Huge update with major changes in my analysis of the case.
Sexually-motivated double homicide of two teenage girls, one 13 and the other 14. For some background on this heartbreaking case, see here.
This is an update of the case as of March 17, 2017. Some updates to address criticisms, though obviously nothing that I could possibly write here would ever shut up the haters.
How Do I Know All This Stuff?
First: How do I know all this stuff?
I have done a lot of research on this case including released information, rumors and borderline areas such as cryptic statements by LE. I have also spoken to people close to the case, including those close to the search party and law enforcement investigation of this case. I also spoke to other sleuthers and people interested in the case. Some were associated with missing persons groups. I have pretty good sleuthing skills involving research. This includes digging through background information databases online and other sorts of web research. However, I will say that I am getting my very best information from people who are close to the girls’ families. Of all of the rumors and information I get, this is some of the best.
This is the source of some of my material.
Other information is derived from my own theorizing about the case. This includes offender profiling.
So there’s the source of all of the information.
I am pessimistic once again about this case. It seems that are so many fantastic suspects and POI’s that I can’t even keep track of them. That’s a b ad sign right there.
My Musings on This Case
Rumors state that Libby was killed on 2-13, possibly pretty quickly, and Abby died or 2-14. The published obits state those dates. This has been confirmed to me by sources close to law enforcement. There is a rumor that the families chose those dates as death dates. Obit info is supposed to come from coroner’s report.
However, new information shows that funeral parlors and even newspaper obits do not follow standard policy, which is to go by the coroner’s report. Instead, many funeral houses and newspaper obits simply list the dates of death as whatever the family said they were, or perhaps they toss coins to see which day it was, or God knows what they do.
Anyway, it’s all pretty unprofessional, and we cannot take obit dates and funeral notices to mean much of anything necessarily. Conclusion: Nobody knows. Libby died in 2-13 and Abbie may have too, or perhaps she died on 2-14. People close to the case are giving both scenarios as absolute proven fact, and they can’t both be true. This is still completely up in the air as far as I can tell. Sources: People close to LE, obituaries, funeral notices, people who worked in industries that used these, complaints from haters.
This was not a crime of opportunity. He planned this very well. He plans his crimes with the utmost meticulousness. That is why he is armed with the gun and disguising himself. Source: My speculation based on the nature of the offense and the obvious skill involved.
Although catfishing rumors were prominent early on for some very good reasons, these rumors have died down and are now weak. At the moment, catfishing appears unlikely. If you do not know what catfishing is, look it up. Sources: Rumor mill.
Unsub is 5’10, 180 pounds with a bit of a middle aged man’s stomach paunch. Other sleuths and common citizens are offering differing views, but I take the expert for now. Source: Expert on CNN, paunch obvious in photo.
Unsub’s age is ~60, but really who knows. At the very least, that style of pants is outdated and nowadays is only worn by men over 40 in that area. Presence of fanny pack also indicates an older man. They were popular in the late 1980’s, but I am told that hardly anyone wears them anymore except for some older guys. Conclusion about age: I don’t think anyone knows how old he is. Until we get some experts weighing in here, this is all just shooting in the dark. Sources: LE stated that he had a fanny pack. My estimate on age. Info on fanny packs and jeans style by people looking at the photos.
Excellent new drawing of Unsub from an LE artist.
LE believes that Unsub came from out of state to do this crime. Source: Recent remark by Indiana State Police quoted in media, my theory based on my favorite POI.
Clearly Unsub has a pistol, a .45 or 911. The pistol was holstered to his right side, which means he is left-handed. The outline of the pistol can clearly be seen in the photo released of the man. A photo exists showing the pistol outlined with graphic software. Assuming that is a pistol, and it is, then Unsub is left-handed. Source: Gun is obviously visible in photograph. Left-handedness concluded from the holstered gun pointing backwards on the right side.
Photo clearly shows a semiautomatic .911 or 45 mm handgun holstered on his right, which means he is lefthanded. That’s either a gun, or I’m a monkey’s uncle. Incredibly, about 85% of the people who see this photo insists that’s not a gun, or that it can’t be a gun until God or the cops or Mom or whoever tells us what we are seeing with our own two eyes. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have two eyeballs. When my eyes tell me I am seeing something, I take it as proven fact. Apparently we humans are not supposed to believe our own eyes!
Unsub may be trying to disguise himself in the photos by using a hat and a scarf. Source: LE statement.
Unsub is wearing a hat, a jacket with a hoodie and blue jeans in the photo. In my opinion, the hat is a camouflage hunting cap with padded ear muffs. Unsub is overdressed for the weather. He seems to have layers of clothing on. He has almost his entire body covered with clothing. Part of this is no doubt to disguise himself, but another reason is so he will have few exposed areas of his body where the girls could leave scratch marks if the girls fight back hard, although they still could scratch up his face pretty well. Source: LE statements about clothing. Statement about type of cap is my conjecture from the photo. Reason for being heavily dressed is common sense for an offender preparing to commit rape and murder.
