What's interesting is that he just pled guilty - he didn't "take a plea" in the sense that any of his charges were reduced, apparently.
His attorney had some interesting statements re: the Delphi murders in this article: Change of plea hearing for James Chadwell II in kidnapping case | wthr.com
(Public defender)Hughes had requested the change after some media reports indicated a link between the incident involving the 9-year-old girl and the unsolved murders of two girls in Delphi in 2017. For that reason, Chadwell's attorney had argued his client could not get a fair trial and he wanted a judge to move it.
"Personally, from my opinion, he had nothing to do with that. There's nothing to suggest, that I've seen, that I've been told, that he was part of that. So, I don't believe he had anything to do with the murders of Abigail and Liberty," said Shay Hughes, Chadwell's public defender.
Later in the same article, referring to why Chadwell pled guilty:
Hughes said his client takes responsibility for what happened.
"He owns it," Hughes said.
I think he is still a possible candidate for the murders of Abby and Libby but the possibility of a connection has faded quite a bit with the recent developments. The judge in this case also threw cold water on the idea that he would eventually rise to the level of a suspect in the Delphi case. There is nothing really to suggest that LE in the Delphi case are looking any harder at him than they did at any of the people who the media have so far tried to link to the case. I don't think they will make a statement clearing him, just like they didn't for Thomas Bruce (whose trial is still going on), Paul Etter, etc etc. JMO.
