Justice for Abby and Libby - The Delphi Murders Part I

Summary

Justice for Abby and Libby - The Delphi Murders Part I

In this gripping episode of Books With Your Besties, hosts Emily and Ashley delve deep into the harrowing case of Abby Williams and Libby German, two 14-year-old girls tragically murdered in Delphi, Indiana, in February 2017. Combining meticulous research with heartfelt commentary, Emily and Ashley guide listeners through the intricate details of the case, shedding light on the events, the investigation, and the lingering questions that still haunt the community.

Background of the Case

On Monday, February 13, 2017, Delphi Community Middle School announced a half-day schedule, allowing students to leave school earlier than usual. Abby Williams and Libby German, both 8th graders and close friends, seized this opportunity to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather by embarking on a hike. At 1:30 PM, with Libby's older sister Kelsey dropping them off, the girls set off on the Monon Highbridge Trail.

Ashley Flowers reflects on the choice of location:

“I understand why they wanted to be out there. The bridge itself I would not venture onto.”
[02:06]

The Monon Highbridge is notably challenging—a 63-foot-high, 854-foot-long old railroad bridge constructed with wooden planks. Its intimidating structure made it a daring choice, especially for two young teenagers.

Timeline of Events

The Hike and Last Sightings

At 2:07 PM, Libby posted a Snapchat photo of Abby walking on the bridge—the last confirmed image of the girls alive. Brit Prawat emphasizes the significance of this timestamp:

“This just feels like, oh, she's just sharing that they're walking across the bridge. This timestamp eventually helped investigators narrow down the timeline of when things began to go wrong.”
[02:24]

The Disappearance

By 3:00 PM, Libby's father arrives to pick them up but receives no response. Attempts to reach Libby go unanswered, prompting the family to realize something is amiss. At 3:15 PM, the family initiates a search along the trails, hoping the girls are merely lost.

As the afternoon progresses, the situation becomes dire. Around 5:30 to 6:00 PM, Abby and Libby are officially reported missing. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office launches a comprehensive search involving local police, fire departments, and numerous volunteers. Initially, authorities presume the girls might have gotten lost or possibly injured, especially considering the treacherous terrain around the high bridge.

Ashley Flowers shares a personal connection to the case:

“I actually learned about this case in 2017, and it really haunted me. It was one of those cases that I couldn't stop thinking about.”
[05:17]

Discovery and Investigation

Finding the Girls

On Tuesday, February 14, 2017, at approximately 12:15 PM, volunteers discover the bodies of Abby and Libby about half a mile from the bridge, near Deer Creek's banks. The grim discovery is unmistakable, leading authorities to declare the deaths a homicide investigation. Notably, law enforcement withheld details about the cause of death until a suspect was apprehended, heightening public anxiety and speculation.

Critical Evidence: The Cell Phone Video

During the investigation, a pivotal piece of evidence surfaces—Libby's cell phone. A hidden video and audio clip captured shortly after 2:07 PM reveals an unsettling encounter:

“They encountered an unknown man on the bridge, and Libby secretly recorded a short video and audio clip on her phone. The video showed a man approaching the girls and in very chilling words, he says, 'guys, down the hill.'”
[06:55]

This clip becomes instrumental in profiling the suspect, though initial releases were fragmented:

“They first released just an image of the man from the clip… later they released the guy's gait to help people recognize him.”
[07:43]

Despite efforts, technological limitations rendered the footage insufficient for clear identification. The man’s face remained obscured, and only his gait provided clues, leading to widespread public dissemination in hopes of generating tips.

Public Response and Challenges

The release of the video spurred a flood of anonymous tips:

“The tip line was getting about a dozen anonymous tips an hour for days at a time, especially once his voice was released.”
[08:00]

However, these leads soon dwindled, leaving investigators with limited actionable information. In July 2017, five months after the murders, the first sketch of the suspect was unveiled based on witness descriptions. This sketch aimed to identify the so-called "Bridge Guy," but as time passed without breakthroughs, a second, markedly different sketch emerged two years later, reflecting the challenges of a cold case reopening old wounds.

Personal Reflections and Impact

Throughout the episode, both Emily and Ashley intertwine their personal experiences and emotions surrounding the case. Ashley recounts her deep-seated obsession and relentless pursuit of information:

“I went on to, like, Facebook groups where Abby and Libby's family were and people trying to solve the crime and went down the rabbit holes of trying to look at everything I could find out about this case.”
[05:17]

Brit echoes the sentiment, marveling at the volunteers' restraint and respect:

“Huge kudos to any of the volunteers who did see the bodies for not disrupting the scene. It was just so smart of them to not disturb the area at all.”
[06:13]

Their reflections highlight the profound emotional toll and the community's unwavering hope for justice.

