The Bridge Guy who killed Liberty German and Abby Williams on Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana was not James Chadwell, and it was not the young guy in the original sketch. It was not anybody from social media. This was probably a crime of opportunity by a school employee, who had no prior knowledge of the two girls.
Why a school employee? He was comfortable calling them "guys" and supervising them. I think only a person who was used to working with kids would call two girls "guys". And especially his tone, total confidence.
He might have said "Kids aren't allowed to walk on the bridge without their parents. Where's your parents? Okay guys, down the hill."
Also, this was a no-school day on an ordinary weekday, a single day off for some random reason. It is just the right size vacation for a random school employee to take a quick walk down the local deer-hunting trail. None of the other businesses are off, so it won't be crowded like a weekend. It will be more like after school closes on a school day, or a really cold day, mostly empty, except for maybe school kids.
And this guy was dressed like he was used to going out on cold days and being out a long time. Or like he got an early start when it was colder. He was dressed much heavier than the girls.
And that trail area was not interesting enough to a hunter - not big enough an area - to drive there from very far dressed like that. It is just a tiny wooded area. It is worth a drive for someone dressed as a photographer, but not someone dressed as a hunter.
So we have a school employee who had the day off, was used to ordering kids around, and took a quick hunting day trip to the local deer trail.
Why was it nobody from social media? Bridge Guy in the video was pretty geared up for a winter day on a hunting trail. He would not have time or reason to put on a hunting outfit, to go stalk two schoolgirls on a trail.
The girls did not know for certain they were going hiking until right before they went, when their sister gave them a ride. So there are three times when a person looking at their social media might have been aware they would be on the trail. The latest would be when they posted pics on the bridge. They also could have posted "we are going hiking" right when their sister agreed to drive them there. Or earlier in the day, they could have been posting "Anybody want to go to the bridge with us?"
The only time that would give the killer enough time to get geared up like that and make it over there that quickly, is the first one. And then wait a while. But if girls are on social media inviting everyone to go hiking during the day, the killer would not expect them to be alone. There could be three girls, which is too much trouble. There is a house overlooking the area, there could be other people on the trail. The girls might not even end up going.
If he has access to their social media and knows where they will be, much better to stalk them at night. Much better to stalk one alone, not two or more on a trail with other kids, or where they might not even be. When he sees there is a second girl, one might run off. Best to get one alone.
Suppose he saw a social media post right when they got a ride and said they were going. Would he have the apparent hunting outfit, would he have the time or reason to put that on? Or wouldn't a random guy who stalks two girls on social media, be wearing an outfit more appropriate to teenage girls, and less appropriate to the trail? Like maybe a quick baseball cap, and a winter coat and sunglasses. The hunting attire suggests someone who went for the trail, and had plenty of time to get dressed up. Then he came across the girls by chance, he was not expecting to.
And obviously he could not have gotten there that quickly, or had time to gear up, if the first thing he saw was their bridge pics.
And a person who was watching their pics on social media, would have known they were taking pics. He probably would have been more cautious about being photographed - more cautious about his approach - and taken their phone. If you walk across a bridge where they have just photographed a person walking, you expect to be photographed. So this was a person who did not know they were posting on social media.
So I think the scruffy hunter sketch is more likely what the killer looked like. But to me, Bridge Guy looks and sounds younger and cleaner cut than the guy in the sketch. Maybe even Asian. Maybe the sketch is the wrong guy. Or maybe the people who saw him were young, and so they said he looked "old". And the sketcher was older, and drew someone who looked old compared to his own age. Or who even knows.
People are so paranoid, their minds run wild thinking of who is meeting these kids on social media and catfishing them. But police probably tracked down most of their social media contacts. This was just a random weirdo out on a hunting trail. And two young girls fell into his lap after he had been there a while, and had a sense nobody else was around.
And he knew he could not be connected to them on social media, or he would have been paranoid and hid the bodies.