‘anthony_shots’ clue in Delphi murders case leads of child solicitation case two counties away
Plus: United Way CEO leaving … and staying. An update from Penguin Cove’s sick bay. Democrats pick someone to step into Fairfield Twp. fire. TSC makes another move on Klondike expansion
Less than a day after investigators pointed to a fake social media profile they say is somehow relevant in the 2017 murders of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi, court documents turned up tying a Snapchat account called “anthony_shots” to a man charged in a 2020 child solicitation and child exploitation case in Miami County.
Indiana State Police and Carroll County investigators were not commenting on Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old man arrested in 2020. Court documents, which make no decipherable mention of the Delphi case, show Kline had been investigated less than two weeks after Abby and Libby were killed, in connection with soliciting girls on Snapchat and Instagram using the fake profile police put out in public Monday night.
Late Monday, police said they were looking to talk with anyone who had interacted with the account “anthony_shots” while it was active from 2016 to 2017. The profile used photos of a male model and portrayed itself as extremely wealthy and owning numerous sports cars, police said. Police report the person behind the profile used it to communicate with young girls, in attempts to get them to send nude photos, obtain their addresses and try to meet with them.
It was the first public clue released in the Delphi murders since police issued a second sketch of a suspect April 2019.
Tracked down first by Demie Johnson, a former WLFI-TV18 reporter in West Lafayette now working for WISH-TV in Indianapolis, a probable cause affidavit in Miami County alleges that Kline admitted he created the fake social media profile and used it to meet girls and eventually get them to share pictures and videos of themselves nude or performing sexual acts.
The probable cause affidavit, heavily redacted through 30-plus pages, does not mention the Delphi. But it says Indiana State Police and the FBI executed a search warrant on Feb. 25, 2017, saying that “while working ISP case” (number or name redacted), the FBI sent information to the ISP Cyber Crimes unit that an adult male was soliciting female juveniles utilizing the social media platforms Snapchat and Instagram.”
According to court documents, Kline told police he was able to get more than 100 images or videos from underage girls using the “anthony_shots” accounts. Police found images on several devices that they geo-located in several Indiana towns, including Bunker Hill, Galveston, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Monterey and Royal Center. The court document also references samples of Google searches used and some email addresses listed on each phone and device they recovered, but that information is blacked out.
Kline is scheduled for a pretrial conference on those charges on Dec. 16 in Miami Circuit Court.
Abby and Libby, eighth-graders at Delphi Community Middle School, were killed Feb. 13, 2017, while spending a day off school on the Monon High Bridge trail near Delphi. They were found near Deer Creek, about a half-mile from the Monon High Bridge, an abandoned rail trestle. Police found video and audio on Libby’s cellphone of a man approaching on the Monon High Bridge.
Hundreds of local, state and federal investigators were stationed full-time in and around Delphi in the weeks that followed their murders.
No one has been charged in their deaths more than four years later.
Sgt. Jeremy Piers, public information officer at ISP’s Lafayette post, said detectives were looking for anyone who communicated with, met or attempted to meet a person with the profile anthony_shots. He said police are looking for details about the social platform and accounts that were used, saved images or conversations.
To contact police on this: abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or 765-822-3535.
Here’s the probable cause affidavit issued with Kline’s 2020 arrest:
Here’s the ISP call for tips on “anthony_shots”:
For more on the investigation: The Indiana State Police maintains a site with composite sketches, audio and video files, along with reward information, in the 2017 murders of Abby Williams and Libby German. Go to: https://www.in.gov/isp/delphi.htm
UNITED WAY CEO MOVING ON … STAYING, TOO: Six years ago, Michael Budd came to Greater Lafayette from South Carolina, replacing United Way CEO James Taylor, in time to run the local United Way’s 2016 campaign and find his way into the community. Part of that meant breaking out his trombone for a seat with the Lafayette Citizens Band.
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