Another day has passed, another day that Mike and Becky Patty don’t know the name of the man police say murdered their granddaughter
DELPHI, Ind. (WTHR) - Another day has passed here. Another day that Mike and Becky Patty don’t know the name of the man police say murdered their granddaughter, 14-year-old Libby German and her friend Abby Williams, 13.
It happened more than two months ago when the teens were hiking the trails near the Monon High Bridge.
Libby captured video of the man along with a voice on her cell phone, saying “Down the hill.”
Both the man’s image and that audio clip of the voice have been widely circulated across the country, the picture appearing on billboards in 46 states. More than 16,000 tips have come in, but still no break in the case.
“Somebody out there knows this person,” said Mike Patty, sitting in the kitchen of his Delphi home.
“It would be easier to heal if we had answers, but we have to heal," said Becky Patty, sitting next to her husband.
“We have to go on because there is the possibility of not ever knowing, don’t like to think of that, I don’t,” Becky added.
“There’s a killer walking our streets. It’s our streets or somebody else’s around the state or around the nation,” said Mike, adding that he has no idea if the killer is local or from somewhere else.
“He’s walking around or they are walking around and they need to be brought to justice,” he said.
The Pattys still have faith that will happen, even though the wait is turning out to be longer than they hoped.
“We would have loved to have seen something happen very shortly after, but the investigators are taking their time. Again, they’re crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s,” said Mike.
“We want to see an iron-clad case be pulled up so there’s no holes in this,” he said “Let’s make sure we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right."
In the meantime, the Pattys are focusing on what’s brought them some healing, plans for a softball field and park in Abby and Libby’s memory. They haven’t chosen a location.
“What I envision is having a plaque or a memorial of sort at the entrance to the park, so some little girl 25 years from now can walk up there with her parents and read it and say, ‘Oh, I understand now, why we get to play softball here today and why get to go play at this park in remembrance of the girls,’” Mike said.
“This is the way we deal with it, working on this, this is our, this is our healing, our focus. This is what we do to cope,” said Becky.
Police say they still have about 100 tips coming in every day and have about 25 investigators working on the case, including FBI, state and local police. A police command center still set up in downtown Delphi.
Two months later, investigators say they’re still looking at possibilities that the killer is local or from somewhere else.
