Delphi man found guilty of murdering teenage girls

Delphi, Indiana, resident Richard Allen was found guilty of all charges on Monday in the double murders from best friends Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14.

The jury’s verdict came on the fourth day of deliberations in the high-profile case that shocked the nation.

Allen was stoic in court and did not react to the verdict, but his mother and wife cried.

Allen was convicted of murder for the killing of Abigail Williams during an attempted kidnapping; felony murder for the killing of Liberty German during an attempted kidnapping; murder for knowingly killing Abigail Williams; and murder for knowingly killing Liberty German.

The verdict is scheduled for December 20.

Abby and Libby were murdered on a local hiking trail on February 13, 2017. The girls’ throats were slit and they were dumped in a wooded area near the trail. Their bodies were found the next day.

On the day of the murders, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat as they walked across the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, and according to prosecutor Nick McLeland, Libby started recording on her phone.

As police searched for a perpetrator, they released a snippet of the unknown suspect’s voice – a recording of him saying “down the hill” – which was recovered from Libby’s phone. Police also released a grainy image of the suspect on the trail: a man who became known as ‘bridgeman’.

Allen, who was arrested for murder in 2022admitted to police that he was out that day, but denied any involvement in the crime.

Allen’s multiple confessions while in prison, and his mental health became a major focus of the trial at the time.

The defense claims Allen was in a psychotic state when he made numerous confessions to corrections staff, his wife and a psychologist.

The prosecution’s key evidence is the police analysis of Allen’s weapon, which showed that an unspent .40-caliber bullet discovered through the girls’ bodies had cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226. But the defense dismisses the accuracy of those tests, calling it an “apples to oranges” comparison because the technician compared the first round — which was cycled and not fired — to a bullet fired from Allen’s gun.

No DNA was found at the location that could tie Allen or anyone else to the crime scene, a forensic scientist testified.