An Indiana jury Monday afternoon returned a verdict for double murder suspect Richard Allen, accused of killing two girls during a hiking trial in Delphi in February 2017. This is known as the Delphi Murders.
The verdict will be announced in a Carroll County courtroom.
The case comes seven years after Abigail (Abby) Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, went missing while out for a walk on February 13, 2017, and investigators found them both brutally murdered the next day. It has progressed beyond that. , covering his body with sticks in a wooded area near the High Monon Trail.
Prosecutors reportedly pointed to a variety of evidence that placed Allen at the scene of the crime, including an unspent bullet from the crime scene that matched a gun recovered from Allen’s home in 2022 and dozens of confessions he made in prison. FOX 59 Indianapolis.
Allen’s defense relied heavily on expert analysis showing Allen’s unhealthy mental state following his arrest in 2022, which alarmed the Delphi community at the time. Allen was a longtime CVS employee in a small Indiana town when police arrested him five years after the murders.
Delphi murder suspect’s wife confesses, mother sounds ‘peaceful’ ‘It’s not what I expected,’ the expert said.
Police officers escort Richard Allen out of the Carroll County Courthouse after a hearing on Nov. 22, 2022, in Delphi, Indiana. (AP Photo/Darren Cummings)
Near the end of Allen’s trial, the defense also presented testimony from a former FBI forensics expert who said it appeared as if someone had plugged headphones into Libby’s phone, which was found near the girls’ bodies at 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 14. Feb. 13, hours after he was last seen.
The headphones were removed from the phone at 10:32, Stacey Eldridge testified, presenting a possible challenge to the prosecution’s timeline that they were killed around 2:30 p.m. on February 13, according to FOX 59.
Delphi murder suspect killed two women on hiking trail in small town, prison doctor says
Support Indiana State Police Trooper Doug Carter, right, speaks during a press conference on an update on the Delphi homicide investigation held at the Delphi Canal Center on Monday, April 22, 2019. (Nicos Fraser | Journal & Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland told jurors that Libby was naked and covered in blood when searchers found the two girls dead in a wooded area near the Monon High Bridge. Both girls had their throats cut multiple times; FOX 59 reported.
McLeland said other clothing items were either mismatched or thrown into nearby Deer Creek. Abby was wearing her undershirt, but Libby was wearing a sweatshirt. She was also wearing jeans and shoes, but her socks were missing. One of Libby’s shoes and Libby’s cell phone were located under Abby’s body.
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The waters of Deer Creek are covered in snow as the Monon High Bridge rises high in Delphi on Wednesday, February 9, 2022. Delphi eighth-grade students Abby Williams and Libby German were killed Feb. 13, 2017, while hiking a popular community trail near Delphi. (Nicos Fraser / Journal & Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK)
One of the key pieces of evidence presented during the trial was an accidentally taken cell phone video of Libby and Abby at some point before they were murdered.
Delphi murder trial: ‘BRIDGE GUY’ emerges with new crime scene evidence
For the first time since the girls were reported missing, jurors were shown 43 seconds of crucial footage in court on October 22. The video shows Libby and Abby walking with an unidentified man wearing a hat and a blue utility jacket. I have been working as a “Bridge Guy” for the past 5 years. Libby captured the video less than 25 minutes after she and Abigail’s family dropped them off on the trail at 2:13 p.m.
“Guys, go down the hill,” the man can be heard telling the girls in the video.
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In this courtroom sketch, Richard Allen (left) sits next to one of his defense attorneys, Andrew Baldwin, inside the Carroll County Courthouse courtroom in Delphi, Indiana, Saturday, November 2, 2024. (Li Buszka via AP, Poole)
In one prison confession, Allen admitted that he actually ordered the girls “down the hill.” He also repeatedly confessed to killing the girls, saying he wanted to rape them but was frightened by a van driving nearby and at that point decided to kill them.
His lawyers said his declining mental stability led him to make false statements in prison.
Delphi murder trial: Suspect Richard Allen’s lawyer makes shocking revelations about hair at crime scene.
Delphi police recovered Libby’s cell phone from her body on February 14, 2017. The phone contained a 43-second video showing Abigail walking towards Libby on the Monon High Bridge in Delphi, with a man wearing a dark jacket and jeans walking behind her. (Fox Nation)
Additionally, witnesses who testified at Allen’s trial said they saw Allen on or near the High Monon Trail on February 13, around the time the girls disappeared.
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Now, more than five years after their death, Investigators executed a search warrant On October 13, 2022, at Allen’s home in Delphi, they recovered a blue Carhartt jacket, a SIG Sauer P226 .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and a .40-caliber S&W cartridge in a “wooden keepsake box” from a dresser between the two men. A closet in Allen’s bedroom, according to authorities.
Police said a handgun recovered from Allen’s home matched an unspent .40-caliber bullet found at the scene of a 2017 murder.
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The defense previously argued in court documents that members of an Odinist cult killed the girls in ritual sacrifices, but the judge ultimately decided not to allow evidence related to that theory in court during the trial. According to a lawyer interviewed by Fox News Digital, they may end up asserting the Odinist theory on appeal.
