@EPCSheriff/Twitter(DELPHI, Ind.) — Police say a man arrested in Colorado on Monday could be connected to the unsolved murders of two Indiana teenagers.
Authorities are investigating a possible connection between Daniel Nations, 31, of Indianapolis, and the murders of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, whose bodies were found near a hiking trail in Delphi, Indiana in February, Indiana State Police officials confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday.
Police in El Paso County, Colorado, arrested Nations, a registered sex offender, on Monday afternoon after he allegedly threatened several people with a hatchet near a Colorado trail where a man was murdered two weeks ago, according to ABC’s Chicago station WLS.
The Indiana State Police Department said it is investigating to see if Nations could be a suspect in the Delphi double murder investigation, but it declined to comment further.
“We aware of the arrest we are aware of the situation out there. We have had a chance to do anything with the information but we have had over 1,000 photographs of people who look like the guy in the sketch,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley told ABC News Wednesday evening.
“We look at every one of them, check them out. This is no different than any of the others,” he added.
Nations was booked into the Teller County Jail in Divide, Colorado on a charge of weapons possession by a previous offender, with additional charges pending, according to Jacqueline Kirby, a spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado, told ABC News Wednesday.
Kirby said she could not comment on the Delphi case.
“They have asked us not to speak on their case,” Kirby told ABC News Wednesday. “So I’m not at liberty to elaborate on anything that’s related to what happened in Indiana.”
Nations is being held on a $10,000 bond. It is not clear if he has an attorney.
Abby Williams’ mother, Anna Williams, said the arrest has given her a glimmer of hope.
“Our family is hoping and praying that ‘God’s got this’ and that today is finally the day,” Abby Williams told ABC News Wednesday evening.
Abby Williams and Libby German, both eighth graders, were enjoying a day off from middle school on Feb. 13 when they disappeared on a hiking trail near their rural hometown of Delphi. Their bodies were found the next day.
Police released a composite sketch of a man they say could be connected to the the teenagers’ murders in July, but they have not announced any new leads in the case since then.
The person depicted in the sketch is described as a white man with reddish brown hair, standing between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10, and weighing 180 to 220 pounds. The hat in the sketch may not be accurate, police said, adding that the public is asked to focus on the person’s facial features.
A reward over $230,000 is available for information leading to an arrest.
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