Charles Eldridge, 48, was arrested in January following a police sting operation. On Thursday he was issued with five additional charges of child molestation

A man who resembles a sketch of a suspect wanted for the murder of two Indiana teenage girls has been issued new child molestation charges - just hours before police investigating the killings announced a ‘new direction’ in their probe.

Charles Eldridge, 46, was handed five new child molestation charges by Randolph County prosecutors on Thursday, after they say he repeatedly sexually abused a child under the age of 14 last summer.

Eldridge has been in custody since January 8 on separate charges, after he was apprehended in an unrelated sting operation where he had allegedly arranged to meet up with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Upon his arrest, Eldridge reportedly admitted to officers that he's had multiple sexual encounters with another child under the age of 13. It’s understood the new charges relate to that purported confession.

Just 24 hours after he was slapped with the new charges, Indiana State Police announced there had been a significant development in their investigation into the deaths of Libby German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, who went missing in Delphi, on February 14, 2017.

Since the two girls were found dead, authorities have consistently stated that they have no concrete suspects and the public would be notified when that changes.

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Though never identified as a suspect, Eldridge (left) was taken into custody just over a 100 miles from where the killings took place. His mugshot was compared to a sketch (right) of the man suspected of killing two Indiana girls

The bodies of Abby Williams, 13, (left) and Libby German, 14, (right) were found in Delphi February 14, 2017, a day after they were last seen

Though Eldridge has never formally been named as a suspect in the killings, after his arrest in January members of the public inundated police with calls saying that the suspected child molester fiercely resembled a composite sketch released by FBI two years ago.

A keen hiker, after his arrest police say Eldridge confessed to having multiple sexual encounters with a child under 14-years-old, police say

The photo-fit was compiled by investigators using testimonies from witnesses who say they saw a man in the area of where the two girls were killed.

At the time of his arrest, officers acknowledged to DailyMail.com that they had been made aware of the resemblance and would ‘investigate to see if there could be any connection’ to Libby and Abigail’s murders.

Now, Superintended Doug Carter of the Indiana State Police says new developments in their two-year investigation to search for the culprit will be announced in a press conference on Monday.

No further details about what the development may entail was offered by the police department on Friday.

The bodies of Libby and Abigail were found on the Delphi Historic Trail half a mile upstream from the abandoned Monon High Bridge in Indiana, on February 14, 2017 - 24 hours after they were reported missing.

An autopsy was carried out on the two girls but police have never revealed their cause of death.

Libby had posted a series of photos of her walking along the bridge to Snapchat on February 13.

The former security guard was arrested in Union City, Indiana around 116 miles from where Libby and Abby were found dead almost two years ago. He shared this image to Facebook in November 2014

The girls were found on the Delphi Historic Trail half a mile upstream from the abandoned Monon High Bridge in Indiana February 14, 2017. It was a day after they were last seen

Also recovered from her phone was an audio recording of a man's voice ordering her and Abigail to go 'down the hill' shortly before her death.

Police praised Libby’s bravery in the terrifying circumstances for trying to record her attacker, insisting the audio tape has remained a crucial piece of evidence in their investigation.

Across his two Facebook pages, Eldridge obsessively shared – almost daily - stories of missing children cases.

Police had released an audio recording of a man's voice saying 'down the hill' - which was captured by Libby on her phone. Eldridge has been likened to the image

Eldridge even shared a number of posts relating to the murder of Libby and Abigail.

He posted public appeals and a story about potential DNA evidence, as well as the sketch of the suspect – which the public believes he looks like - bearing the tagline 'Pass it around. [He] Could be anywhere.'

Eldridge, a keen hiker, also shared the recording of the suspect’s voice, along with a photo of the believed murder walking along the same bridge Libby was photographed on, the same day the girls disappeared.

Alongside the picture, the assailant is described as a white male between 5'6" and 5'10", weighing between 180lbs-220lbs, with reddish-brown hair.

Former security guard Eldridge was arrested in Union City on January 8, around 116 miles from where Libby and Abby were found dead over two years ago.

‘The Delphi multi-agency investigative team, and participating agencies continue to receive media and public inquiries asking about the person arrested January 8, 2019, in Union City, Randolph County Indiana for allegations of sexually related crimes against children and if he is connected to the Delphi investigation,’ the Indiana State police said in a January statement, acknowledging the slew of public comparisons between Eldridge and the sketch.

'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 14, 2017.

'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.

The former security guard is a keen hiker and avid advocate of gun ownership rights. He shared the above photo to Facebook on November 2 2017 with the caption 'Halloween pic... it was for the kids'

The 46-year-old shares links to case of missing children almost daily across both of his Facebook pages

Eldridge even shared posts relating to the deaths of Libby and Abigail (left). He also regularly shared disturbing and graphic images to his timeline, including images of bloody weaponry (right)

The tirade of sharing missing children cases appeared to begin shortly after the girls were found dead, according to Eldridge's Facebook

Speaking to DailyMail.com in January, Capt. David R. Bursten of the Indiana State Police insisted the public would be notified as soon as a significant development occurs in the case.

'When an arrest is made of a suspect identified by the multi-agency investigative team as the alleged perpetrator of the Delphi Murders, rest assured, we will let everyone know,' Bursten added.

Police say in the year following the murders they received 11,000 individual tips from the public, with that number now said to have more than tripled.

Any information leading to the capture of the killer carries a $200,000 reward.

Libby and Abby were eighth graders at Delphi Community Middle School when they were killed.

Both girls played softball and were gearing up for spring practices before they died.

The murders shook Delphi, a small town of 2,877 people set amid farm fields of the Hoosier heartland, around an hour from Indianapolis.

Indiana State Police will be holding a press conference to reveal their new line of inquiry at 12pm on Monday.