DELPHI, Ind. (WXIN) — A 2017 search warrant in connection with the Delphi, Indiana killings of Abby Williams and Libby German has been shared with the public.
The document, obtained by “Murder Sheet Podcast,” was provided to NewsNation affiliate WXIN on Tuesday. It represents the first time the document has been made public in what has been a five-year investigation involving the girls, and it reveals never-before-shared information.
According to the warrant, the FBI had probable cause to search the property of a man named Ron Logan on the belief evidence may have been found there, but the agency did not do so until a month later.
Investigators believed that searching Logan’s property for forensic evidence, such as hair, bodily fluids, guns and cutting instruments, could solve the girls’ cold case. The FBI also requested access to electronic devices and storage media, according to the search warrant.
And while Logan, who owns the property where the girls’ bodies were found, was searched by investigators in 2017, no arrests were made.
At that time, which was just days after the killings, Logan led reporters on a tour of his property and took them to the crime scene, where he said he’d lived on the property for 50 years and couldn’t fathom how the girls could have reached the area where they were found.
The revelation of the new warrant, however, holds additional details about the investigation, telling a different story.
On Feb. 13, 2017, the two best friends went for a walk on the remote historic trails of Delphi.
For years, the best evidence police had of the girls’ killer came from video on Libby’s cellphone that recorded both an image of a man approaching her on the High Bridge and a recording as the man told the girls to go down the hill.
Investigators have long believed the man in the video is a prime suspect in the murders.
Information from the warrant, however, reveals “a large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene.” And, because of the amount of blood, investigators believe the perpetrator would have gotten blood on his or her hands.
Investigators also believe, according to the document, that the murderer could have also taken a souvenir from the crime scene and it “appeared the girls’ bodies were moved and staged.”
The search warrant didn’t specify what was missing but included that the “rest of their clothing was recovered” and that there were no signs of a “struggle or fight.”
For the FBI agent behind the warrant, that means the murderer likely physically removed something or took photos to “memorialize the crime scene.” Crime scene investigators also reportedly recovered unknown fibers and unidentified hairs.
The agent behind the warrant went on to write that Logan’s physical build appeared consistent with the man shown on the phone of one of the girls’ cellphone and that women interviewed about him attest to his being violent with them in the past. They also say they believe he’s the one in the video.
The search warrant also revealed that Logan owned weapons, including knives and firearms, and that he lied about his alibi.
According to the document, Logan told investigators a friend had picked him up from home Feb. 13 between “2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.” so he could go to an aquarium store in Lafayette.
Logan also contacted a family member on the morning of Feb. 14, instructing them to tell police about the trip and to say they’d returned home between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., documents revealed.
However, investigators also found a receipt from the store dated Feb. 13 with a checkout time of 5:21 p.m. during a March 6, 2017 search related to a probation violation. And because it would take Logan about 30 minutes to get from the store to his home, it puts his alibi of returning around 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. in doubt.
And while the person who Logan said drove him to the aquarium store confirmed the trip with an investigator during a March 7 interview, the warrant indicates that, in another interview with a different investigator, the individual revealed Logan asked him to lie. The person also reportedly said Logan “had never asked (him) to lie in the past.”
The investigation also reveled that Logan asked the family member to lie about the alibi before any crime had been discovered.
In addition, police also learned Logan drove a pickup truck to the transfer station in Delphi to drop off trash Feb. 13, likely between 11:53 a.m. and 11:58 a.m. — an admission that led to the investigation into his probation violation, as Logan was prohibited from driving.
Furthermore, cellphone tower data showed Logan’s cellphone was in Delphi in the area near the Monon High Bridge Trail on the afternoon of Feb. 13, investigators said, and a text message sent from his phone at 7:56 p.m. on Feb. 13 indicated the phone was “likely outside of his residence” and “in the proximity” of the murder scene.
Logan died in January, having never been named as a suspect or charged in connection with the Delphi murders.