Current Status and Ongoing Efforts

As of the episode's release in May 2025, the Delphi Murders remain unsolved, with lingering questions about the perpetrator's identity and motives. The shifts in suspect sketches and the scarcity of new evidence underscore the case's complexity.

Ashley emphasizes the investigative hurdles:

“How have we not caught anyone? But also, huge kudos to any of the volunteers who did see the bodies for not disrupting the scene.”
[06:13]

The podcast concludes with an invitation for listeners to support their Patreon for more in-depth coverage:

“To hear the rest of this episode, head to our Patreon... you will get 25 more minutes of the Delphi case. Part one and the day part two is released, you will get the entire episode.”
[09:20]

Conclusion

Books With Your Besties masterfully navigates the tragic and baffling case of Abby and Libby, blending investigative storytelling with personal insights. By providing a detailed chronology, analyzing critical evidence, and sharing heartfelt reflections, Emily and Ashley offer listeners a comprehensive understanding of one of Indiana's most haunting unsolved mysteries. For those seeking further exploration, the hosts encourage support through their Patreon, promising continued dedication to uncovering truth and seeking justice for Abby and Libby.

Transcript

[Ashley Flowers]

Hello to our Patreon VIPs. This is your very first true crime case that is just for you. Today we are covering the case of Abby Williams and Libby German from Delphi, Indiana. They were murdered in 2017. And we are going to go through all of it.

[Brit Prawat]

We are going to go through all of it and bring up some of the questions that we have surrounding the case. Monday, February 13, 2017 Deli Community Middle School had a half day so the girls got out at 1:00. I'm sure they loved that. Libby and Abby were both 8th graders. They were close friends and they wanted to take advantage of the warm weather and go for a hike. At 1:30pm they got dropped off at Monon Highbridge Trail. Libby's older sister Kelsey dropped the girls off. And this is where I think it's important just to visualize em that the bridge is 63ft high and 854ft long. It's the second highest bridge in Indiana and it's an old railroading bridge. So think wooden planks. Think something you or I or any woman in our 40s would not ever walk over because we'd be scared.

[Ashley Flowers]

Totally. This is a system of trails too, right? It's woods and lots of hiking and so people go all the time. I mean we actually have those in my town trail systems that you can walk to just up the road from your house and it's so lovely because it's like a nice forested area to walk in and it was unseasonably warm. So I understand why they wanted to be out there. The bridge itself I would not venture onto.

[Brit Prawat]

But you and I talked about these are 13 year old girls and that this bridge, although part of the trail system was pretty much a dead end system. Like the whole goal was to just walk across the bridge that when you get to the end it doesn't continue on a trail or a path, it just pretty much ends. But it's just kind of maybe a rite of passage or a fun thing to be like. I walked across the bridge which I could completely see my own kids doing and seems like very innocent 8th grade girls. Fun. If my 8th graders are having fun by walking across a bridge, I think I'm winning at life totally.

[Ashley Flowers]

It looks terrifying and when you look at the bridge it's actually like an old railroad bridge and so some of the railroad ties are apparently missing and you have to really watch your footing on this bridge for a long time. So yeah, not something I'd be interested in but cute that they wanted to go do that and enjoy their day.

[Brit Prawat]

So at 2:07pm There is a Snapchat photo posted. Libby posted a photo of Abby walking on the bridge to Snapchat and this is the last confirmed image of the girls alive. This is also very relatable. I have a freshman in high school and they are, they don't take pictures like we do. It's just constant Snapchatting. Here's what I'm doing. So this just feels like, oh, she's just sharing that they're walking across the bridge. This time stamp eventually helped investigators narrow down the timeline of when things began to go wrong. At 3 o'clock, Libby's dad shows up to pick them up. And he is calling Libby and she is not answering. And the girls knew they had kind of a window of time where they were supposed to be at a specific trailhead where they would meet her dad and they did not show and Libby would not answer her phone. At 3:15, the family begins searching. When the girls failed to show up at the planned pickup spot and as we said, didn't respond to calls, family members began looking for them on the trails. They eventually contacted law enforcement. Later in the afternoon, around 5:30 to 6pm the girls were officially reported missing. The Carroll County Sheriff, sheriff's office was notified and launched a search. That evening, local police, fire departments and a lot of volunteers began combing the area. At first, the authorities did not suspect any foul play. They thought the girls had gotten lost, which makes sense, especially if you look at pictures of the area they were in. The family also reported that they were worried one of the girls fell from the bridge or elsewhere and got injured, or agreeing with authorities that maybe they were lost. Obviously it becomes nighttime and they took a break at night because it's extremely rugged terrain and obviously very impossible to search and just not safe, not at all.

[Ashley Flowers]

And especially if they're looking in the high bridge area. I just know our woods at night and it is so dark. There's just. I think it would just be really fruitless and just dangerous. Like you said.

