Cops link pedophile who was jailed in 2017 to Delphi murders through catfish Instagram account

Indiana police have revealed that Delphi murder victims Liberty German and Abigail Williams were communicating with someone behind a fake catfish Instagram and Snapchat page that a suspected pedophile set up in the months before they were found dead.

Liberty and Abigail, both 14, were found dead in Delphi, Indiana, near a bridge and railway tracks after going for a walk together on February 13, 2017.  

On Monday, police who are investigating the murders announced that they were searching for whoever had made the profile anthony_shots, a fake account using images of an innocent male model to lure young girls.  The catfish pretended to be rich and posted photos of luxury cars and designer clothing and cash as well as shirtless photos that he claimed were of him. 

The same Instagram and Snapchat persona is named in an affidavit for Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old who was arrested in Peru, Indiana, less than 40 miles from where the girls disappeared, on February 23, 2017 – ten days after the girls are believed to have been killed. 

Kline remains  in the Miami County Jail in Indiana, awaiting his next court date.  

Kline, who would have been 22 at the time of the Delphi murders, admitted to police in 2017 that he made the anthony_shots account to talk to girls he knew and didn’t know, and that some of them were under 16. He said girls would send him explicit photos and that he masturbated to them. 

He has not been charged in the Delphi case, and it’s unclear why Indiana State Police released details of the anthony_shots profile on Monday without tying it to Kline, who had admitted to setting it up years ago. His public defender has denied that he was involved in the Delphi case. 

The real man in the pictures is Vincent Kowlaski, a married, Alaska cop and father, who says he is horrified to have his face connected to the gruesome killing.   

Indiana police on Monday said they were searching for whoever was behind this Instagram account. Named anthony_shots, it featured photos of an innocent male model (above) to catfish young girls 

Kegan Kline, 27, (left) is the real person behind anthony_shots, according to cops. He was arrested in 2017, ten days after the girls vanished, on separate child porn and child exploitation charges, but he has never before been linked to the Delphi murders – until now. Right, a photo of the prime suspect that Liberty took on her phone moments before her murder in February 2017

Liberty German (left) and Abigail Williams (right) vanished in February 2017 after going for a walk. Their bodies were found afterwards but their murders have always been unsolved 

He told Too Fab magazine this week that he now fears for his safety, and that no one from Indiana State Police contacted him to tell him that they were going to blast his selfies in connection to the Delphi murders. 

‘Someone sent me a screenshot of the YouTube video they did… I was like “There’s no way that’s real. I was completely blown away. 

‘A lot of the headlines are somewhat vague. When you google it my picture is the first thing you see. My face is blasted everywhere. People might think I had something to do with it.

‘I spoke to my wife about it… I just hope nobody crazy tries to contact my family,’ he said. 

He said he was stunned that the Indiana police did not contact him before issuing the press release. 

‘You would think so,’ he told the magazine.  

It’s unclear what prompted police to search Kline’s home on February 23, 2017, but a Samsung phone found inside the house that day had undergone a factory reset, wiping all of the data about who he had been talking to. 

Other phones contained pictures of him, namely one with a gun.  

This is the first time he has been linked to the Delphi murders and he has not been charged in the girls’ deaths.  

Until now, the only suspect has been James Chadwell II, who has been charged with the murder of a different girl near Delphi, but has never been charged with Liberty or Abigail’s deaths. 

In May this year, Liberty’s sister said she did not believe Chadwell was the killer. 

One of the only leads police have worked from is a photo of the suspected killer that Libby took on her phone before she died. 

It showed him walking towards the pair. Libby also made a recording of him saying ‘down the hill’. 

Cops recovered the audio after they found the pair’s bodies in 2017. 

It’s unclear why police have only now, more than four years after the deaths, linked the pair to the anthony_shots Instagram and Snapchat account.

The girls’ cause of death have never been revealed by police. Both of the girls were active on social media before their deaths. 

The model in the pictures has been identified by police and is not in any way involved. Police believe the person behind the account, previously named as Kline, was using his photos to lure young girls 

Another photo that was taken from the anthony_shots profile. The catfish pretended to be wealthy to lure young girls and solicit photos from them 

Another of the images posted on the fake catfish account. Whoever was behind it  told the girls he was communicating with that he was wealthy 

This is the final Snapchat that Liberty posted, of Abigail, on the train tracks, before they went missing 

The fake account featured photos of the male model, posing shirtless and tattooed in a bathroom, and screenshots of online shopping carts from designer websites like Gucci, racking up thousands of dollars. 

In a bulletin on Monday, Indiana State Police said: ‘While investigating the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, detectives with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and the Indiana State Police have uncovered an online profile named anthony_shots. 

‘This profile was being used from 2016 to 2017 on social media applications, including but not limited to, Snapchat and Instagram. 

‘The fictitious anthony_shots profile used images of a known male model and portrayed himself as being extremely wealthy and owning numerous sports cars. 

‘The creator of the fictitious profile used this information while communicating with juvenile females to solicit nude images, obtain their addresses, and attempt to meet them.’ 

They confirmed that they knew who the model was, had been in contact with him and ruled him to be innocent, but that they were searching for someone else who had set it all up. 

‘The male that is in the photos is not a person of interest in the investigation. 

‘Detectives are seeking information about the person who created the anthony_shots profile,’ the release said.   

Indiana State Police have not commented on the Kline connection, nor have they revealed whether or not he has ever been named as a suspect. 

A different investigator took over Kline’s 2017 case in April last year.