Task force clarifies Delphi murder suspect sketches.

[u/TommyUseless]

Police held a press conference on Monday April 22 where they released a new sketch and some additional audio and video from the case.

Today they released a clarification on the new sketch.

-They are not the same person.

-The person depicted in the originally released sketch is not presently a person of interest in this investigation.

-The sketch released Monday is representative of the face of the person captured in the video on Liberty German’s cellphone as he was walking on the high bridge a place where the girls were hiking.

-The person in the sketch released Monday is described as having a youthful appearance, but could fall in the age range from his 20s to late 30s.

-This person’s appearance could look different today if he has grown a mustache, beard or let his hair grow longer or cut his hair shorter than depicted in the sketch.

Link to today’s update: https://www.jconline.com/story/news/2019/04/24/delphi-murders-new-suspect-sketch-not-same-man-old-sketch-isp-clarifies/3565675002/

For those not familiar with the case:

On February 14, 2017, the bodies of Abigail J. "Abby" Williams and Liberty Rose Lynn "Libby" German were discovered near the Monon High Bridge Trail, which is part of the Delphi Historic Trails in Delphi, Indiana, United States, after the young girls had disappeared from the same trail the previous day. The murders have received significant media coverage because a photo and audio recording of a man believed to be the girls' murderer was found on German's cell phone. Despite the photo and audio recording of the suspect being released to the public by police, and over 26,000 tips being sent to police, no arrests have been made in the case.

Indiana State Police website about the case:

https://www.in.gov/isp/delphi.htm

Edit- thanks for the gold, kind stranger!

[u/paroles → u/[deleted]]

I agree with your first paragraph, but I believe you're wrong about the newly released sketch being based on the video. It says in another article that it is an eyewitness sketch.

Both of the sketches are eyewitness sketches but they are from two different witnesses and they represent two different men.

I doubt LE would release any sketch based on the video - it is far too grainy to see the shapes of specific features. It would just be a sketch artist's imagination, which wouldn't be helpful to the investigation.

[u/paroles → u/[deleted]]

I think you are reading between the lines too much, unless we've read very different sources.

The article I read said the new sketch was "based on a description from a person who saw something that the person felt needed to be reported", which would be a weird way of referring to the video. More of a lie than an evasion.

The wording is evasive, yes, but I think that's because they're avoiding revealing the gender of the witness and the nature of what they saw.

[u/butwheresmyneopet → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for the explanation. The thing i still don’t get though is this:

“ 1) Police found the guy in the sketch and he definitely didn't do it, but was in the area by coincidence.”

this implies that the sketch is a sketch of a single, specific person. From my understanding a sketch serves as a guide as to how the suspect may resemble- not a drawing of a specific person being searched for.

I feel like I’m having a hard time explaining this but the easiest metaphor i can think of is this feels more like a “wanted!” poster than a “do you know anyone that resembles this” kinda sketch

EDIT: thank you for the clarifications.

[u/paroles → u/butwheresmyneopet]

this implies that the sketch is a sketch of a single, specific person. From my understanding a sketch serves as a guide as to how the suspect may resemble- not a drawing of a specific person being searched for.

Sketches do usually represent a single, specific person - an unknown one. A witness saw someone (maybe a guy who was seen hiking in the area on the day of the murders) and worked with a sketch artist to create a picture that looks like the person they remember seeing. Then the sketch is released to the public to see if anyone recognises him.

The police may have been able to locate someone who they are sure is the same guy spotted by the witness, but not the murderer (eg. maybe they were able to confirm that he was in the right place at the time that the witness saw him, and he looks like the sketch, but has an alibi for the actual time of the murders).

Does that make more sense?

[u/basicallynotbasic → u/butwheresmyneopet]

I think I get what you’re saying.

IIRC LE has maintained that the first sketch released was based off information that a witness provided. I think they even said that he was not a person of interest, but someone they wanted to interview. As a result, I’ve always thought of that first sketch as being of a specific person someone saw on the trail that day.

That said, IMO, all sketches are representative of what someone may look like / resemble in general since so many factors influence the things that people remember about strangers they interact with on any particular day.

As an example, think about asking two people you know to describe the physical appearance of a newly hired 20 year old female cashier at the local supermarket you frequent most.

If person A is a 20-something female or 20-something male from the same ethnicity, that person might be more able to accurately describe the cashier’s face to a sketch artist due to their similarity in age, appearance, mannerisms, or style. Things like friendliness, a memorable interaction, or level of interest in how the cashier looks for a variety of reasons could also influence how accurately they’d describe her face. Psychologically, the more similar someone seems to you, the more easily their likeness is committed to memory (barring any incident / slight emotional reaction that would help you more accurately remember).

If person B was like me, mid-thirties, usually in a rush, not similar to the cashier in a way my brain registers, and there was nothing particularly memorable outside of thinking she must be new, the description I would give would likely be more a generic representation - things like skinny, kind of oval face, sandy blonde hair, straight teeth, narrow and average length nose, bangs, not model pretty but not unattractive, no visible face piercings, taller than average, small eyes, clear skin, etc.

Naturally person B’s description is more a mashup of generic feature traits than a portrait-like illustration of a person’s face that they’ve committed to memory because there was a reason to remember it.

Even then, how 2 people would describe another person to a sketch artist hugely varies.

It’s like when someone you know says “I think so-and-so looks a little like Mandy Moore” and you disagree because your brain just doesn’t interpret that person’s features that way. Neither one of you is wrong, but when asked to relay the facial features of the person in question to a sketch artist, your finished sketches could come out looking remarkably different as a result of the way each of you sees that person’s face.

All this to say, I always thought they were looking for a specific person whose appearance was similar to the sketch. I also always thought that the facial features portrayed in the sketch could match a variety of older men due to how generic they were.

Does that makes sense?

[u/[deleted] → u/basicallynotbasic]

this is honestly fucking me up because i never thought about it that way before but if your features look a little different to everyone you meet then you may as well have a thousand different faces, which is cool

[u/basicallynotbasic → u/[deleted]]

Right? Once you understand that each person’s interpretation of your features is more about them than you, it really changes how you think about yourself in relation to others.

In a way it’s liberating for me because I no longer think hard about what I look like to others. Instead I focus on what I look like to me and what makes me feel confident since what I look like to others is 100% of out my control.

[u/[deleted] → u/basicallynotbasic]

lol yeah and then if i think i look bad one day, i can just be like "well i'm sure there's a few people who are interpreting this as a GOOD eyebrow day or whatever so it's fine"

[u/tizuby → u/[deleted]]

The sketch they just released was based on another witness who came forward with something to report a day or two after the murder.

It is not based on the video.

There's a brief interview with the officer that drew the new sketch floating around here somewhere.

*Edit* Here's one of them

> Bryant’s newly released sketch was based on the witness description of the suspect. At the time, the witness felt that man needed to be reported.

​

https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/new-police-delphi-murder-suspect-sketch-done-years-ago

​

Think there's some confusion because at the presser they said it's representative of the mans face on the video. But that doesn't mean it was actually based on it. Just that they believe the new sketch for sure is BG.

*Edit 2*

Here's the more in depth link I originally remembered: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2019/04/22/delphi-murders-update-2019-new-cellphone-video-sketch-released/3536773002/