Delphi murder trial: Jury begins deliberating after closing arguments in the Richard Allen murder trial

DELPHI, Ind. — The fate of a Delphi, Indiana, man accused of killing two girls on a hiking trail is now in the hands of the jury after a trial that revealed new details in the mysterious case.

Richard Allen pleaded not guilty to the murders of best friends Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. Their bodies were left in the woods on February 13, 2017 and discovered the next day.

The crime gained national attention when police released an image of the suspect and a snippet of his voice – a recording of him saying “down the hill” – which was recovered from Libby’s phone.

Allen admitted he was on the trail the day of the murders, but denied involvement.

Here’s a look at the key findings from the trial:

How the girls died

For more than seven years, investigators remained tight-lipped about how the girls were killed, without revealing whether their deaths were caused by a knife, gun or other weapon, and not disclosing whether they had been sexually abused.

Then, prosecutor Nick McLeland revealed in his opening statement that the girls’ throats had been slit.

Pathologist Dr. Roland Kohr, who performed the autopsies, testified that Abby had a one-inch deep and three-inch long incision wound on her neck.

Libby had several lacerations on the right side of her neck, Kohr said, the largest of which was about 3.5 inches long.

Kohr said he initially thought a serrated knife had been used to cut the girls’ necks, but during final preparations for the trial he came to believe a box cutter may have been used.

Libby’s body was found naked, prosecutors said, but rape kits concluded there was no DNA evidence showing the girls had been sexually abused, according to testimony from a forensic scientist.

Witnesses remember ‘bridgeman’

After Abby and Libby crossed the Monon High Bridge, they saw a man behind them, and Libby started a recording on her phone, McLeland said. The man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls to “get down the hill,” McLeland said. The girls complied, McLeland said, and then the video on Libby’s phone stopped recording.

The video clip from Libby’s phone of the “bridge man” was released early in the case when investigators asked the public to help identify him.

During Allen’s trial, some teenage girls who were out that day shared their memories of the “bridgeman” with the jury.

Railly Voorhies said the man she saw was overdressed due to the weather, wearing dark clothing, a hat and had his hands in his pockets.

The prosecutor produced a photo of the “bridge man” and Voorhies said, “That was the man I waved to on the way.”

Breann Wilber, who was out with Voorhies, testified that she also noticed the man who was overdressed due to the warm weather.

She said the man was walking with “purpose,” didn’t respond when Voorhies said hello and was emitting “weird vibrations.”

Wilber said that when she saw the photo of the “bridge man,” the “first thing I thought was, that’s the person I saw on the road.”

During cross-examination, the girls were pressed about how their description of the man changed over time.

Timeline of the crime

A timeline of the crime was revealed through data from Libby’s phone, which was recovered from under Abby’s body.

Libby’s phone showed the girls were dropped off at the trail at about 1:40 p.m. and arrived at the Monon High Bridge at 2:05 p.m., Sgt. Christopher Cecil testified.

At 2:14 p.m., Cecil said Libby recorded the infamous “bridge guy” video.

Phone records noted a change in longitude, elevation and altitude at 2:31 p.m., Cecil said, meaning Libby’s phone was moving. At 2:32 p.m., Cecil said the teen’s phone stopped working and never moved again.

Cecil testified that Libby’s phone gradually turned off during the night, dying at 10:32 p.m., then waking up at 4:33 a.m. with a spike. Cecil said her phone then received 15 to 20 text messages at once. One of the messages, sent almost twelve hours earlier by Libby’s grandmother, read: “You need to call me now!!!”

Cecil said he didn’t know the reason for the time difference.

Twenty-three devices were seized from Allen’s home, but none tied Allen to the girls or the crime scene, Cecil said.

Allen’s mental state, prison confessions

Allen’s mental state at the time of his multiple confessions while in custody became a major focus of the trial.

Allen was arrested in the fall of 2022. In the spring of 2023, his behavior took a turn. Allen’s strange behavior while in custody included hitting his head against the wall, washing his face in the toilet, refusing food, eating paper, smearing feces in his cell and applying feces on his face for two hours, according to testimony from corrections staff.

According to testimony, Allen also began confessing to the murders multiple times to his wife, a psychologist and corrections staff in the spring of 2023.

Psychologist Monica Wala testified that in one of Allen’s confessions to her, Allen told her that he had seen the girls on the path and followed them to the bridge.

Allen said he ordered the girls “down the hill” and planned to rape them, but then he saw something – a person or a van – and he was shocked, Wala said. Allen told her he ordered the girls to cross the creek, slit their throats and cover their bodies with branches, Wala said.

