About 2,700 tips have come in to Indiana State Police since the release of new information in the Delphi murders investigation.

DELPHI, Ind. (WTHR) - Investigators searching for the killer of two Delphi girls are being hit by a new wave of tips. Thousands have poured in since police released new details about the suspect two weeks ago.

Many are helpful, but many others are actually hampering the investigation.

According to Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley, phone calls and emails are pointing investigators towards potential suspects they have never looked at before. Unfortunately, he said a large number of those tips are needlessly wasting investigator's time and resources. Many are coming from people out to settle a score with former spouses, lovers, and neighbors.

"If you don't think they are involved in it, don't call us to harass them to find out what is going on. We don't need that information," Riley said Monday. "We don't need that information. It's not stuff we need to be doing. It's just wasting time. It is just wasting their time."

It's been two years since Abby Williams and Libby German were murdered just outside of Delphi. During that time, 42,000 tips haven't led detectives to their killer. Two weeks ago, they released a new sketch of the suspect, a video of him walking towards the girls and the sound of his voice. Since then they've received more than 2,700 additional tips.

For the first time, state police also revealed that they believe the girl's killer probably lived in or near Delphi and may still be there hiding in plain sight. Police believe he is between the ages of 18 and 40 and may appear younger than he actually is.

Sarah Hanaway and her husband own a downtown business.

"It's kinda creepy that someone you know is partially responsible for this tragedy," she said. "You have a lot of armchair cops. They are sitting in front of their computer saying "Who does this look like? Who can I turn in? I've got a score to settle on somebody."

Police do want to hear from people whose information fits with the details of the crime they've already releases.

"If you have bonafide information that that person or persons you are turning in or at least giving us information on, has been in Delphi, knows Delphi, is from Delphi and fits the description we got out there," Riley explained, "then maybe you should be thinking of giving us a call."

The new and previous sketches of the murder suspect are still in the windows of many downtown businesses.

"They will find him," said Mark Mendel, who owns a customer shirt printing company. "It's not a biggie, they will find him. He will screw up."

The new information and additional officers assigned to investigate the additional tips have been a morale booster to a community eager to see a killer caught.

New tip breakdown

State police say they've received 2,200 emails with new tips, plus 400 phone calls and 135 calls or walk-ins to other police departments around Indiana.

Tips should be sent to Abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com.

Police request that tips include the following information:

Suspect's name

Date of birth or approximate age

Physical description including height, weight, hair color, eye color

Address or location including city

Vehicle information including year, make, model, color

Specific reason for the tip. Why could they be the suspect?

Motivation for the crime

Connection to Delphi, IN