Anyone who has paid much attention to the Delphi case the last five years knows the darkness runs pretty deep in parts of rural Indiana. Every now and then some act of unspeakable depravity is brought into the light, causing Delphi investigation onlookers to speculate whether the latest perpetrator could be the one who murdered 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German on February 13, 2017.
In April of last year, James Brian Chadwell lured a young girl into his home in Lafayette, brutalized her and almost certainly would have killed her if not for the swift action of family and law enforcement to locate the girl and save her from the vicious assault. Chadwell was sentenced to 90 years in prison for child molesting and attempted murder of the nine-year-old girl.
At the time, Chadwell seemed like a pretty solid suspect for the Delphi murders. After all, how many child murderers could there be living within a 20 mile radius of Delphi? Perhaps more than one, as it seems Chadwell is probably not responsible for the Delphi killings.
Then, last December, another potential child predator was revealed by Indiana State Police. Investigators issued a press release seeking any information regarding the online profile anthony_shots. Within hours it was discovered that this profile belonged to a man named Kegan Anthony Kline of Peru, Indiana, another town near Delphi.
The news again ignited speculation that this individual might have some involvement with the Delphi homicides. Kline was questioned by investigators in the weeks following the murders and admitted to collecting pornograpic images of underage girls using the anthony_shots profile. Arrested in 2020, Kline is currently sitting in jail awaiting trial on multiple counts of child exploitation, possession of child pornography, child soliscitation and obstruction of justice.
Last week, the true crime podcast, The Murder Sheet, made available the transcript of a 2020 police interrogation of Kegan Anthony Kline. While illuminating previously unknown facts and circumstances surrounding the crime, revelations from the interrogation simultaneously cast another layer of dread and darkness over a case that was already quite dark to begin with.
The Kline police interview reveals an individual obsessed with obtaining and disseminating sexually explicit images of underrage victims. Under the guise of anthony_shots, an often shirtless young male with model good looks, Kline was able to insert himself into the lives of Liberty German and some of her peers. In one instance, Kline as anthony_shots is exchanging messages with Liberty German while she is attending a slumber party. Ensconced in the confines of his disgusting hovel, Kline is virtually in the room with these middle school girls who believe him to be a cute boy with a Lamborghini.
In another instance, anthony_shots was in communication with a girl whose family was acquainted with the Kline family. This girl made arrangements to meet up with anthony_shots at her house after school before her parents arrived home from work. On the appointed day, when the girl arrived home from school, she discovered a man in a ski mask peering inside her bedroom window.
In one of the most damning revelations of the interrogation, investigators discovered that anthony_shots was in communication with Liberty German on the morning of the murders. Later, the profile communicated with Liberty’s friend, saying that he was supposed to meet Liberty the day of the murders.
Throughout the interview, investigators make it clear that they believe Kegan Kline is not the only individual with access to the anthony_shots profile. They confront Kline with a lot of evidence showing that his father, Tony Kline, may have been accessing the account as well. In fact, whether it was just an interrogation technique or detectives really believe it, interviewers admit to Kegan Kline that they don’t think he killed the two girls and seem to be pressing him to give up his dad.
Tony Kline, as we learn in subsequent Murder Sheet podcasts, is an unpredictable and extremely sadistic character capable of extreme violence at the most benign trigger. His own step-children relate stories of Tony brutalizing the family over innocent transgressions. It is easy to see why investigators seem to be focusing on him, and who knows what other evidence they have that may point to the elder Kline.
Still, though, Tony Kline has not been arrested, and you have to wonder if there are others who may have had access to the anthony_shots social media account. Investigators have said that the arrest of Kegan Kline has led to the largest child porography investigation in the state’s history. There is mention by interviewers that Kline had a Dropbox account that may have been accessible by some of his other deviant acquaintances on the internet. Could there be others in this twisted milieu who had access to the images and messages obtained by the anthony_shots profile? No doubt, investigators are exploring all these angles, and hopefully there will soon be an arrest.
In the meantime, it just seems like social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat are perfectly fitted for those strangers your parents warned you never to talk to. These apps readily connect the innocent, trusting and unsuspecting to wolves hiding behind an attractive smiling face and a cool car, who then can invade a private space like a sleepover or a family home in a way that never could have been previously imagined. And once the wolf is let inside, the damage is only limited by its appetite for depravity.
If there is something 