The post Allen sentenced to 130 years in Delphi murders appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

CARROLL COUNTY — Richard Allen, convicted of killing two Delphi girls, still claims he’s innocent and is refusing to participate in a pre-sentence report as he prepares for an appeal before his sentencing on Friday.

A memo released Wednesday confirms Allen’s decision to skip the process. His attorneys say they won’t present evidence at Friday’s hearing and will keep arguments brief.

Allen’s legal team cited several factors for a lighter sentence, including his clean criminal record, role as the main breadwinner, the hardship his imprisonment has caused his wife, military service, and a long history of mental illness, including depression and anxiety.

Allen plans to appeal his November 11 conviction for the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German. Prosecutors relied on witness testimony but did not present DNA evidence or a murder weapon. Allen’s sentencing is scheduled for Friday

The post Convicted murderer in Delphi case balks at pre-sentence process appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

CARROLL COUNTY  — Richard Allen has been found guilty on all four counts in the murders of two teenage girls in Delphi more than seven years ago.

52-year-old Richard Allen was charged with the murders of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German. The two girls disappeared during a hike on Feb. 13, 2017, near the Monon High Bridge Trail. Their bodies were discovered in the woods near that trail a day later.

Allen has been on trial for those murders since Oct. 18. Prosecutors allege Allen committed the killings, citing ballistics evidence and his own confessions. However, the defense has argued there is no DNA or weapons evidence tying him to the killings and that he only confessed because he had a psychotic break.

Allen could face up to 130 years in prison.

The post Allen found guilty in Delphi double murder appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

CARROLL COUNTY — Jurors continued to deliberate the fate of Richard Allen on Friday about whether he killed Delphi eighth-graders Abby Williams and Libby German in the woods near the Monon High Bridge on Feb. 13, 2017.

Deliberations are expected to continue on Saturday.

[caption id="attachment_74239" align="alignright" width="300"] Richard Allen[/caption]

Allen, 52, a former pharmacy technician at the CVS store in Delphi, could face up to 65 years in prison for each of the four murder charges filed against him in October 2022.

Testimony in the trial started Oct. 18 in Carroll Circuit Court, and deliberations began Thursday afternoon.

The defense called witnesses for all or parts of five days, before resting at the start of the day Wednesday.

These are accounts from media pool reports inside Carroll Circuit Court Thursday morning:

THE PROSECUTION’S TURN

During initial closing arguments, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland walked jurors through what he called “a day this community will never forget.”

McLeland’s prosecution over the first two weeks of testimony was essentially a chronological account, starting with Abby Williams and Libby German waking up from a sleepover and pestering Libby’s family members to go to the Monon High Bridge Trail during the day off from school on Feb. 13, 2017. After getting a ride from Kelsi German Siebert, Libby’s sister, to a trailhead off County Road 300 North around 1:48 p.m., the girls didn’t return to meet a ride home they’d arranged with Derrick German, Libby’s dad, around 3 p.m.

That turned into a search by family members, then by local first responders and friends, into early the next morning, before being called off at 2 a.m. Feb. 14.

“No one was looking for two dead bodies,” McLeland told the jury Thursday. “They were looking for two girls.”

They were found by Delphi residents who had volunteered to scour the Monon High Bridge Trail, Deer Creek and the woods nearby. The girls were found just north of Deer Creek and east of the Monon High Bridge after a search party spotted some of their clothes tangled in tree roots at the creek.

“This type of thing doesn’t happen in this small community,” McLeland told jurors.

McLeland showed jurors pictures of the crime scene, describing carnage where Abby and Libby were found dead from deep slash wounds on their necks – Libby wearing no clothes, Abby wearing several items from Libby.

McLeland replayed video Libby German shot at 2:13 p.m. Feb. 13, showing a man – identified throughout as “Bridge Guy” – walking behind Abby as she crossed the abandoned Monon High Bridge, telling the girls, “Guys … down the hill.” McLeland called that the moment the girls were kidnapped.

“Something in Liberty told her to record this,” McLeland told jurors. He said it showed fear in their voices and fear in Abby’s face.

McLeland recounted testimony from witnesses who were on and near the trail that day who described seeing a man they testified matched the photo of the Bridge Guy. He also told about how Libby’s iPhone 6S, found at the crime scene under Abby’s body, stopped tracking movement at 2:32 p.m. Feb. 13.

