THE grieving sister of the Delphi “Snapchat murders” victim Libby German has hit back at trolls who have targeted the family in online attacks.
Kelsi German, 22, speaking to The US Sun, told how for the past five years the family had to deal with “people on social media spreading hate”.
Libby, 14, along with her friend Abby Williams, 13, were found murdered on the Delphi Historic Trails in Indiana on February 14, 2017.
The case remains unsolved but cops revealed last December they were investigating the fake “anthony_shots” social media profile created by Kegan Kline, 27, in connection with the case.
Kline is currently in jail awaiting trial over child sex abuse allegations, has not been charged over the Delphi murders and has denied any involvement.
Transcripts of a police interview with Kline showed that the catfish account he created was in touch with Libby the day she and Abby were killed.
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And according to the transcripts, whoever was using the “anthony_shots” account was supposed to meet Libby and Abby on the trails where they were killed.
It left Libby’s family – who had previously been skeptical of claims that social media played a role in the killings – in deep shock.
Kelsi, speaking to The Sun at the 2022 CrimeCon in Las Vegas, said: “There’s been podcasters and different media who maybe don’t do their work ethically.
“We’ve had to deal with a lot and learn a lot.
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“Now we have learned to fight back without fighting back, I guess.
“Usually we ignore them, we don’t want to feed into what they want – they want to get your attention and fight back.”
“We have to deal with people that hide behind keyboards to bash our family.” Kelsi added. “They come up with these opinions that aren’t based on any facts, they’re just what they think you are.
“They think there’s no way you could be a good person if your sister was murdered or your brother was murdered or whoever.”
However, Kelsi revealed that the family have tried to turn those attacks into something positive by telling others of their experiences.
She said: “Sometimes we use what they are doing to educate people and show this is what the families of murder victims or other crime victims are going through.
The first attacks targeted Kelsi grandpa and her uncle but later the trolls began to target her as she became “the face of the case”.
Kelsi, who is due to graduate in forensic psychology at Purdue University in two weeks, has been one of the biggest advocates for her sister and Abby since they died.
She was among the last people to see the girls alive after driving them to the trails where they were killed.
KELSI TARGETED
“I think it’s because I became the face of the case in some ways,” Kelsi said. “Some people see Abby and Libby and they think of Kelsi German because I advocate for them so much and so hard.
“I put myself out there and as I started putting myself out there, we got more trolls and more people coming after me.”
Kelsi came under a particularly vicious attack when she had revealed she had told Libby and Abby to grab a jacket or sweatshirt of hers from her car before dropping them off the day before they were found dead.
“Some said ‘There’s no way that’s Kelsey’s jacket, that fits Abby too well’,” Kelsi added. “Even though I was smaller in high school, I was bigger than Abby but that jacket did fit me.
“We still talk about the sweatshirts and jackets, people said ‘Kelsi said in this interview that she was wearing a jacket and then in this one she told them to get a sweatshirt’.
“They just use your words in ways to hurt you.
“I think they can’t wrap their mind around what happened, which I totally understand, but I think they do it in the wrong way.”
TROLLS SEE FAMILY AS 'BAD PEOPLE'
Kelsi added she believes the trolls see her and her family as bad people and someone in the family “did it” because that’s the “easiest conclusion for them”.
“They don't want to see that we're good people,” she said. “They want to think I'm an awful person that doesn't know the difference between a jacket and a sweatshirt.
“That's fine if that's what they want to believe.
“I know that the people that love me and care about me know the truth.”
COPS CALLED FOR HELP
At times, it got so bad that the family had to call in the cops to get help.
Kelsi declined to expand on what had happened due to the ongoing investigation.
She said though: “Trolls on the internet can look up your phone number, they can look up your address, they can find all of this stuff and they always have a way to harass you.
“Those things have happened to us.”
While Kelsi said she had not received any threats she said other people had, including her family.
'ENTERTAINMENT'
Kelsi added: “I absolutely think that people see this as entertainment.
“I think when they watch true crime shows or they watch a documentary, they don't necessarily view the people in that as real people.
“That person isn't in their life, so it’s not a real physical human being to them.
“At some point they have to realize that we are real humans, that we do have emotions and feelings and the things they say do affect us in some way.
“I don't think they realize that and sometimes it's easy for them to hide behind the keyboard and say we’re awful people, or we said the wrong thing, or there’s no way you learned something new and you changed your mind.
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“In reality, over time new knowledge does come up and we do learn new things.
“Things do change and your stories do change because the story's always evolving, especially while the case is still open, but people just use that against you.”
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