Indiana authorities hope slain girl's audio recording will lead to her killer
DELPHI, Ind. -- Authorities in Indiana hope a mysterious voice recording will help them catch whoever killed two young hikers last week.
On this abandoned railroad trestle, a 14-year-old girl may have recorded the voice of her killer.
“Down the hill. Down the hill,” a male voice is heard on the recording.
Liberty German and her 13-year-old friend, Abigail Williams, were hiking on Feb. 13th, when police say German captured images of this man and also made a longer recording of their encounter. Police haven’t said if the voice recording is of the same man.
“This young lady is a hero, there’s no doubt,” said Indiana State Police Sgt. Tony Slocum. “To have enough presence of mind to activate that video system on her cellphone, to record what we believe is criminal behavior that’s about to occur.”
Over 100 local, state and federal agents are working the case, including Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby, who has been with the department for 30 years. He’s counting on the public to recognize the suspect soon.
“We’re hoping that someone out there will say, oh my goodness, that’s a cousin, that’s an uncle, that’s the guy next door,” Leazenby said.
But despite the fact that Delphi is a small community of only 3,000 residents, no one has yet come forward.
“It’s surprising and obviously frustrating as well,” Leazenby said.
Reward money in the case has reached $50,000 -- and climbing.
To the people in the town who are afraid and hurting, Leazenby says “the bottom line that I’ve been sharing all week is we will get this and we will find who’s responsible.”
Authorities have not released the full video and other evidence from Liberty German’s phone yet so they can use them for an eventual prosecution. But since making the pictures and recording public, police have received over 1,900 tips.
