Missing teen girls found dead on Indiana hiking trail

The bodies of two teen girls who disappeared while they were hiking on an abandoned rail bridge in northern Indiana were found Tuesday afternoon.

The deaths of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, are being investigated as homicides, State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said Wednesday.

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The girls were reported missing Monday after they were dropped off by family to go hiking at the Monon High Bridge, a popular local landmark, around 1 p.m.

The girls were supposed to be picked up by family at the bridge later in the day but they never arrived. Their bodies were found about three-quarters of a mile from the bridge along Deer Creek in Delphi.

Riley said the girls' bodies were found in a wooded area about 50 feet from the banks of Deer Creek in an area less than a mile upstream from the railroad bridge.

An FBI team remains at the crime scene collecting evidence.

Riley said there are no suspects but police have received hundreds of leads. He said they are not releasing the girls' cause of deaths yet, citing the ongoing investigation.

"The investigation is still in its baby steps, so to speak, and we don't want to put that information out yet," he said during a news conference in Delphi.   Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said authorities do not yet have a suspect or suspects in the girls' slayings. He said the teens' deaths are very upsetting for residents in the city of about 3,000 residents that is the county seat.

Leazenby and Riley urged the public, particularly people who were hiking Monday in the area where the girls went missing, to contact police with any tips they might have to help authorities in the investigation.

"We're going to get to the bottom of this. We feel confident. And we're going to do everything within our resources to reach justice in this situation," Leazenby said.

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