cnn
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Jury deliberations resumed Saturday in the highly publicized double murder trial of Richard Allen, accused of killing two teenagers and leaving their bodies near a trail in the small town of Delphi, Indiana, more than seven years ago.

Allen has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder in connection with the 2017 deaths of Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13. Allen could be sentenced to up to 130 years in prison if convicted. of all charges, Associated Press reported.

The 12-person jury began deliberating Thursday and returned to the Carroll County courthouse Saturday morning, CNN affiliate WTHR reported. reported. Jurors will deliberate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday until reaching a verdict, according to the CNN affiliate. WTHR. Last month, 16 Allen County residents were selected to serve on the jury, including four people who served as alternates, WTHR saying.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Frances Gull gave jurors her final instructions Thursday morning, urging them to “consider the facts” before Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland presented his arguments. finals, walking the jury through the evidence and testimony presented during the trial, WTHR reported.

“I think the evidence is strongly compelling that Richard Allen is Bridge Guy and he killed Abby and Libby,” McLeland told the jury.

McLeland showed jurors graphic photographs of the girls’ bodies, a video of the suspect taken from Libby’s smartphone that he said captured the final moments of the girls’ lives, and a recording of Allen allegedly confessing to his wife. during a phone call.

“I did it,” Allen could be heard telling his wife. “I killed Abby and Libby.”

Defense attorney Brad Rozzi, in his closing arguments, said a broken timeline, false confessions and a lack of DNA or weapons evidence should lead to acquittal.

“The defense is confident that what they have heard over the past few weeks is more important than what they are hearing today,” Rozzi told jurors Thursday.

The defense further argued that there is no physical evidence linking Allen to the murders and said confessions he made in the past were “involuntary” and stemmed from being in solitary confinement for months.

The Delphi murder case dates back to February 13, 2017, when “Abby” and “Libby” went for a walk across the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. The two girls were reported missing after they were unable to meet Libby’s father that afternoon. The next day, their bodies were found, both dead from cuts to their throats, partially covered by sticks.

The case attracted public attention in part because of a photograph and audio recording of the suspect taken from Libby’s smartphone. The image shows a man walking across the bridge with his hands in his pockets and the audio includes a man’s muffled voice saying: “Guys, down the hill.” Although police circulated the photo and audio just days after the murders and identified “Bridge Boy” as their main suspect, the case was frozen for more than five years until Allen was arrested in 2022.

Allen had apparently evaded police notice, staying in the small town of Delphi and working at a local CVS pharmacy, until an employee digitizing tips related to the investigation in September 2022 noticed that it had been placed at the crime scene. Just days after the bodies were discovered, Allen told police he had been following that trail during the period when the girls were thought to have been murdered.

Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett said that despite the information, Allen “fell through the cracks.” according to CNN affiliate WLFI. About a month after the tip was rediscovered, Allen was arrested after police compared an unused cartridge found among the girls’ bodies to a gun recovered from their home during a police search.

After Allen was arrested on October 26, 2022, he was charged with two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping five days later. Prosecutors later amended the charges to include two additional counts of murder.

Allen’s mental state and confessions were highlighted

During the course of the trial, which began on October 18, the prosecution highlighted the dozens of confessions While incarcerated: He confessed to the crime more than 60 times, prosecutors say, including to his wife, his mother, the psychologist who treated him, the director and other prison employees and inmates. They played audio recordings of some of the confessions for the jury.

Monica Wala, former head psychologist at the Westville Correctional Facility where Allen was held, testified that she initially told him he was innocent, but began confessing to the crimes in April 2023, around the time he was placed back on suicide watch.

Wala testified that Allen had told him: “I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry,” according to CNN affiliate WTHR. He said he originally planned to sexually assault the victims, but ran away when he saw a van nearby and that he had slit the girls’ throats and covered their bodies with sticks, he testified.

The defense has tried to paint a portrait of Allen as a mentally ill man whose fragile mental state was exacerbated by the months he spent in solitary confinement, including during the period when he confessed to the crimes. He was twice placed on suicide watch while in prison, exhibited strange behavior such as eating his own feces and hitting his head, and at one point was diagnosed with “a brief psychotic disorder,” according to Wala’s testimony.

Testifying for the defense, Deanna Dwenger, a clinical psychologist who worked for the Indiana Department of Corrections Behavioral Health, testified that Allen was diagnosed with a serious mental illness in April 2023 and that a team of mental health professionals concluded that he had a serious mental illness. “severe disability”. ” according to CNN affiliate WRTV.

The defense originally hoped to introduce the so-called “Odinism” defense: a theory that followers of Odinism, a Norse pagan religion recently adopted by white supremacists, committed the murders. But Judge Gull repeatedly rejected motions to introduce this theory.

Audio recordings and bullet evidence became key focuses

Despite Allen’s confessions, there is very little physical evidence linking him to the case: a DNA expert who testified for the state found none of Allen’s DNA at the crime scene, and none of Allen’s DNA was found. Libby or Abby on items recovered from her home.

Prosecutors drew attention to the unspent .40-caliber bullet found next to the girls’ bodies, which a prosecution expert testified matched Allen’s gun. The defense cast doubt on the bullet evidence, questioned why more images of the cartridge weren’t taken and suggested the bullet could have come from a law enforcement officer’s gun, according to WRTV.

Prosecutors have also tried to link Allen to the video and audio recording of “Bridge Guy” captured on Libby’s cell phone. Indiana State Trooper Brian Harshman, who said he listened to more than 700 phone calls from Allen in prison, testified for the prosecution that, in his opinion, “the voice of ‘Bridge Guy’ is the voice of Richard Allen.” . according to WRTV.

“Richard Allen is Bridge Guy,” McLeland told the jury. “He kidnapped them and then murdered them.”

In response, Rozzi said witnesses did not clearly identify Allen as the man on the hiking trail or on the bridge when the teens disappeared. He also noted that Allen still lived in Delphi for more than five years after the girls’ murder.

“He had every chance to run, but he didn’t run because he didn’t run,” Rozzi told the jury.