911 caller said Abbi Obermiller was strangled

NORWALK

Norwalk police are trying to identify a young woman who made a disturbing call alleging Abbi Obermiller had been murdered.

Abbi, 17, remains at the Erie County juvenile detention center after officials found her hiding in the attic of a New London apartment her boyfriend, Robert "Bobby" Young, 20, rented about the time she disappeared early last month.

The call came in just after midnight June 20 -- 10 days before Abbi was found. It prompted police to step up their investigation, Norwalk police Chief Dave Light said.

Officers searched the mobile home where Bobby Young lived with his sister in New London, and they searched several properties his mother owns, including an abandoned house. Officers also spent hours scouring land near the houses, thinking they might find a body.

Now that it's clear they were pursuing a false lead, the person who placed the call could be charged with obstructing official business or inducing panic.

A soft-spoken caller asked a Norwalk police dispatcher if she could report something anonymously. The caller hesitated and again asked for assurances her identity couldn't be traced. Then she said she had information about Abbi.

"I know that she's dead and that she died sometime probably between June 6 and 9 and that the guy, Robert Young, killed her," she said in a recording of the 911 call.

She told the dispatcher Bobby's mother was involved in moving the body and covering up the murder. She said she couldn't say for sure, but the body was moved to an attic or basement where there were a lot of bugs. The body hadn't been moved outside because Robert and his mother knew they were being watched, the caller said.

The dispatcher asked how Abbi was killed.

"I would say in his room, for sure, definitely," the caller said. "The way her neck was, it was at the foot of the bed, and her neck was kind of falling off of it, and he got mad and he strangled her," the caller said.

When asked about the body, she again mentioned the bugs.

"There's just been a lot of emphasis about (bugs) on the body," the caller said.

"By who?"

"I'd rather not say," she said, followed by what sounded like a nervous chuckle.

The caller said she didn't witness anything and wouldn't tell the dispatcher how she knew what had happened.

"It's not a rumor," she said. "That's for sure."

Police can typically trace such calls but weren't able to track this one, Light said.

Abbi's parents, Jim and Rose Obermiller, listened to the call on the day it was placed -- before Abbi was found -- and couldn't identify the voice. Police also played the conversation for some of Abbi's friends.

"It was hard to listen to that," Jim Obermiller said Monday. "I hope they catch whoever did it, because it's a sick joke."

Anyone with information should contact the Norwalk Police Department at 419-663-6780.