After killings, Delphi residents pull together amid unease
DELPHI — An unnatural quiet has fallen over Delphi Community High School.
"You can hear a pin drop," said sophomore Keri Toole.
In the wake of the killings of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams, an uneasy tension hangs in the hallways of the school, Toole said. The teenagers disappeared on a Delphi hiking trail Monday, spurring an intensive criminal investigation that has yet to publicly turn up a suspect.
The school has been on a soft lockdown, Toole said, with police and administrators more closely monitoring who comes and goes.
Though older than Liberty, who went by Libby, Toole knew the teen for eight years. The 17-year-old parked her car in downtown Delphi before heading to a Saturday evening visitation for the two girls. She wore a yellow hoodie, and her voice wavered with emotion as she recalled the friendly young girl she used to ride the bus with.
"People have been scared," she said. "My dad was hesitant to let me drive here."
A line of hundreds snaked around the high school during the Saturday visitation that ended with a lantern lighting. It marked the end of a difficult week for the town of 3,000 northeast of Lafayette.
Residents of the town have taken on the mantle of shared grief. Nearly every business downtown showed some sign of support for the families of the girls, whether it be a bakery donating proceeds from cookies sold or a sign posted outside calling for justice.
Though not immune to the economic struggles facing many Indiana towns, Delphi has a downtown with popular eateries and newly restored sidewalks.
The town, sitting on the Wabash and Erie Canal and surrounded by large swaths of farmland, is marked by a system of hiking trails popular with locals. The trailhead of the path the girls hiked is tucked away off a country road and leads to an old railroad bridge, sitting perilously high above the Deer Creek. The entrance was blocked off on Friday, but Delphi residents say it is often crowded.
"This is a very hometown community," said Kathy Dunbar, who owns a hair salon in downtown Delphi.
But fear, grief and anger have descended on the small community that residents describe as close-knit. Many questions about the deaths remain, adding to the tension that permeates the tidy downtown streets. The teens were last seen 1 p.m. Monday by a family member who dropped them off at a trail near Monon High Bridge. Family members reported them missing when they did not return to be picked up at 5:30 p.m.
Investigators released a photograph of a man on the trail around the same time and searched a residence, but so far, little information has been publicly released. Police did not say how the girls were killed.
What they did say, though, is that there is a killer out there.
"I locked my front door for the first time in years," said Angie Anslover, a Delphi resident.
Erin Brown was among those that traversed brushy riverbanks and slanting ravines, searching for the girls before their bodies were found just after noon on Tuesday. Brown previously worked with Abigail's mom, and has a daughter around the age of the teens. Nearly everyone in town has some connection to the families, she said.
"She was quiet and friendly," Brown said of Abigail. "She easily made friends."
Now, she is taking extra precautions with her three children. For her daughter who is a peer of the girls, it's like she has a shield up, Brown said.
"It's been tough," she said. "Everybody wants answers."
But in Delphi, all they can do is wait. The mystery has generated a Facebook group of nearly 4,000 members poring over photographs of the girls from social media and analyzing news stories about the case.
For those who knew the girls, the grief is still setting in.
Toole first learned about the slayings during a shift at Dairy Queen. It seemed unreal. The deaths didn't fully reverberate with the teenager until class the next day.
That's when she started to cry.
Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.