THE sister of a girl killed in the Delphi"'Snapchat murders" says her slain sibling still sends her signs "all the time" that she's watching over her – as she pays tribute to the "sweet girl" on what would have been her 19th birthday.

Kelsi German, 21, told The Sun that despite nearly five years having passed since her sister Libby, 14, was killed in Indiana alongside her best friend Abby Williams, 13, she still feels her sibling's presence around her often.

"She lets us know she's here all the time and she definitely likes to play tricks on us," Kelsi said of Libby.

"I always remember one story just after her death. My cousin had been Snapchatting me from the bathroom as he was brushing his teeth.

"Suddenly the toothpaste cap just fell from the ceiling and we instantly knew it was Libby, who, when she was alive, was always trying to make others laugh and playing pranks on people.

"It was like one of the very first times, in the beginning, when we were like 'Libby is always going to be with us, no matter what.'

"She'll always be here to make us laugh or to make us smile – and she just continues to be there for us and she lets us know all the time."

Kelsi added that her sister always comes to her in her dreams whenever she's having a hard time.

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She says her younger sister lets her presence be known to "tell me that it's going to be okay, and she continues to do that."

Other signs sent by Libby, Kelsi says, include sending cardinals to family members – a bird regarded by some to be a symbol of safety and happiness sent from a passed loved one – or leaving dimes on the ground for them to find.

"We find dimes all over the place which is kind of a fun little thing because they're dimes sent to us from heaven.

"And it just always makes us feel so at peace knowing that she's there to help us through every step of the rest of our lives."

Libby German and Abby Williams were both found dead on Valentine's Day 2017 – a day after they were reported missing having last been seen at the Delphi Historic Trails.

The manner and causes of their deaths have never been publicly disclosed by police. The culprit behind their killings is also yet to be identified.

December 27 marked what would have been Libby's 19th birthday.

In a heartbreaking Instagram tribute to her sister on Monday, Kelsi uploaded a picture of a beaming Libby and wrote: "The world needs more people like you, happy Heavenly 19th sweet girl."

In a succession of posts on her story, Kelsi also paid homage to her "sweet sister."

"Your 5th [birthday] in heaven … I wish we were celebrating together, I miss you."

FINAL MOMENTS

Kelsi was among one of the last people to see her sister alive.

Then 17, Kelsi had been at home on the morning of February 13, 2017, when Libby, who had the day off from school, asked her if she could drive both her and Abby Williams to the Delphi Historic Trails.

Kelsi had plans to meet up with her boyfriend later that afternoon before going to work and initially told Libby no.

But believing she had been a “bad sister” of late, not hanging out with her younger sibling as often as she should, a guilt-riddled Kelsi eventually agreed to take the girls just after 1.30pm, provided they found their own ride home.

“At the time I just didn’t feel as though I’d been taking her enough places or spending as much time together as we should so eventually I agreed if she could find someone else to pick her up again," Kelsi previously told The Sun.

“And then a little while later, she came back and said, ‘Okay, dad will come pick us up if you’ll drop us off.”

Kelsi then made the short drive to the trails with Abby and Libby, dropping them off just after 1.35pm.

Before driving away, Kelsi said she told Libby she loved her, a sentiment that was echoed back by the young teen.

“My family has always been really big on making sure you tell everybody that you love them and goodbye each time you hang up the phone or leave the house.

“We’ve always said, ‘goodbye, I love you and I’ll see you later’.

“I remember making sure they had their sweatshirts,” Kelsi reflected, “I told her I loved her and she said it back, just like any other time we were leaving each other.”

Libby then turned her back and walked away with Abby.

That was the last time Kelsi would see her sister alive.

‘SURVIVOR’S GUILT’

Libby and Abby never failed to meet her father at a pre-arranged pick-up location later that afternoon.

After an extensive search of their area, their bodies were found the following day on a steep embankment around half a mile upstream from the Monon High Bridge Trail where Libby had uploaded her final Snapchat post a day earlier.

Kelsi says she has relived the hours leading up to the girls’ deaths over and over again in her mind every day for the last four-and-a-half years.

“Every time something new happens [in the case] I have to relive those moments,” Kelsi said. “I think you learn a lot about yourself when something like this happens.

“When I look back on it I just now try not to feel guilty about what happened, or what I could’ve done differently.

“I think survivor guilt is a real thing and it’s so difficult to leap over. Every time something happens to you, it strikes you again.

“Even after all this time when you know there’s absolutely nothing you could’ve done, there’s still something inside of you that’s going to say, ‘What if I would’ve done this different?’ or ‘What if I never dropped them off?’ – and that’s still a big obstacle for me.

“That’s one of the biggest things I’ve had to cope with is learning how not to feel guilty about something you couldn’t have changed even if you wanted to.”

