Lindsey Jacobson, ABC News.(DELPHI, Ind.) — Authorities investigating the murder of two Indiana teen girls served a search warrant today at the home of the man who owns the property where the girls’ bodies were found, state and local officials told ABC News.
As of yet, no arrests have been made in the double murder case that shook the rural small town of Delphi, Indiana. State police told ABC News today that property owner Ron Logan is not a suspect “at this time.”
Logan’s attorney, Andrew Achey, said in a statement, “Mr. Logan had no involvement in this heinous crime.”
“I would like to caution the public to avoid jumping to conclusions before law enforcement has completed the ongoing investigation,” Achey added. “Not only does Mr. Logan maintain his innocence but he also encourages anyone with information to call the tip line.”
It was Feb. 13 when eighth-graders Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, disappeared while on a hiking trail near their hometown of Delphi. Their bodies were found on Logan’s property the next day.
The only clues that have been released to the public are this photo of a man who police say is the prime suspect in the investigation and a chilling recording found on Libby’s phone with just three audible words: “down the hill.”
Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby told ABC News today the search warrant is “part of the continuing investigative process” and he said he cannot go into any specifics about what authorities are looking for. This is not the first search warrant served in this case.
Meanwhile, as Logan’s property is searched, Logan himself today is in the local jail on an unrelated charge, Leazenby said. Logan was arrested March 11, picked up on an arrest warrant for a probation violation, Leazenby said. A probation office spokesperson told ABC News the office cannot comment on pending cases.
Leazenby stressed, “Speculation and assumptions can quickly develop from something like this.”
“Just because a search warrant is issued” on someone’s property, Leazenby said, does not mean an arrest follows.
State police said today authorities are still combing through the thousands of tips they’ve received in the double murder case.
The residents of Delphi, a tight-knit community of nearly 3,000 people dubbed by the local sheriff as “small-town USA,” were shaken by the crime.
Greg Briles, the superintendent of schools at the Delphi Community School Corporation, told ABC News earlier this week, “We’re still very concerned about the individual or individuals who have not been caught … they’re still out there.”
Leazenby told ABC News earlier this week there is not necessarily increased security in town, but he said community members appear to be more vigilant.
“People look at people different ways now, I think,” Leazenby said. “I think complacency has been at least eliminated at this stage, and it’s more of a mindful, watchful, vigilant attitude. I don’t want paranoia, and I don’t think we’ve had that, but people literally looking over their shoulder is not necessarily a bad thing in today’s society.”
At Delphi Community Middle School, where Abby and Libby were eighth-graders looking forward to high school, grieving friends are now painting a “tree of life” on the cafeteria wall with different messages, Briles said.
Briles said teachers and students are “still coping with the situation of losing two students. I don’t think it’s something that is gonna go away in a month’s period of time. I think it’s something that’s going to have a lasting effect.”
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