Fanny pack is probably where he kept his murder kit. Sources: LE statement quoted in the media. Murder kit is my conjecture. What else is in there? A first aid kit?
GIF image of Unsub photos run together.
There has been much talk about whether or not there were two murderers or one. It is not yet proven that there were two killers, and LE is leaning towards the theory that there was one killer. However, even LE themselves described the perpetrators of this crime as “the murderers.” And from the very start, they referred to Unsub as a participant instead of a suspect. Participant is almost never used unless LE thinks there is more than one killer.
Police are now walking this back by saying that it’s standard procedure to assume maybe more than one killer in a homicide case, but that’s not even true so they must think we are stupid. It isn’t. There was some specific reason why they thought there were two killers in this case, and we do not know what that reason was. At any rate, they seem to be walking the two killers theory back too, and they are leaning towards one killer. Conclusion: Two killers or one? Take your pick. No one knows! Source: Very strange LE statements.
There have been persistent rumors since even before the case was released to the media (these early rumors coming from family members) that Abbie survived til the next day, 2-14. The rumors were that she was found alive but died on the way to the hospital, that she was alive when found but died soon after, that the coroner said she survived the attack but died of hypothermia the next day, that her body was still warm when found, etc.
These have been strong rumors. Now there is aggressive criticism of this theory from people who insist that both girls died on 2-13. Which begs the question again of how and why all the survival stories even got started in the first place. I told a detective that I thought Abbie had died the next day and he didn’t tell me I was wrong. Acted very surprised and intrigued and wanted to know why I thought that. It didn’t seem as if he was discounting the theory at any rate. Conclusion: No one knows. Did the girls die the same day or did Abbie somehow linger on denying all odds until the next day? No one knows! There’s talk in both directions. Once again, flip a coin. Sources: Rumors, people close the family, people close to LE.
Early rumors from the search party stating that the girls had to have been moved since the dump site found on 2-14 had been searched on 2-13 are apparently in error. The area of the dump site was not even searched on 2-13 due to lack of permission from the owner. That area was only searched the morning of 2-14. Also these poor girls were covered with leaves, which would have made them very hard to find at night.
The best analysis now seems to be that the murders and rapes happened soon after the girls were abducted, not long after Unsub ordered them “Go down the hill.” The entire south side of the creek was roped off as a crime scene, so no doubt this was where the girls were raped and murdered sometime after 3 PM 2-13. So why no noise? No one heard? How do you rape and murder two girls in broad daylight without anyone hearing?
Anyway, after the girls were raped and homicidally attacked, apparently the bodies were somehow moved across the stream, once again without anyone seeing, to the north side of the creek where the bodies were dumped. No one has any explanation of why the killer moved the bodies as they would seem too heavy and it would seem to be a stupid thing to do. Source: People close to the search party, people close to the case. Common sense from LE talk implying that the murders occurred very soon after Unsub’s voice recording.
There is another theory from people close to the family saying that the actual killings took place on the north side of the creek, perhaps after a race across the creek with the killer in pursuit. However, it was the south side that was roped off as a crime scene, not the north side. Yes the tape was removed two days later, but so what? This is standard procedure in a park. Also the north side or at least the area of the dump site was described as pristine. How does a murder site look pristine? It doesn’t. Conclusion: Theory that girls were killed on the north side of the creek seems quite weak. The south side as a kill site seems much better. Sources: People close to the family, rumors.
There is indeed a voice recording of Unsub saying, “Go down the hill.” This was recorded heroically by Libby by turning on the recorder on her phone as the girls were being abducted. The sound recording of the crime is said to be much longer than what was released. It has also been implied, terrifyingly, that the sound recording is actually the recording of the rapes and murders. That probably makes it one of the worst sound recordings made in a crime case in some time, going back to the Toolbox Murders in 1979
What is on the unreleased portion of the tape? After Unsub says, “Go down the hill,” at some point not long after that, you hear both girls screaming. Source: People close to the family.
There is talk of a Ford Mustang that can be barely seen in lower left of the photo of Abbie on the bridge below the bridge. It is very hard to make out, but it could well be a vehicle. How it was determined to be a Ford Mustang and a white one at that is not known. It is not yet known how this vehicle was involved in the case. The best analyses are that the girls were not placed in this car but instead that this car was either simply in the area for some innocuous reason or that the car was involved in the crime but in some other way than placement or transporting of the girls. Perhaps that is Unsub’s vehicle. Who knows?
The road that it is parked on is a very little used road that almost no one has even heard of. It appears to have been a road used by workers to maintain the bridge. Access to it is quite difficult and involves some convoluted twists and turns of road, not to mention that part of the access is via a private driveway. It does seem very odd to me that that car is in that location right before the girls got abducted. I am thinking that that car does not belong there at all and that it is significant to the case in some unknown way. Source: Sleuths analyzing the photo of Libby on the bridge, people close to the family
The vehicle can barely be seen circled in blue, or maybe you can’t make it out at all. This photo has now been enhanced.
