Indiana state troopers have traveled to Colorado to investigate whether a man accused of threatening people along a hiking trail with a hatchet could be linked to the unsolved murders of two teenage hikers in Indiana.
State Police Sgt. Kim Riley says at least two troopers arrived Friday in Colorado to investigate whether 31-year-old Daniel Nations could be a suspect in the killings of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams. The Delphi, Indiana, girls were slain while hiking in February.
But Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leasenby says so far there's no reason to believe it will be a break in the case.
"This guy is not necessarily any more of a person of interest than, you know, John Doe that we investigated three weeks ago," Leazenby says. "As far as my overall feeling, two words I've been using the last 24 hours is ‘cautiously optimistic.'"
Riley says authorities should know by next week whether the Indiana man is "a viable subject" in the killings.
Nations is jailed in Colorado facing reckless endangerment and other charges for allegedly threatening people with a hatchet along a trail there.
It's unclear if Nations has an attorney.
WBAA's Charlotte Tuggle contributed to this report.