With candor and patience, Kelsi German responded to the many rumors that have cropped up since her 14-year-old sister and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, vanished from a rural hiking trail in Indiana in 2017.
The sister of Liberty “Libby” German, one of the two teen girls found dead in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017, took to YouTube Tuesday to debunk conspiracies surrounding the unsolved killings.
With candor and patience, Kelsi German listed and responded to myriad rumors that have cropped up since her 14-year-old sister and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, vanished from a rural hiking trail in Carroll County, Indiana on Feb. 13, 2017.
German first began with a timeline of events the day she dropped off Libby and Abby near the scenic Monon High Bridge, an abandoned railroad bridge over Deer Creek. She planned to go to work that day, but rushed back to the area when she learned Libby hadn’t returned home and wasn’t answering her phone.
Searchers found her sister and Abby’s bodies about a half mile away the following day.
“That whole week after the murders was a complete blur, so, asking us to remember everything completely correct is so ... I don’t even think it’s possible,” German said. “I don’t think anybody can remember something [specific] after something tragic like that happens."
German stressed her family had been nothing but cooperative with the police investigation.
“Absolutely no one refused a lie detector test,” German said. "That is a very big misconception … We’ve been very open and gave the police everything that we know.”
She spoke highly of relatives who had been smeared online and noted their alibis and other proof she said showed they had nothing to do with the killings.
“My family is so strong,” German said. “I love my family so much. I don’t think that we could get through this without each other, and I love you guys so much.”
She also shot down any rumblings that her family and investigators were on the outs.
“They’re very honest and forthcoming and, contrary to what most people seem to think, we really like our law enforcement,” German said. “They’re super encouraging, they’re very honest with us, they’re amazing, and I am so proud of their work. And I know they’re going to get an arrest soon, we just don’t know when, and it’s coming. They can’t tell us everything unfortunately, but to be honest, I don’t want to know everything.”
German addressed more specific rumors as well.
After authorities said Libby’s phone pinged off two towers the day she disappeared, armchair detectives theorized it must have been because the device was moving around town, but German said that was not the case.
“Libby’s phone did ping on two towers, but that was because the town is so small, if you move to one side of the house, your phone will switch towers sometimes,” German explained.
She noted that any whispers of her family taking donations meant to go toward the memorial park being built in honor of Abby and Libby were also false. German’s family has always refused any donations offered directly to them, saying at first they should be made to the reward fund, and after deciding to erect the park, they created a fund for that as well, German said.
At the time of German’s livestream, more than $45,000 had been raised for the park.
“It’s gonna be an awesome park,” she said. “It’s going to benefit our community so much and it’s helping our family to grieve. It’s an outlet for us to keep busy.”
After spending nearly half an hour addressing different theories and rumors, German said she was going to move on to different topics.
“There are so many that I could talk about … Hopefully I cleared a whole bunch up for you guys,” German said.
“Hopefully this works, hopefully people understand that rumors suck and they hurt people. Also, I’m tired of hearing about them and I’m tired of getting questions about the rumors, I’m tired of trying to debunk them, so hopefully [with] this video, I can send people here and tell them, ‘hey, go look at this,’ and that will help.”
Anyone with information into the case is asked to email Abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or call the tip line at 844-459-5786.
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