Emotional first pitch at Abby and Libby Memorial Park a dream realized in Delphi
Families were determined to build a park that would honor Abby Williams and Libby German, two Delphi girls murdered in 2017. Saturday, they hosted the first games there
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As teams of 14U girls warmed up Saturday morning on three ball diamonds so fresh no team had practiced on them, let alone played games on them, Anna Williams centered herself behind the three backstops and scanned a panoramic shot ahead of the first pitch of the annual Abby/Libby Memorial Tournament.
The tournament was in its fifth year, started in the summer of 2017 as a tribute to Abby Williams and Libby German, eighth-graders and Delphi Community Middle School friends murdered that winter – a case that consumed the community and one that remains unsolved.
But those three 8 a.m. games Saturday were the first at Abby and Libby Memorial Park, which the families started plotting four years ago in honor of their girls and had finally come together, finally in shape to split tournament games with Crosser Sports Complex in Lafayette.
“It’s a bit overwhelming,” Williams, Abby’s mother, said. “I’m not going to lie. It got to me, coming in here this morning.”
For the full story about what it took to take a farm field along the Hoosier Heartland Highway and turn it into a community park to honor Abby and Libby, hit the Subscribe Now button.
About the Delphi murder case
WHAT HAPPENED: Abby Williams and Libby German were dropped off to hike during a day off from school on the Monon High Bridge trail, a trail near Delphi, on Feb. 13, 2017. When they didn’t arrive to meet their ride at the trailhead that afternoon, police and community volunteers searched the trail and the surrounding are. A search party found the girls the next day, about a half-mile up Deer Creek from the abandoned Monon High Bridge rail trestle. Police have not charged anyone in the murders.
THE SUSPECT: In April 2019, Indiana State Police released a new composite photo of the suspect, putting his age in his mid-20s to mid-30s. Images and video on Libby German’s cellphone show a man walking across Monon High Bridge that day, wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket and a hat. Police also released a recording, taken from Libby’s phone, of a man saying, “Guys, down the hill.”
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
TIPS: Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to send tips to: abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com. Tips also may go to the Delphi Homicide Investigation Tip Line at 844-459-5786; the Indiana State Police at 800-382-7537; or the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department at 765-564-2413.
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