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 following a trial that revealed new details of the mysterious case.

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

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The crime gained national attention when police released an image of the suspect and a clip of his voice (a recording of him saying “downhill”) that was recovered from Libby’s phone.

Allen admitted being on the trail the day of the murders, but denied being involved.

Here’s a look at the main conclusions of the trial:

How the girls died

For more than seven years, investigators remained silent about how the girls were killed, without revealing whether their deaths were caused by a knife, gun or some other weapon, and without revealing whether they were sexually assaulted.

Prosecutor Nick McLeland then revealed in his opening statement that the girls’ throats were slit.

Pathologist Dr. Roland Kohr, who performed the autopsies, testified that Abby had a 1-inch-deep, 3-inch-long incision on her neck.

Libby had several incisions on the right side of her neck, Kohr said, the largest measuring about 3.5 inches long.

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

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

Witnesses remember the ‘boy on the bridge’

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

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

During Allen’s trial, a pair of teenagers who were in court that day shared their memories of “bridge boy” with the jury.

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

The prosecution brought out a photo of the “boy on the bridge” and Voorhies said, “That was the man I had greeted on the road.”

Breann Wilber, who was on the road with Voorhies, testified that she also noticed the man who was overdressed for the hot weather.

He said the man walked with a “purpose,” did not respond when Voorhies waved and gave off “strange vibrations.”

Wilber said that when he saw the photo of the “man on the bridge,” “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.

Crime Chronology

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

Libby’s phone showed they dropped the girls off on the trail around 1:40 p.m. and were near the Monon High Bridge at 2:05 p.m., Indiana State Police Sgt. Christopher Cecil testified.

At 2:14 pm, Cecil said Libby took the infamous “bridge boy” video.

Phone records recorded a change in longitude, altitude and elevation 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 and never moved again.

Cecil testified that Libby’s phone gradually died during the night, going off at 10:32 p.m. and then waking up to a spike at 4:33 a.m. Cecil said that was when her phone received 15 to 20 messages from text all at once. One of the messages, sent almost 12 hours earlier by Libby’s grandmother, read: “You have to call me now!!!”

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

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

Allen’s mental state, jailhouse confessions.

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

Allen was arrested in the fall of 2022. By the spring of 2023, his behavior took a turn. Allen’s bizarre behavior in custody included banging his head against the wall, washing his face in the bathroom, refusing to eat, eating paper, smearing himself with feces in his cell and putting feces on his face for two hours, according to testimony from the suspects. penitentiary agents.

In the spring of 2023, Allen also began confessing to the murders multiple times to his wife, a psychologist and prison officials, according to testimony.

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

Allen said he ordered the girls “downhill” and intended to rape them, but then he saw something, either a person or a van, and was startled, Wala said. Allen told him that he ordered the girls to cross the stream, cut their throats and covered their bodies with branches, according to Wala.

Allen also allegedly confessed to his wife in multiple phone calls from jail.

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

“No, you didn’t,” he said. Allen responded, “Yes, I did.”

“Why do you say that?” Kathy said. “I know you didn’t. There’s something wrong.”

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

The neuropsychologist said Allen experienced hallucinations, psychosis and suicidal ideation.

A corrections officer, Michael Clemons, testified for prosecutors that Allen told him, “I, Richard Matthew Allen, killed Abby and Libby by myself. No one helped me.” Clemons said Allen yelled at other inmates: “I’m not crazy, I’m just acting like I’m crazy.”

Another correctional officer, Michael Roberts, testified that on April 23, 2023, Allen said, “I killed Abby and 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.” And Libby? How do I prove I’m crazy?”

Dr. John Martin, who treats inmates, was called as the state’s rebuttal witness.

Martin said he met Allen in November 2022, shortly after his arrest. Martin said Allen came to jail with a prescription for Prozac because of a history of depression, but Martin said he considered him stable.

It wasn’t until April 2023 that Allen began showing signs of psychosis, according to the doctor.

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

Martin said he prescribed Allen an antipsychotic drug; He said it took until April 25 for the drug to be discovered and for Allen to show signs of improvement.

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

On June 20, 2023, Allen, although still showing no signs of psychosis, told Martin that 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 under no pressure to say anything.

the gun

The prosecution’s key evidence is police analysis of Allen’s gun, which determined that the unspent .40 caliber bullet discovered by the girls’ bodies was passed through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226.

But a defense witness, Dr. Erin Warren, cast doubt on that.

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

Warren called it an “apples to oranges” comparison, saying Oberg compared the initial bullet, which had been cycled, 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 bullet was cycled or fired.

Warren disputed that testimony, saying the lab needed to identify tool marks in the same conditions in which the bullet was found.

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

Final arguments

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

Rozzi reminded jurors that Allen came forward on his own in 2017 to tell police he was on the trail the day of the murders. Rozzi said Allen was cooperative during his first interrogation in October 2022 and returned for questioning a second time, even though he knew he was likely a suspect at the time.

Rozzi noted that hours of video interviews from 2017 were lost.

He also mentioned the 13 months Allen spent in solitary confinement and said all the state wanted to highlight was what Allen said, not his condition.

Rozzi argued that the Indiana State Police lab could not exclude that the gun belonging to local resident Brad Weber was the one that fired the bullet found in the girls’ bodies, and said Weber changed his story about going straight home. the day of the murders.

In closing for the prosecution, McLeland said the state had proven that Allen is the “man on the bridge,” and reminded jurors that the black 2016 Ford Focus seen near the trail that day was the only one registered in the county, and It was Allen’s.

Despite the defense’s doubts, McLeland said the state proved that the unspent bullet found among the girls’ bodies passed through Allen’s gun, and he said the evidence was confirmed three times by the technician’s boss.

McLeland also delved into Allen’s numerous confessions, presenting for the jury confessions of phone calls Allen made to his wife. McLeland said Allen’s confessions were “unprovoked and uncoerced.” (and) of his own free will,” and said Allen did not show any signs of psychosis at the time of many of his statements.

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