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    • Review the evidence of the Delphi murders and the case against Richard Allen
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    Review the evidence of the Delphi murders and the case against Richard Allen

    Sakege Posted on

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    DELPHI, Indiana ― Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland told jurors in Opening statements from Richard Allen murder trial that this case came down to three things: “Bridge Guy”; a bullet; and the murders of Delphi teenagers Liberty “Libby” German and Abigail “Abby” Williams.

    In the end, the jury agreed with the prosecution and found Allen guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of murder during the kidnapping. During days of deliberation, weeks of testimony took place. These are some of the complicated tests they had to navigate to reach their verdict.

    ‘Bridge Boy’

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    ‘Bridge Guy’ video becomes key part of case against Richard Allen

    A short clip released to the public in 2019 shows a man walking across the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. Jurors in 2024 got more context from the video.

    Indiana State Police

    Libby’s video captured a grainy image of a man ordering the girls “down the hill.” Indiana State Police enhanced the video, but the enhancement failed to improve the quality of the image.

    It is clear that ‘Bridge Guy’ was wearing light blue jeans and a blue jacket. But a witness testified that he saw a man he believed was Bridge Guy covered in mud and blood and wearing a tan jacket.

    Witnesses testified that they believed Bridge Guy was up to 6 feet tall, young, fit and had “fluffy” hair. Allen’s attorneys noted at the end that Allen is 5 feet, 5 inches tall.

    ISP Lt. Jerry Holeman testified that it would cost $10,000 to make an accurate analysis of Bridge Guy’s height from the video. They chose to put their resources elsewhere, according to testimonies. The defense raised this issue in its closing arguments.

    At the time of Allen’s arrest in October 2022, Allen was a large, middle-aged man.

    Delphi Murders Update: What’s next for Richard Allen after his conviction?

    The unspent cartridge that an expert links to Richard Allen’s gun

    Indiana State Police laboratory testing indicated that markings on the bullet found at the scene near the girls’ bodies matched the ejection, extractor and breach marks on Allen’s Sig Sauer 226. But those conclusions were reached only by comparing the unfired bullet with the subsequently fired casings. of Allen’s gun.

    But a defense firearms expert told jurors that comparing an unfired bullet passing through a gun to a bullet fired from a gun will create different tool marks, skewing a conclusive result, calling it comparing apples to oranges. .

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    An unspent cartridge was key evidence in Richard Allen’s arrest

    Forensics compared Richard Allen’s gun to a cartridge found at the scene of the Delphi murders five years after the investigation began.

    Richard Allen’s Prison Confessions

    Allen began confessing to killing the girls in early April 2023. He allegedly did 61 incriminating statements either verbally or in writing, according to reports.

    Prosecutors played at least seven recorded phone conversations during April 2023 in which he allegedly confessed.

    In his April 3, 2023 call to his wife, Allen says, “I did it. I killed Abby. I killed Abby and Libby.”

    “You don’t feel well. Something is wrong. Why do you say that?” Allen’s wife responded, also pointing out that his medication could be spoiled or that the guards were playing with his mind.

    “Because maybe I did. I think I did.”

    At the time of the prison confessions, Allen was psychotic, according to both state and defense witnesses. A person in that state of mind is likely to make incriminating statements if in his mind he has been persuaded to believe in his involvement.

    Allen’s confessions during his psychotic periods to his wife and mother often included “I think” or “I think” as caveats to his confessions of killing Abby and Libby.

    Psychiatrists testified for both the State and the defense that a person in psychosis is prone to making statements based on a belief in his or her confused mind.

    Prosecutors pointed out Testimony of Dr. Mónica Wala that she believed he was faking much of his behavior to manipulate prison guards, and Wala said his motive could be receiving more calls to his wife.

    Two psychiatrists (one state witness and one defense witness), as well as a neuropsychologist, testified that Allen was not faking his psychosis.

