As Indiana authorities looking into a possible connection with a man arrested on child molestation charges and in the murder of two Delphi girls, additional information continues to surface.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Randolph County authorities arrested Charles Eldridge, 46, on January 8, and charged him with felony child molestation and solicitation. Eldridge was caught during a sting operation after he allegedly chatted with a 13-year-old girl online and arranged a meeting with her in Union City. Eldridge, unbeknownst to him, was actually chatting with an undercover police officer.
When Eldridge arrived to the meeting spot, police immediately arrested him. During an interview with detectives, the suspect reportedly admitted to previous sexual acts over a period of time with another underage girl.
Posted by Charles Eldridge on Sunday, September 23, 2018
Delphi sits around two hours northwest of Randolph County. Delphi is small town with a population of a little over 2,000, where best friends Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were found murdered in February 2017, with their bodies dumped near Monon High Bridge.
According to DailyMail, Eldridge’s Facebook account showed he shared “hundreds of posts” pertaining to missing children, murders, and sexual-related crimes, including alleged child molestors and sex traffickers.
Several of the posts were about Abby and Libby, including a shared post of the suspect’s sketch, which bears a resemblance to his own mugshot, and public news post about possible recovered DNA at the crime scene.
Posted by Charles Eldridge on Thursday, November 8, 2018
The majority of missing children posts shared by Eldridge are of young girls.
No one has been arrested for the girls’ murders, but Eldridge’s resemblance to the composite sketch drawn of the killer has gotten the attention of authorities. Libby managed to snap a photo of the suspect with her phone before her death, a grainy photo that was turned into a detailed sketch.
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NBC reports that while the FBI and state police are looking into the matter, they indicated it’s too soon to tell whether Eldridge should be considered a suspect in the girls’ murders. At this time, authorities are not even calling Eldridge a person of interest.
“The team is aware of this arrest and will investigate to see if there could be any connection to the murders that occurred in Delphi, Indiana on February 14th of 2017,” a statement by the Indiana State Police read. “It is important for the public and media to know that many similar tips and arrests of other persons alleged to be connected to the Delphi murders occur with some frequency in and outside of Indiana.”
Eldridge is one of many people who’ve been investigated in connection with the Delphi killings. Perhaps the most notable person investigated so far is convicted sex offender Daniel Nations, who was eventually cleared as a suspect.
Meanwhile, the Delphi murders investigation continues. Anyone with any information is urged to call the FBI at (844) 459-5786 or email at abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com.
[Feature Photo: Charles Eldridge;Delphi Sketch/Police Handouts]
