Podcasters: Kegan Kline’s plea change request could affect Delphi murders investigation
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Kegan Kline was set to go to trial in May in Miami County on charges of child pornography, but he’s requested a hearing to change his plea of not guilty.
Kline, 28, of Kokomo, has been linked to the investigation into the 2017 murders of teenagers Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German near Delphi in Carroll County. He has not been charged in that case and has not been publicly named a suspect in their deaths.
A canceled trial could change the course of the murders investigation.
Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee are well-versed in the Delphi case; they provide in-depth coverage on their podcast “The Murder Sheet.” They said Kline’s child pornography trial could uncover additional information about the murders.
“If the Kline case were to go to trial, it could really help us delve into the facts around the ‘anthony_shots’ account that Kegan was allegedly using to catfish young girls on the web,” Cain, the journalist host of “The Murder Sheet,” said. “And that could tell us more facts about why investigators felt that could be connected with the Delphi case.”
Libby had communicated with Kline who used the “anthony_shots” profile, police say. The messages show Libby discussing a meeting with him.
“What we don’t know is was there anything else,” Cain said. “Was there anything else that continued to make them interested in Kegan Kline or alternatively is there anything that made them less interested in him and so it could really illuminate a lot of those possibilities?”
Kline was interviewed by police about the murders case; that happened in August 2020, shortly after his arrest on child pornography charges.
“The law enforcement officials that were in the room with him were essentially saying, ‘We don’t believe you were the only person accessing the ‘anthony_shots’ account’ or some of these other accounts that he was tied to,” Cain said. “They believe multiple people were using them. At least one other person who uses markedly different diction and word choices.”
Kline’s lawyer filed a document requesting the hearing change, and said the parties negotiated a proposed resolution but the prosecutor’s office later filed paperwork saying there is no plea deal.
Greenlee has been a lawyer for over 20 years; he said this back-and-forth is uncommon.
“It’s difficult for me to recall another instance where a defense attorney filed paperwork with the court saying ‘We have a deal’ and then an hour or so later the state filing a response saying ‘No, you don’t have a deal,’ so, unless something very dramatic happened during that very short time frame, it’s difficult to happen what happened and what’s going on,” Greenlee said.
The judge granted the change in hearing. The trial dates are still on the schedule for May until a resolution is reached. The plea hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 30 in the place of the pretrial conference.
Documents
- Motion to lift pretrial conference and jury trial and schedule for a change of plea hearing
- Response to defendant’s motion to lift pretrial conference and jury trial and schedule for a change of plea hearing
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