LINGERING QUESTIONS

Kelsi said she cannot remember Libby nor Abby specifying while they wanted to visit the Delphi Historic Trails that day.

She said they didn’t say whether or not they had plans to meet up with anyone else inside the park.

Remembering Feb. 13 2017 as a warm day, she said she believes the pair “wanted to go out and do something, rather than being stuck in the house all day.”

“And so they were like, ‘Hey, let’s go to this place,'” Kelsi theorized.

“It’s a pretty normal place to do and take pictures, hang out, or talk to each other.

“So I think it was just something fun to do on a nice day. It’s really like one of the only things you can do in Delphi other than getting food.”

The hours, days, weeks, and even months after the death of her sister are a “blur” for Kelsi, she said.

From the moment Libby and Abby’s bodies were identified, Kelsi said it’s difficult for her to recall anything that happened in the weeks that followed.

Repressed memories from that time will sometimes present themselves in fragments, she said. She’ll remember someone being in a room near her that she previously couldn’t, or receiving a letter or a gift from a friend or sympathetic stranger.

Other members of her family have reportedly suffered from a similar trauma-induced mental block regarding the months and weeks after Libby’s death.

UNWAIVERING SUPPORT

One thing the German family will never forget, however, is the “outpouring in our community of just so many people who were there for us,” Kelsi said.

“It was amazing,” she recounted. “It was just so humbling knowing that all of those people were there for you at one of the hardest times of your life, suffering unimaginable grief.”

That support, Kelsi added, has never wavered. It’s also extended beyond the local community, with restless true crime fanatics and justice seekers keeping the story alive through podcasts, blog posts, and discussion boards.

“It’s amazing how many people are still there supporting us. Every time something happens and we get put back out in the media it just brightens our hope it gives us so much faith in all the people that are out there,” Kelsi said.

“I thought that over time people would forget or they’d stop talking about it or stop looking, but that hasn’t been the case at all.

“People still continue to come and support us and share this information and it’s just amazing. The outpour of support – it’s just so encouraging.”

Part of the reason the case is still alive and active today, Kelsi believes, is because of the bravery shown by Libby in her final moments of life, when the teen mustered the courage to record a short clip of the man that police believe killed her.

VITAL CLIP

The video shows a white male, dressed in faded jeans, a hoodie and a blue jacket, with his hands in his pockets, walking towards the eighth graders on a bridge.

Libby then slipped her phone into her pocket and continued recording. Chillingly, she captured her killer gruffly instructing the pair to go “down the hill.”

“I’m tremendously proud of her,” Kelsi told The Sun. “I don’t think she imagined at the time it would be such a big thing.

“I think she was just taking a video to show us later and say, ‘Hey, look at this really weird guy that was at the bridge earlier and this is what he looked like’.

“But the fact that she did take that video and she thought something wasn’t right and she had to take it – it just amazes me.

“It just amazes me that she was able to think of that at that moment.

“I don’t know where the case would be if we didn’t have that video,” she added.

“I think that’s one thing that intrigues people [about the case] to continue to look at it.”

HUNTING FOR CLUES

Kelsi estimated that she has watched and listened to the clip “thousands of times.” She claimed to watch it almost every day in the hope of discovering a new detail or jogging a repressed memory.

“I see it all over, every day. I’ll just be scrolling through my social media and people will post it back to me and I’ll watch it again every time,” Kelsi said.

“I just keep listening, and every time I do, I just know that’s the person that did such awful things – or a thing – to my sister.

“And it’s so sad that we just know the voice, but we don’t know the face and we don’t have any answers yet.”

Kelsi added: “So I just continue to listen to it and hope that someday I’ll recognize that person or I’ll meet somebody and I’ll know that voice and then I’ll be like, ‘That’s him; that’s the person in the video.'”

Police, like Kelsi, have previously suggested that Libby and Abby’s killer may live locally.

During a press conference in 2019, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter even went as far as to say the killer could be sat in the room with them.

“Directly to the killer, who may be in this room: We believe you’re hiding in plain sight,” Carter said. “We’ve likely interviewed you or someone close to you.

“We also believe this person is from Delphi — currently or has previously lived here, visits Delphi on a regular basis, or works here,” he added.

KILLER ‘HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT’

Kelsi’s belief the killer lives – or may have once lived – locally stems from the idea that the trail near to where the two girls’ bodies were found is difficult to simply stumble across, she said.

“I’ve always thought that he has to know the area somehow,” she said.

“I think that track is very hard to find if you don’t know it’s there already.

“So that’s something I’ve also bought into,” Kelsi continued, “that he’s either from Delphi or that he’s spent a lot of time here.”

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