Murder in Delphi, Indiana: Who Killed Liberty and Abigail?
The story of a hike gone wrong
The Beginnings
Delphi, Indiana, is a small town where quietness is the norm. With less than 3,000 people in the town, it was a peaceful community. That would change on February 13th, 2017, when two girls went for a hike.
On a warm winter day Liberty German and her best friend, Abigail Williams went for a hike.
Liberty’s older sister, Kelsi, would drop both girls off at the Freedom Bridge which marked the start of the hiking trail. After walking on the trail for some time, the girls crossed a bridge. It was on this bridge that Liberty decided to take a picture of Abigail walking over the bridge.
This picture would be the last image taken of Abigail and the last time anyone would hear from either girl.
The Final Hike
Sometime after the photos were uploaded to Liberty’s Snapchat her father arrived to pick both girls up. After waiting some time, he decided to call Liberty. However, she did not answer her phone after multiple calls. Deciding to get out of the car to investigate, Liberty’s father walked the trail and asked an old man nearby if he saw either girl.
Unfortunately, the old man did not see either girl and Liberty’s father was unsuccessful in finding either girl.
Deciding to recruit the help of family members of Liberty and Abigail the trail was searched more thoroughly, but both families were still unsuccessful in their search.
At 5:30 PM both girls were reported missing to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department. Now officially being reported as missing the Sheriff’s department launched a large search for the girls, but they did not think the girls were in danger from anything besides the weather.
From the Sheriff’s department’s point of view, both girls were in the right age group to forget what time it was, cancel plans, and then go to a friend’s house without notifying anyone.
The Discovery
However, the phones of both girls were not on meaning law enforcement could not ping the girls’ location. So, officials instead searched from their last known location: the second bridge they crossed over.
As investigators searched, the night was drawing closer and temperatures were dropping, so the search team called off the search for the night. The next morning, Valentine’s Day, the search continued with the assumption both girls were still alive.
Around 10:00 AM, a larger search team was formed and they searched the area around the bridge again. Only two hours later, the bodies of both girls were found on land owned by a local man, Ronald Logan. Beyond that, police never released details of the crime scene.
Instead, they would only confirm that Ronald Logan was not involved in the crime and both girls were dead. Further, the autopsy of both girls would be sealed once complete.
None of the details of the crime have been released: the murder weapon, potential motive, or how the girls were killed. The public was left completely in the dark about most of the crime.
From here, the police were stumped on how to find the criminal. After all, the crime was carried out in the middle of the woods in a small town. There were no cameras around to capture the suspect.
The Original Suspect
The only cameras at the scene of the crime were the cameras on Liberty’s and Abigail’s phone cameras.
Luckily, Liberty was aware someone suspicious was near, so she recorded the man walking towards them. Police would later release a photo of the man from the video and ask for tips in finding this man and would officially make this unidentified man the main suspect in the murder case.
With the information available the police also released an audio clip of the suspect instructing the girls to walk down the hill. Beyond these two leads, police did not reveal much about the suspect beyond his appearance.
The initial description of the suspect would be incorrect assuming the man to be middle-aged between 5’6’’ — 5’10’’ with reddish-brown hair weighing around 180–220 lbs. With this description, police created a composite image of the suspect.
Appearing as a middle-aged man, it seemed like it would be a short period of time before the suspect was caught.
The composite image allowed the police to start preparing a more exhaustive search for the suspect. Starting the search with the family, investigators would rule them out one by one. Eventually, they would turn their attention to anyone near the scene of the crime and those on the sex offender registry.
In addition, local and state officials recruited the help of the FBI who created a profile of the suspect. FBI investigators claim that the suspect would have acted irregularly before and after the day of the crime.
Prior to the crime, the suspect would have had a different sleep pattern and possibly abuse substances while also being on edge. After the crime, the suspect would seem obsessed with the case and would oddly try to tell people where they were on the day of the crime.
Possible Suspects
Even with the FBI and the behavioral analyst, there was still no suspect. Initial investigations looked at Ronald Logan, the owner of the property both girls were found on. He had prior encounters with police, but none were violent. Further, Logan drove to the dump the day the girls were murdered. Soon enough, police eventually ruled Logan out soon after searching his house.
Later that year in September, investigators would then turn their attention to Daniel J. Nations. A registered sex offender from Indiana who seemed like a career criminal. In addition, Nations became increasingly angry the month before the crime after his brother died. Because of this, Nations seemed like the perfect suspect, yet in February 2018 Nations was no longer considered a suspect. The actual reason for Nations no longer being a suspect is unknown, but Nations is an unlikely suspect because he does not look like the suspect nor does he have a car allow him to get to the scene of the crime from Indiana.
There has been speculation that the two girls were killed by a serial killer due to police not revealing details of the case and the similarities to another case that occurred in 2012, but the investigators claim the cases are not related.
New Leads
In 2018, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies were recruited to look at the case as well. Sometime after in April 2019 investigators announced that they were going to be looking into new leads for the case. With that, investigators changed the suspect’s profile completely.
This composite no longer is reminiscent of a middle-aged man, yet instead, the composite now shows a young man who could easily be in their mid-twenties. With that, investigators also now believe that the suspect is familiar with Delphi.
Investigators then revealed that they were looking for a vehicle that was near the crime scene on the day Liberty and Abigail were murdered. No information about the vehicle was released, but police were confident that the person in this car is the killer.
Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter taunted the killer saying that “We have a witness. You made mistakes. We are coming for you and there’s no place for a heartless coward like you to hide that gets his thrill from killing little girls.”
Present Day
As the fourth anniversary of the murders come closer, investigators are no closer to solving the crime. All state, local, and federal officials are still investigating the case.
With so many details of the crime missing, the public may never know what occurred on that fateful day. However, with how confident the State Police Superintendent is, the suspect may soon be found.
Sources:
