Uncovering the horrifying online world of child predators with ‘The Murder Sheet’ podcast hosts
The dangers of the internet are preached to us from a young age, and with good reason too. Take SCREENSHOT’s previous coverage on the predators and paedophiles lurking in kidfluencers’ following lists and comment sections as one example—probably a worse prospect than any creepypasta material you could come up with, but they are very much real.
One such case involved a man by the name of Kegan Anthony Kline, a suspect to the Indiana police, and led to one of the largest Indiana investigations into a case of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM)—which is child pornography, child abuse media and the like—in one fell swoop, according to Indiana police. Kline is currently being held in Miami County, after he was charged in August 2020 with 30 counts that included child exploitation, possession of child pornography and obstruction of justice, to which the defendant entered a preliminary plea of not guilty, NBC News reported.
Kline’s story only got more terrifying when local police discovered a possible connection to another crime unrelated to the rest of his CSAM case. Two homicides that took place on 14 February 2017—of 13-year-old Abigail J. Williams and 14-year-old Liberty Rose Lynn German, referred to as “Abby” and “Libby”—in what’s known as the ‘Delphi murders’ due to the fact that they took place in Delphi, Indiana.
The Murder Sheet podcast
Following greater discussion surrounding the Delphi Murders, SCREENSHOT spoke to two individuals who have successfully drawn the internet’s attention to the case—as well as Kline’s disturbingly extensive track record of paedophilic and predatory behaviour—journalist Áine Cain and attorney Kevin Greenlee from The Murder Sheet (TMS) podcast.
The married couple, Cain, a senior journalist for Insider, and Greenlee, an Indiana lawyer, host their podcast together which began in 2020. The weekly podcast largely focuses on a myriad of true crime topics (particularly those that lack mainstream coverage) for their audience. So, “if you’re looking for thoughtful, in-depth coverage of lesser-known crimes, this is the true-crime podcast for you,” TMS’ description on ART19 reads.
In their own words, the podcast is dedicated to “in-depth research, original reporting, and thoughtful analysis,” and with their investigative and legal backgrounds, this only makes more sense. Their professional and expert insight is what, they state, differentiates them from other shows, providing new insightful takes instead of the “rehashing [of] superficial talking points.”
Due to the level of extensive research under their belts, stretching beyond the reporting of mainstream outlets, SCREENSHOT thought of none better to comment on what Kline’s case can show about the dangers of the internet, especially when it comes to children. Here is what we uncovered.
The Delphi murders
Before we begin, it’s crucial to break down the essential focal points in the Delphi murders for those who may not have heard of the brutal case. The expert duo have shared that they’ve been looking into the murders of Abby and Libby for the past “several months”—adding that the story hit close to home. “We began to cover the Delphi case because we live in Indiana and the loss of those two girls has had a tremendous and traumatic impact on the community.”
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Sharing details of the case with us, The Murder Sheet pair explained that earlier that afternoon, on the day of their murder, the young girls “went walking on some of Delphi’s trails and hiked along the Monon High Bridge—a tall, abandoned bridge spanning Deer Creek.” Cain and Greenlee further divulged that “police [had] released images and audio taken from Libby’s phone. Before her murder, she had captured an image of a man walking on the Monon High Bridge, along with a male voice saying the words, ‘Guys, down the hill’.”
Four years after the still-unsolved case was initially opened, there have been no homicide-related arrests to date in connection to the heartbreaking murders. But now, there might seriously be a prime suspect.
Kegan Anthony Kline
According to People magazine, Kline, aged 27, is the man “behind a fake social media account that investigators say might be connected to the 2017 murders.” On 6 December 2021, Indiana State Police announced they were looking into leads surrounding an Instagram account under the handle @anthony_shots. Detectives assigned to the case suggested that there was a “potential, unspecified connection between the account and the murders,” the publication further reported in an article from that same year.
Kline had a sordid history, evidenced by interviews with sources previously close to him, of dating barely legal girls. “That preference did not change as he grew older, according to our sources. […] Many said he was quite reclusive, and seemed keen to give off the impression that he was living for an extended period of time in Las Vegas,” the podcast pair disclosed to SCREENSHOT.
An affidavit released soon after the aforementioned announcement alleged that Kline was actually the ‘Anthony’ from @anthony_shots—using a fake name and age as well as stolen pictures from a police officer and model for the forged profile. This was also keenly tracked by redditors in the r/AbbyandLibby community thread. Though the case has, undoubtedly, had numerous leads, Kline’s connection to it busted the door wide open to an even more horrifying network of predatory social media accounts targeting the two young girls, possible links to multiple accomplices and even an online paedophile ring utilising instant messaging services.
It was Kline’s use of his fake profile that allowed him to “catfish underage girls,” Cain and Greenlee revealed with People Magazine detailing that the Instagram account would be utilised to find his victims and thus the conversation would be moved to Snapchat—where he reportedly received more than a hundred sexually explicit imagery from about 15 minors.
The TMS team was able to successfully obtain a transcript from August 2020 interview tapes between Kline and the police, which “revealed that the @anthony_shots profile had communicated with Libby shortly before her death, and that she had been ‘enthralled’ by the account.” Another troubling discovery revealed by the recordings was that numerous devices were “linked to disturbing searches around CSAM and the Delphi case.” He even “possibly interacted with other predators on Dropbox and Kik,” the pair continued.
Following such findings by investigators, Kline has since been charged with obstruction of justice, TMS shared, “For deleting evidence off the phone [which] he was allegedly predominantly using to communicate with Libby back in 2017.”
A series of terrifying tapes
As part of TMS’ reporting of the case, the pair reenacted and read off the transcripts of Kline’s interview with the police to the podcast’s audience—exploring his online practices in preying on underage girls. But, after the revelations of a disturbing linked network, it became clear that not just this criminal was using such methods. Could this predator’s use of fake social media profiles to target unsuspecting minors reveal more in regard to other similar cases? The Murder Sheet experts certainly think so.
“One thing that’s striking about this case, and other cases involving sexual predators that target children, is that these perpetrators tend to find one another,” they replied, adding on, “police are allowed to exaggerate or even lie in these interviews. But if that’s true, then that indicates that Kline’s activities were not done in isolation. That would mean that he was a small part of a wider ring of adult predators, which is a horrifying thought.”
Furthermore, Cain and Greenlee shared with SCREENSHOT that detectives were claiming Kline’s use of a secondary fake profile on Kik (known as ‘emilyanne45’) appeared to have been involved in the solicitation and distribution of child sexual abuse material with other adult predatory accounts. Unfortunately, “the advent of the internet has aided criminals who prey on children, allowing them to network by easily creating and sharing abuse materials,” the couple continued.
“The vast majority of the time, users adopt these platforms for totally innocuous reasons. But for sexual predators targeting children, these apps and sites become part of their arsenal,” The Murder Sheet duo further explained. “In this case, it appears that the problem is that predators were utilising popular online apps to prey on children and exchange child sexual abuse materials,” spanning over sites like Snapchat, Instagram, and Dropbox, the team pointed out. Furthermore, as stated by the information found in the tapes, Kline had an arsenal all by himself—operating a plethora of devices from home to pursue his predatory agenda. Not just for his own abominable atrocities but for the searching for any CSAM content available online—an issue the TMS team state needs to be smashed.
“Eradicating [CSAM] from the web and identifying and incarcerating offenders should be a priority. That means acknowledging the severity of the issue, and resolving to change it. The public must demand action from the tech giants that enrich themselves while predators exploit their platforms to abuse children.”
The Kline tapes reveal a worrying state of affairs as to how easily exposed children may be to predators online but the question remains, how can we protect them? “Families and educators should certainly speak to children about the dangers that online predators pose, and help kids foster good habits around online safety,” Cain and Greenlee emphasised—while also accurately reminding us the buck falls squarely on tech company shoulders.
Out of the pixelated shadows and into the light
Although Kline’s tapes reveal very little on the details of the progress of the case itself, it does provide vital insight into how CSAM is distributed among a wide network of predators and possibly how they operate. According to TMS, “Different online predators may have different levels of risk aversion.” In the transcripts, Kline claimed that he was only corresponding with children aged thirteen and older, and that “somebody else was using his phone” for all the other predatory activity uncovered by police. “Generally, when predators are displaying blatantly criminal behaviour without any regard for the possibility of getting caught, that speaks to a certain level of hubris,” the duo stated, highlighting the fact that Kline is definitely not the only criminal out there.
Thanks to the police interview, there may be potential evidence to prove the existence of the potential predatory network previously discussed—simply speaking, Kline may not have been acting alone in the Delphi murders. “The possibility that the Delphi case is linked to online child sexual abuse rings is sickening. […] The other individual who lived in the residence at that time was [Kline’s] father, Jerry Anthony Kline, also known as ‘Tony’. […] The possibility that a father-and-son duo could have been involved with child sexual abuse materials and the double homicide of two children is certainly shocking,” the podcast hosts went on to say.
As for Cain and Greenlee and the future of TMS’ murder investigations, the two shared that one of their main prerogatives is to “keep the public up-to-date on the latest developments in the Delphi case.” By releasing audios of the transcripts, they hope to have helped fill what they call the “information vacuum” that existed within this case.
It goes without saying that the issue of CSAM is one that society needs to take very seriously. Though it currently seems hard to decipher immediate solutions to the widespread matter, “pushing schools across the country to offer uniform and frank education on the subject” seems like a good first step.
Since their initial coverage of the Kline tapes, The Murder Sheet team have continued to share vital new updates—instilling hope that the case won’t be cold for much longer and justice can finally be served.
You can listen to The Murder Sheet podcast here or find their videos on YouTube.