Allen also allegedly made several phone calls to his wife in prison.

Allen told his wife Kathy, “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.”

“No, you didn’t,” she said. Allen replied, “Yes, I did.”

“Why would you say that?” Kathy said. “I know you didn’t. Something’s wrong.’

Allen spent 13 months in solitary confinement, and a neuropsychologist who testified for the defense said this can change a prisoner’s brain chemistry.

The neuropsychologist said Allen suffered from hallucinations, psychosis and suicidal thoughts.

A corrections officer, Michael Clemons, testified for the prosecution that Allen told him, “I, Richard Matthew Allen, killed Abby and Libby single-handedly. No one helped me.” Clemons said Allen would yell at other inmates, “I’m not crazy, I’m just acting like I’m crazy.”

Another corrections officer, Michael Roberts, testified that on April 23, 2023, Allen said, “I killed Abby. & Libby. My wife was not involved. I want to confess.”

Days later, according to Roberts, Allen said, “Can I talk? Can you listen, I killed Abby & Libby? How can I prove that I’m crazy?”

Dr. John Martin, who treats prisoners, was called as a state witness.

Martin said he met Allen in November 2022, shortly after he was arrested. Martin said Allen came to the jail with a Prozac prescription due to a history of depression, but Martin said he considered him stable.

According to the doctor, Allen didn’t start showing signs of psychosis until April 2023.

Martin said he got a call on April 13 to come visit Allen. Martin said he found Allen naked on a mattress, covered in feces, and was told he had eaten it.

Martin said he prescribed Allen an antipsychotic drug; he said it took until April 25 for the medication to become apparent and for Allen to show signs of improvement.

According to Martin, Allen showed no signs of psychosis on May 18, 2023.

On June 20, 2023, Allen — while still showing no signs of psychosis — told Martin he wanted to “apologize to the families and his victims,” Martin testified.

Martin said Allen had not shown any symptoms of psychosis for several weeks and was not under pressure to say anything.

The gun

The prosecution’s key evidence is the police analysis of Allen’s weapon, which showed that the unexpended .40-caliber bullet discovered by the girls’ bodies had cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226.

But a defense witness, Dr. Erin Warren, questioned that.

The defense asked Warren to review the work of former Indiana State Police crime lab technician Melissa Oberg, who examined the unspent bullet found at the scene and compared it to Allen’s gun.

Calling it an “apples to oranges” comparison, Warren said Oberg compared the first round — which was cycled and not fired — to a bullet fired from Allen’s gun.

Oberg previously said on the stand that an “ejection mark was an ejection mark” regardless of whether a round was cycled or fired.

Warren disputed that testimony, saying the lab had to identify tool marks under the same circumstances in which the bullet was found.

Jurors had 15 questions for Warren about the testing method on the cartridge, which was notably more questions than most jury witnesses received.

Closing arguments

In his closing arguments, defense attorney Brad Rozzi argued his client’s innocence, noting how Allen continued to live in Delphi in the years after the crime even though he had the opportunity to leave at any time.

Rozzi reminded the jury that Allen came forward alone in 2017 to tell police he was on the trail the day of the murders. Rozzi said Allen cooperated with his first interrogation in October 2022 and went back for questioning a second time, even though he likely knew a suspect at the time.

Rozzi emphasized that hours of video interviews from 2017 have been lost.

He also brought up the 13 months Allen spent in solitary confinement, saying the only thing the state wanted to highlight was what Allen said, not his condition.

Rozzi argued that the Indiana State Police lab could not rule out that local resident Brad Weber’s gun was the one cycled around the girls’ bodies, and he said Weber changed his story about going straight home on the day of the murder. murders.

In the prosecution’s closing remarks, McLeland said the state had proven Allen is the “bridge guy,” and he reminded jurors that the black 2016 Ford Focus spotted near the trail that day was the only one in the county was registered – and it belonged to Allen.

Despite doubts from the defense, McLeland said the state had proven that the unspent round found among the girls’ bodies cycled through Allen’s gun, and he said the tests were confirmed three times by the technician’s boss.

McLeland also elaborated on Allen’s numerous confessions, playing for the jury the phone call confessions Allen made to his wife. McLeland said Allen’s confessions were “unprovoked and without pressure.” (And) of his own free will,” and he said Allen showed no signs of psychosis at the time of many of his statements.

The prosecution highlighted the fact that Allen mentioned seeing a van at the scene in one of his alleged confessions. McLeland reminded jurors that Weber was driving his van home from work around the time of the murders. McLeland said this was “something only the killer would know.”