier around 400 miles from Delphi two cousins 10-year-old Lyric Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins went missing while riding their bikes in the area of downtown Evansdale. Eventually, their bikes were found at a nearby park, but they were nowhere to be found. A massive search was established, and the two girls were found 20 miles from their place of disappearance. The police kept the scene details and findings under wraps but established that the girls were deceased. From 1968 to 2012, the FBI has said there have only been 15 double abduction homicides in the United States. To believe that these two cases are not in any way connected would be foolish but unfortunately, the two police departments have compared notes and ruled out a connection between the two.

Who is Kegan Kline?

A new name has surfaced during the five-year-long investigation into the double homicide of Abby and Libby. That name is Kegan Kline. The man is twenty-seven years old and has been charged with child pornography and child exploitation. According to the published transcripts between the police officials and Mr. Kline, the man was running multiple fake social media accounts with the purpose to target large amounts of under aged females in order to solicit nude photos, and addresses. and plans to meet up with the young children. According to these transcripts, Kline was in contact with the fourteen-year-old Liberty German the night before she was brutally killed. The conversation consisted of plans to meet on the historic Delphi trails.

These social media accounts portrayed " Anthony Shots" as a young and well-known model who was rich, famous and owned multiple sports cars. These lies led to attention from young and vulnerable children seeking attention from a male who would provide attention.

During the interview, the officers asked Kline if he was involved in the homicide in any way, Kline denied any involvement and proceeded to proclaim his innocence. The transcripts make it very clear that two or more adult males were active on these social media accounts and confirmed that with language analysis. Kline was given a lie detector test and asked if he knew who committed the crime against these young girls on the 13th of February. Kline showed signs of deception and failed the polygraph test miserably.

Kline told someone that he was supposed to meet Liberty German on the 13th but she never showed up. The same day the girls went missing, Kline attempted to delete the Anthony Shots accounts from Instagram and Snapchat. After the attempt to destroy the accounts, Kline Googled the question that would make everyone suspicious, " how long does DNA last?". Kline was later sent to trial to plead guilty or not guilty to the child pornography charges. Kline plead not guilty.

In the transcripts of the interrogation, the police make it clear that they asked Kline if he knew who committed the crime against these girls, Kline failed the test. What does Kline know? The conference after this interrogation made it clear that the Anthony Shots accounts were not the only leads they had.