The vehicle is still hard to make out in this enhanced photo, but if you look very carefully, you might be able to see a car. Or maybe you won’t. Squint and try your luck.
Libby’s grandfather who raised her made an odd statement, “I know Libby. She put up one Hell of a fight.” He is correct that Libby put up a strong battle. The reason that the grandfather said she put up a wild fight is probably because that is what it says in the medical report. If she fought hard, there will be talk of defensive wounds and maybe DNA under her nails. The condition of her body at the funeral adds weight to the notion that she fought back very hard and sustained many defensive wounds because she had many small wounds on her body and face. In that case, Unsub may have scratch marks. Source: Media reports and statements from people at the funeral. Common sense that the only way the grandfather would known that she fought hard was if he saw the coroners’ report.
I believe the gun obviously holstered on the right under the jacket of Unsub was probably used to control the girls. He also got them to keep quiet, probably with the gun. However, I do not believe the gun was used to kill the girls. It would have made too much noise. Rumors that this was not a gun crime are correct. Source: Common sense that the gun would be the best way to control the girls and common sense that a gun crime would have involved audible gunshots. No gunshots were heard, so doubtless there was no gun fired in this crime.
There is a rumor that both girls had their throats slit. This is a strong rumor. Funerals were open casket, and both girls had scarves covering their necks, more to cover something up than as clothing. This adds weight to the theory that their throats were slit. There are two rumors about the knife attack on one of the girls. A weak rumor says she was decapitated. The strong rumor says she was nearly decapitated. A decapitation would have been hard for a funeral director to hide and both girls had their heads on at the funeral. Of the two rumors, the strong one looks better. Which girl they are referring to is not known. Sources: Rumors, very first reports of the crime from family members. Later confirmation from people close to LE. Statements by people at the funeral.
A new rumor says that both girls were beaten so badly in their faces that they were nearly unrecognizable. This rumor may well be true, but at least Abbie was fixed up pretty good in her face for the funeral, so one wonders how a funeral director could have covered up such devastating wounds. Source: Source close to the family.
This offense was clearly sexually motivated, and it seems quite clear that sexual assault occurred in the course of the crime. There are a number of rumors about this, but the best analysis now is that at least one girl was raped and found nude. That would be Abbie. There are different stories about whether Libby was nude or clothed and whether she was raped or not. Looking at these stories, there is no way to tell what is true. At the moment, we don’t know if Libby was raped or not and we do not know if she was clothed or not. It’s up in the air. Sources: Very first reports of the crime from family members and later confirmation from people close to LE, general rumors, sources close to family.
The girls’ clothing was found in the creek. This was no doubt an attempt by Unsub to destroy any DNA evidence. Source: Statements from reporter at the scene. Common sense indicates that this was an attempt to destroy DNA in the case.
Ron Logan, the property owner where the girls were found, was in Lafayette, Indiana on 2-13, and Unsub may have known he would not be there, but there is no proof of this. How he may have known this, I have no idea. Source: Media.
There is now a lot of talk that Ron Logan or perhaps his son were involved in this crime. Logan was arrested recently on a probation violation for a drunk driving case. This set the rumor mill wild as there was much talk that Logan was involved in the murders. This never seemed likely to me for many reasons. LE has now affirmed that Logan was not involved in the case. Source: News reports.
There has been much talk of Jimmy Duvall possibly being Unsub. Duvall committed a serious crime against an 11 year old girl quite some time ago when he was 23. A month before, he had committed a similar offense. The judge said he had a character disorder. This typically means a personality disorder and used in a case like this, means that he no doubt has Antisocial Personality Disorder. In other words, Duvall is a sociopath or a psychopath. He served a good ~25 years for this crime and was released ~8 years ago.
He has apparently not offended since he has been released. Mr. Duvall was taken in for questioning early in this case and was asked to give a DNA sample. He then returned to his job at the auto plant. Rumors say that Duvall took 2-13 off as the first day off work in years and has since disappeared. Neither rumor is correct. Yes, Duvall took 2-13. After all, it was his day off, why wouldn’t he? And he has not actually disappeared. My understanding is that he is at home taking a sick leave.
His creepy Facebook page was the subject of much discussion. It portrayed a man obsessed with evil, death, the Devil, murder and other pleasant themes. He also seemed to be a man struggling very had against his antisocial urges. No doubt he has a paraphilia and of course he is sociopathic. But he’s paid his debt to society and he’s been a good boy since he was released.
And the best analysis is that LE has cleared Duvall of participation in this crime. Nevertheless, the rumor mill continues to run wild accusing Duvall of having committed this crime. I doubt it. For one, he is too short and he is much too heavy. Duvall is 5’8 and weighs 230 pounds. Unsub is 5’8, 180 pounds. Sources: Rumors, news reports, Duvall’s Sex Offender Registry page and his Facebook page.
Three other posts in this series:
Updated March 9: Profile of the Evansdale-Delphi Serial Killer
The Case for Unsub Involvement in Both the Delphi and Evansdale Double Murders
The Case for Linking the Delphi Murders with the Evansdale Murders
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