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    • Delphi murder trial jurors hear from psychologist about Richard Allen
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    Delphi murder trial jurors hear from psychologist about Richard Allen

    Sakege Posted on

    The court continues Friday in Delphi, Indiana, the trial against Richard Allen.

    Allen, 52, is accused of killing two teenagers who went missing on Feb. 13, 2017, and were found dead the next day. He was arrested in 2022 and faces two counts of murder and two counts of murder during the kidnapping for the death of Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German.

    Jurors have now heard recordings of Allen’s voice in which he tells his relatives that killed both teenagers. Prosecutors presented the audio along with testimony from an Indiana State Police master trooper, who identified Allen’s voice as belonging to the man in the infamous “Bridge Guy” video.

    journalists of the Indianapolis Star and the Lafayette’s Diary and Courier will cover the case as it moves through the court system.

    October 31, 2024: Richard Allen’s Prison Confessions Match ‘Bridge Guy’ Voice, Delphi Trial Testimony Says

    This story will be updated throughout the day.

    Dr. Deanna Dwengerexecutive director of Mental Health Services for the Indiana Department of Corrections, testified Friday that Allen arrived at Westville Correctional Facility with depression and anxiety disorder. In April 2023, when Allen began confessing to killing Abby and Libby, he was severely mentally ill, Dwenger told jurors.

    Dwenger, the fourth defense witness to take the stand, also said that prolonged isolation and segregation aggravated Allen’s mental condition. Allen was held in solitary confinement for a little more than a year in Westville, where his attorneys said he was fed through a door. The lights in his small cell were never turned off and he was constantly monitored by a camera.

    State rests: Prosecutors concluded their case at the Delphi murder trial, but is it enough to convict Richard Allen?

    Allen was brought to Westville in November 2022, about a month after his arrest. In the spring of 2023, he told his relatives that he had found God and began confessing to the crimes in several phone calls to his wife and mother. Allen also confessed to prison guards who were assigned to monitor him while he was on suicide watch and to keep a time-stamped record of his behavior. Coinciding with his confessions was a series of strange behaviors, such as throwing a Bible down the toilet and eating his own feces.

    Dr. Monica Wala, Allen’s therapist in Westville, testified earlier this week that she believed Allen was faking his strange behavior.

    Dwenger, who supervises contract employees like Wala, said Westville mental health staff also diagnosed Allen as “severely disabled.” Allen’s severe disability was not specified.

    During cross-examination by Stacey Diener, Dwenger said Allen was not diagnosed as seriously mentally ill until he began his decline in April 2023. At that time, Westville mental health staff determined that Allen was deteriorating enough to need intervention, regardless of whether their symptoms were false or genuine, Dwenger said.

    One juror asked whether a person who feigns mental illness slips truths into a confession. Dwenger said that if a person’s story is organized, that person is probably faking psychosis, Dwenger said. If a person’s story is disjointed, they are more likely to be psychotic or delusional.

    Only one other witness testified Friday morning. Christopher Gootee, an officer of the Hammond Police Department who helped with the Delphi investigation, testified that he interviewed Brad Weber, the Delphi resident who lives near the Monon High Bridge trail.

    Weber testified earlier this week that he left work around 2 p.m. on February 13, 2017 and drove 20 to 25 minutes home. The defense noted during Weber’s testimony that his earlier statement to police was different: that he stopped somewhere before returning home.

    But when questioned by the defense, Gootee said he did not remember what Weber told him in the interview, even after he was shown a report of that conversation. Gootee did not write the report.

    Weber’s timing is important because that day he was driving a pickup truck to a property near the crime scene. In one of his prison confessions, Allen said a van scared him.

    He The state rested its case Thursday.after almost two weeks of testimony.

    Sakege
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