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Delphi murder trial: Richard Allen found guilty
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Delphi murder trial: Richard Allen found guilty

A 52-year-old man who prosecutors said was “hiding in plain sight” was found guilty Monday of the brutal murders of two girls in the small town of Delphi, Indiana, more than seven years ago.

The 2022 arrest of Richard Allen, 52, a married Delphi resident who worked at a local CVS, was a surprising development in what had been a cold case for years. Libby German, 14, and her best friend, Abby Williams, 13, went missing from a hiking trail on Feb. 13, 2017, and their bodies were found the next day next to a stream about a half-mile away. Allen confessed to the murders more than 60 times while held in prison before trial, prosecutors said. But his defense attorneys argued he was innocent and dismissed the confessions as a result of his poor mental health under conditions of incarceration.

Allen was found guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of murder during the kidnapping. The jury of seven women and five men, who were selected from another county and held during the trial, deliberated for about 18 hours over four days. after hearing 17 days of testimonies.

The case had caught the attention of true crime fans and online sleuths for the many questions surrounding what happened to the girls, even as a video from Libby’s phone appeared to capture the moment her killer approached to them on an abandoned railway bridge. Prosecutors said Allen was the man, dubbed by online detectives as “Bridge Guy,” seen and heard in the chaotic video filmed around 2:13 p.m. on the day the girls were allegedly abducted.

Authorities had released clips of the video in hopes that someone could identify the man, but for more than five years they had no credible leads.

Allen was identified as a suspect only after a volunteer county prosecutor’s office employee testified that on September 21, 2022, she discovered a mislabeled log of Allen telling investigators he was on the hiking trail at the time of Allen’s disappearance. the girls. IndyStar reported.

In this courtroom sketch from Nov. 2, Richard Allen (left) sits next to one of his defense attorneys, Andrew Baldwin, in the Carroll County courthouse in Delphi, Indiana.
In this courtroom sketch from Nov. 2, Richard Allen (left) sits next to one of his defense attorneys, Andrew Baldwin, in the Carroll County courthouse in Delphi, Indiana.

Li Buszka, pool photo via Associated Press

The video that had become an obsession in the true criminal community and hampered investigators was played publicly in its entirety for the first time in court in its original and forensically enhanced form. In the 43-second video, authorities said a man can be seen approaching the girls across the railroad trestles and then ordering them to go “downhill,” the Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Indiana, reported.

Reporters in the courtroom said they could hear a girl’s voice saying they had reached the end of the trail and they had to “go down.”

A detective said he could hear one of the girls say the man had a gun. WTHR-TV in Indianapolis reported.

Investigators found an unspent shell casing among the girls’ bodies that they said also linked Allen to the crime. A firearms expert for the prosecution testified that he had passed through one of Allen’s guns, while his defense attorneys questioned the reliability of the evidence. WXIN-TV in Indianapolis reported.

Although the trial revealed disturbing details Regarding the girls’ deaths that had long been hidden from the public, Allen’s defense attorneys argued that prosecutors had failed to prove he was guilty. Among a variety of issues raised by the defense, no evidence linked Allen’s DNA to the bloody crime scene, the indystar and other news media reported.

The trial also included emotional testimony from the girls’ relatives, who have worked for years to keep the girls’ memory alive and seek justice.

“Maybe when this is over we will learn to move on, maybe not,” wrote Libby’s grandmother, Becky Patty, in a touching message. Facebook publish on the first day of the trial. “However, one thing is certain: we will live our lives loving and honoring them. I love you and miss you so much, Libby.”

Allen is scheduled to be sentenced on December 20. The judge has not lifted the gag order that prevented people associated with the case, including the victims’ families, from speaking publicly, so authorities will not make a statement until after the sentencing.

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A makeshift memorial to Libby German and Abby Williams, near where they were last seen and where their bodies were discovered, stands on October 31, 2022, along the Monon Trail leading to the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana.
A makeshift memorial to Libby German and Abby Williams, near where they were last seen and where their bodies were discovered, stands on October 31, 2022, along the Monon Trail leading to the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press