Nearly 500 tips so far tied to ‘anthony_shots’ in Delphi murder case
Libby German’s grandpa on police request for tips about fake social media account: ‘Give them pieces that may connect in the puzzle’ of 2017 Delphi murders
Mike Patty had a bit of a heads up Monday night before state and local police dropped the latest clue – really, the first public bit of information in more than two years – in the 2017 murders of his granddaughter, Libby German, and her friend, Abby Williams, near Delphi.
So, back from picking up groceries and running errands in town, Patty said he parked himself at his laptop, refreshing an Indiana State Police site until it popped up a video message with investigators’ pleas for any information out there on a fake social media profile that had been used at the time to lure young girls.
What Patty saw and heard that night was, he said, “pretty much what you and everyone else heard, at the same time.”
“I literally listened to that message and backed it up three or four times and listened to the words he was trying to say and the message he was trying to convey,” Patty said.
Specifically in that video post, 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.” Piers said the fake profile, featuring shots of a male model and portraying itself as extremely wealthy, was used on Instagram, Snapchat and other social media platforms around the time Abby and Libby were killed while spending an afternoon on Delphi’s popular Monon High Bridge Trail.
“So, I’m like, ‘All right, that’s what we’re focused on now,’” Patty said. “Police teed it up for me: ‘This is what we need.’ And, by golly, I’m going out there to help them get what they need. That’s my role.”
It took less than a day for media to follow the “anthony_shots” leads to Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old man arrested in 2020 in Miami County on multiple charges alleging child solicitation and related crimes. Court documents show Kline admitted to creating the “anthony_shots” profile. But nothing in the court documents specifically mention the Delphi case. And Kline has not been charged in connection with the murders.
For Patty, the week turned into a series of media calls and visits, including this one during a lunch break Friday, out in a pole barn workshop, as he monitored a batch of venison halfway done drying into jerky.
That, and pointing people to police tip lines when they came with theories about Kline and speculation about other potential suspects.
“Obviously, the police knew they had this guy,” Patty said. “That’s not what they were asking for, right? They weren’t asking for, ‘Hey, please tell us what we already know.’ They’re asking for anybody else who’s communicated with that account. …
“People want to help?” Patty said. “This is a great opportunity for people, with something very specific, task-oriented. Give them pieces that may connect in the puzzle so they can figure it out.”
Police received “a little under 500” calls, as of Friday afternoon, with information about the Delphi case since the latest information went out Monday night, Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said. (As for more context about where the investigation stood or how it had advanced, Leazenby said there was nothing to add at that point.)
The callout for information about the “anthony_shots” account was the first public clue released in the Delphi murders since police issued a second sketch of a suspect in April 2019. Before that, police released a photo, video and audio found on Libby’s cellphone of a man approaching on the Monon High Bridge.
Patty said he’s tried read between the lines of the latest information, leading him to believe there could be other people – beside Kline – using that account or who had been using that fake profile in 2017. He said he’s always figured police have some sort of top five or top 10 whose whereabouts or alibis haven’t been completely accounted for. He said the family turned over electronic devices to police early in the investigation.
But police have been as tight-lipped with the family as they’ve been with the public, Patty said.
“Nobody has ever thought we’d be here five years down the road,” Patty said. “But I’m going to have to trust that the investigators are using all the resources available to them and that they will reach out when they say they need help. … What else do I do? What other options do I have. I mean, they’re the people that are going to bring justice to this case for the girls.”
Patty says he fully expects to get that call from investigators, telling him they have the person who killed his granddaughter, Libby German, and her friend, Abby Williams.
“The next call is always, hopefully, that they made an arrest,” Patty said. “That’s the call I’m waiting for. I think that’s the call everybody’s waiting for. …
“Until then,” Patty said, “I hear that investigators are saying they need something specific. I’m here to say, ‘Let’s help them do their job.’”
FOR TIPS ABOUT ‘ANTHONY_SHOTS’: Here’s the ISP video call for tips on “anthony_shots”:
For more about “anthony_shots,” here’s ISP’s initial release.
To contact police on with tips: abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or 765-822- 3535.
ABOUT ONE MAN TIED TO ‘ANTHONY_SHOTS’: A probable cause affidavit in Miami County alleges that Kegan Anthony 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. 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.
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.
Here’s the probable cause affidavit issued with Kline’s 2020 arrest:
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.
(Photo: Dave Bangert) 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.
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I've always thought it was a resident from Lafayette who was behind it.