New details were set to be released on Monday in the 2017 killings of two teenage girls in Delphi, Ind., the authorities said.
Over the years, investigators have sifted through thousands of tips and interviewed possible suspects in the deaths of Liberty German, 14, and her friend Abigail Williams, 13, who disappeared Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day, but the case has remained unsolved. Last year, a reward for information leading to a break in the case ballooned to more than $300,000.
At 10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, a news conference will be held at a church in Delphi, about 70 miles northwest of Indianapolis. It was not clear what information the authorities planned to reveal, but multiple agencies, including the United States Marshals Service and the Carroll County Prosecutors Office, are scheduled to participate, according to an announcement from the Indiana State Police on Friday.
Liberty, who was called Libby, and Abigail, known as Abby, were both eighth graders, and disappeared during a hike on the last day of a four-day winter break. They set off about 1 p.m. near Monon High Bridge, an abandoned rail bridge near a 10-mile park trail known as the Delphi Historic Trail, “to walk around and hang out,” the Indiana State Police said at the time.
The girls had made plans to be picked up later in the afternoon, but after they failed to show up, a relative called the authorities. Their bodies were discovered the next day in the woods about half a mile upstream from the bridge.
Over time, clues about the case were released to the public, drawing national attention in part because of a recording that investigators extracted from Libby’s cellphone of a man ordering the girls: “Down the hill.” The police later released more material from the phone, including a short video of a man walking behind the girls, in hopes that someone might recognize him. The authorities also released a composite sketch of a suspect.
The police have not said how the girls, who were active in their school’s band, were killed, but praised Libby for the recordings. “This young lady is a hero, there is no doubt, to have enough presence of mind to activate the video system on her cellphone to record what we believe is criminal behavior that is about to occur,” Sgt. Tony Slocum of the State Police said at a news conference in 2017.
Superintendent Douglas G. Carter of the State Police also said at the news conference that the murders were a classic and clear example “that evil lives amongst us.” He added: “Every time something like this happens, a little piece of us dies as well.”