[Brit Prawat]

It makes me think of an area around us called Tryon Creek. I'm like, you're just risking other people getting injured at that. At that point in time, it's just not, not safe. So they took the night they were not searching. They resumed the search On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 12:15pm Volunteers discovered the bodies of both the girls about a half a mile from the bridge near the banks of Deer Creek. The bodies were spotted from far away and it Was unfortunately obvious that they had been killed. So nobody approached the bodies to disturb the scene. The scene was described as off trail in a wooded area on private property. Police immediately declared the deaths a homicide investigation. But the police did not release any info about how the girls were killed. And this will be important later. It stayed that way until they had a suspect in custody. So there was no public information about how the girls had passed, just that their bodies had been found.

[Ashley Flowers]

I actually remember this. I learned about this case in 2017, and probably maybe from Crime Junkie. Ashley Flowers is from Indiana. And so had. I know, did this case early on during Crime Junkie. And it really haunted me. It was one of those cases that I couldn't stop thinking about. And in fact, I was so obsessed with it at the time that I went on to, like, Facebook groups where Abby and Libby's family were and people trying to solve the crime and went down the rabbit holes of trying to look at everything I could find out about this case, because I couldn't handle that it wasn't solved right away. And I also just couldn't believe we didn't know how they had been killed. And I just thought, isn't that relevant to identifying if it was personal, like close, like, contact, that kind of thing? But I just. I was so upset by this case that I. I actually remember that.

[Brit Prawat]

Well, I remember it not as vividly, but I do remember thinking it was two girls. Unfortunately, we hear stories of a lot of single murders, but I thought, this is two girls together. It feels intentional, it feels predatory. It feels like there has. There has to be a reason here. And how have we not caught anyone? But also, huge kudos to any of the volunteers who did see the bodies for not disrupting the scene. I mean, how awesome was it of them to think, okay, we're not going to go over there and disturb it, because I'm sure you immediately want to go. But if the girls have obviously passed, that was just so smart of them to not disturb the area at all.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah.

[Brit Prawat]

So after they locate the bodies, they start to process the scene. And while processing the scene, they discover an absolutely key piece of evidence, which was Libby's cell phone. And on her phone was a critical piece of information shortly after 207. So remember, that's when she had her phone out to take a snapshot picture of Abby. There was an encounter with what we think is the suspect. They encountered an unknown man on the bridge, and Libby secretly recorded a short video and audio clip on her phone. The video showed a man Approaching the girls and in very chilling words, he says, guys, down the hill. And we will link links to video and audio of this. They actually released this video in pieces and did not release the entire video until pretty, pretty recently.

[Ashley Flowers]

They first released just an image of the man from the clip. But you know how we were saying you really have to watch your step on this bridge? Like there's no side rails, it's literally just a platform 63ft up on this old wooden planked bridge. This man got incredibly lucky and had his head down watching his footing probably as he was walking behind them. So the whole video he doesn't have his head up to see his face straight on. It was also he was far enough away and it was low enough quality that it wasn't super sharp imagery of him. So we just never could see his face in this clip. But you could see his gait once they released that. So they started by releasing just an image, a still image of the man and just the words down the hill. Then later at a press conference, they asked for more tips because they weren't finding what they needed and they asked for more information and they released the guys down the hill and a clip of him walking to try to determine what his gait looked like so that people could try to make a decision. This was just everywhere online people were trying to identify and estimate this person's height. I guess it was released. This is one one of my big questions. It was released that it was a man under five foot eight. Ashley, is that correct? Initially, yeah. So it is somebody who's not a tall man. And there was also there were multiple witnesses that came forward about suspects they saw. And apparently one of them did say they saw a shorter man.

[Brit Prawat]

Interesting.

[Ashley Flowers]

It.

[Brit Prawat]

It seems like the tip line also was blowing up. So em, it says that the audio recording was initially released on February 22 and that the tip line was getting about a dozen anonymous tips an hour for days at a time. Especially once his voice was released, people feeling like they recognized the voice. So so far all we have is the video and the footage from Snapchat on her phone in July. So July 2017, five months later, the very first sketch of a suspect was released by police. The sketch that was released is supposed to match, quote, unquote, Bridge guy, which is based on people who said they had seen different people in the area that day and their descriptions of what bridge guy might look like. That's it. There were no other leads. There was no information. Two years then passed and in April, a second sketch comes out after the case has grown extremely cold. But this sketch now looks very different. The man is younger and has curly hair and no facial hair. To hear the rest of this episode, head to our Patreon patreon.com thecreepybookclub also linked in the show notes. There you will get 25 more minutes of the Delphi case. Part one and the day part two is released, you will get the entire episode. We cannot wait to fill you in on everything that has happened with this case.