DELPHI, Ind. — At a news conference Wednesday, authorities urged the public to keep passing on any tips they might have connected to the slayings of two teenage girls who died during a hiking trip. Police said on the 2-year anniversary of the crime that the next tip could help solve the case.
14-year-old Liberty German, and 13-year-old Abigail William, disappeared on Feb. 13, 2017, after a relative dropped them off for a hike near an abandoned railroad bridge near their hometown of Delphi, during a day off school.
They failed to show up at a pre-arranged pickup location.
Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, wooded area following a search.
Police have disclosed few details in their investigation and have not said how the teens were killed.
Officers say that more than 38,000 tips have been received to date.
Within days of the killings, investigators released two grainy photos of the suspect walking on the abandoned railroad bridge the girls had visited, and an audio recording of a man believed to be the suspect saying “down the hill.”
That evidence that came from German’s cellphone. Police have hailed her as a hero for recording potentially crucial evidence.
A composite sketch of the suspect was released by the FBI. It shows a white male with a prominent nose and a goatee and wearing a cap and what appears to be a hooded sweater. The suspect has reddish-brown hair, stands between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10 and weighs between 180 and 220 pounds.
A reward of more than $230,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest or arrests and convictions in the teens’ killings.