    Additionally, Wala, a psychologist who treated Allen at Westville Prison, was a true crime fan and had followed the Libby and Abby murder case. She was eventually removed from her treatment at Allen and the Westville prison after it was learned that she used files from the Indiana Department of Corrections to obtain more information about the case.

    Some of Allen’s alleged confessions were made to Wala, according to prosecutors.

    In an April report, Wala said Allen killed them and believed the attack was sexual in nature. However, Allen could not remember if he had sexual relations with the girls.

    In May 2023, when he was still psychotic, Allen told him wala ordered them “downhill,” according to Wala’s report.

    Also in May 2023, he told his wife that he had killed the girls and told his mother that he had killed them.

    “Mom, if it wasn’t like that, I wouldn’t sit here and tell you I did it,” Allen said in a May 17 phone call from prison.

    “I think they’re just pulling your leg,” his mother said. “I just know that you don’t have the strength to do something like that.”

    Two psychiatrists testified that Allen was still psychotic and receiving antipsychotic medications in the months he confessed.

    However, Allen’s alleged confessions in Wala’s DOC psychological reports were logical, linear and story-like with a beginning, middle and end, defense witness and neuropsychologist Polly Westcott testified.

    Defense witnesses suggest that in Allen’s psychosis, he was not likely to be able to speak in a linear, narrative manner.

    the white van

    A report Wala wrote in August indicated that Allen told him he planned to sexually assault the girls after taking them off the trails east of Delphi on the south side of the Monon High Bridge. But a van drove past him and the girls, causing Allen to change his plans, Wala’s report stated.

    That’s when Allen ordered the girls to ford the creek to the north bank, where he killed them, according to prosecutors and Wala’s report.

    Prosecutors maintain that the truck was that of the landowner, Brad Weber, who was returning home from work at SIA in Lafayette. He left at 2:02 and it took him about 30 minutes to drive home. The girls were abducted from the High Bridge at 2:13 p.m., according to the time stamps on Libby’s video.

    The defense claimed that Weber initially told police he had attended ATMs after leaving work in Lafayette that day, but on the stand, Weber said he went straight home after work.

    Indiana State Trooper Brian Harshman told jurors that only the killer would know about the pickup truck on that dark Carroll County road at that time of day on Feb. 13, 2017.

    Harshman also listened to Allen’s more than 700 phone calls from prison. He said he recognizes Allen’s voice, and the man in Libby’s video who said, “Go down the hill” is Allen’s voice.

    Jurors had to consider whether Wala’s report about the van came from a psychotic man, a genuine admission or an addition made by a true crime fan who followed the case and knew about Internet speculation about a van.

    The defense’s closing argument highlighted the prosecution’s shortcomings, including last-minute investigations by prosecutors into points raised by the defense.

    At one point, a defense witness who performed an analysis of Libby’s phone for the state was caught off guard when asked about data on the phone indicating that the headphone jack had something plugged into it between 5:45 and 10:32 pm on the day the girls were murdered.

    According to prosecutors’ timeline, the girls were killed after crossing the creek, around 2:30 p.m.

    There is no explanation for the access to the headphone jack, defense attorney Brad Rozzi said in closing, noting that the state didn’t even know the phone jack had been accessed.

    How long did the jury deliberate in the Delphi murders?

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    The Delphi murder verdict hangs heavily outside the courthouse

    Spectators sit and wait outside the Delphi trial courtroom as the jury deliberates the fate of Richard Allen.

    Jurors were given the case around 1:25 pm on Thursday, November 7, and deliberated about two hours before stopping for the rest of the day. They resumed deliberations at 9 am on Friday, November 8.

    On Saturday, November 9, the jury deliberated from 9 a.m. to approximately 2:45. They took Sunday off and returned to court on Monday, November 11, reaching a verdict early in the afternoon.

    In total, officials said, the jury spent about 18 hours deliberating over the course of four days.

    Sakege
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