“If we can determine who Bridge Guy is, we know who killed Abby and Libby,” McLeland told jurors.

McLeland ran through how a tip in a 2017 file, rediscovered in 2022 by a volunteer cataloging pieces of the investigation, resurfaced at a meeting between Richard Allen and investigators in the days after the murders. Allen put himself on the trail between 1:30 and 3 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017.

Investigators testified that follow-up showed a car resembling Allen’s 2016 Ford Focus SE driving on County Road 300 West, near a trailhead, that day. In an October 2022 interview with investigators – one the defense entered into evidence and played for the jury two weeks ago – Allen turned incredulous when he realized he was a potential subject and not just someone offering help to detectives.

McLeland told jurors that a search of Allen’s home found a heavy jacket – “Surprise, surprise, same as Bridge Guy,” he said – the same brand and caliber bullet as an unspent Winchester .40-caliber Smith and Wesson cartridge found next to the girls’ bodies and a Sig Sauer P226 handgun that a state police forensic firearms examiner testified had tool markings that matched the gun.

McLeland called it a “Bridge Guy starter kit.”

“See how the pieces are starting to fall into place?” McLeland asked jurors.

McLeland played phone calls Allen made to his family in April 2023 from a prison cell at Westville Correctional Facility, telling them that he killed Abby and Libby. McLeland said the calls were “unprovoked, unpressured, of his own free will.”

He also referenced confessions that Dr. Monica Wala, a psychologist at Westville; the prison warden and other prison guards testified Allen made, telling about how he’d laid in wait and killed the girls with a box cutter he stole and threw away at CVS. McLeland told about how Wala had testified that Allen described details about forcing the girls off the Monon High Bridge with the intent of raping them, only to get scared when he spotted a passing van. And he told about how Wala’s testimony had Allen saying that he killed the girls, making sure they were dead and then walking away to live his life because he’d never been caught.

The van was a piece McLeland told jurors that only the killer would know about the highly publicized case, tied to a Ford Econovan owned by neighbor Brad Weber. Weber testified that he drove home to his house near the Monon High Bridge’s southern end after getting off work at the Lafayette Subaru plant at 2:02 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017.

McLeland told jurors that Allen left behind his bullet and Libby’s cell phone, leading investigators to him 5½ years after the murders. If that wasn’t enough, McLeland told jurors, Allen offered confessions. McLeland told jurors that all the pieces fit together and that Allen was Bridge Guy.

“I’m going to ask you to look at all the evidence and issue a guilty verdict on all four counts,” McLeland said.

THE DEFENSE, CLOSING ARGUMENTS

In defense attorney Brad Rozzi's closing argument, he told jurors Allen should be set free, that no DNA, no fingerprints, no physical or digital evidence presented by prosecutors ties him to the girls or to the crime scene.

Rozzi questioned state police tests on the unspent round found at the scene, saying it wasn’t convincing. He continued to call it the prosecution’s “magic bullet” in the case against Richard Allen.

told jurors that the investigation was full of holes and lost interviews and evidence, followed by questionable and changing conclusions by the prosecution. That included, he said, testimony that the FBI left the case before Allen’s arrest.

“You should question the credibility of this case,” Rozzi told jurors.

He said it was fair to question the state’s suggested timeline of the crime and whether the girls’ bodies were at the crime scene where they were found on the afternoon of Feb. 14, 2017, during the evening of Feb. 13, when search parties were combing the woods deep into that night.

Rozzi pointed out that Brad Weber, whose drive goes under the Monon High Bridge near where the girls were taken, owns a Sig Sauer handgun – the brand Allen owns that prosecutors tied to the unspent round found next to Abby and Libby.

He cast doubt on the self-incriminating statement Allen said gave while in solitary confinement in Westville Correctional Facility. He asked how Allen, diagnosed for months in psychotic state and showing signs of fragmented thought, could give a clear narrative of what he said he did on Feb. 13, 2017, to Dr. Monica Wala, a prison psychologist treating him. Rozzi told jurors that it was fair to question the accuracy and authenticity of what Wala recorded about the confession, given that she’d admitted being a true crime fan who closely followed podcasts and social media about the Delphi murders case and Allen’s involvement in it.

He played back portions of Allen’s conditions in a segregation unit at Westville Correctional Facility, where he’d been sent as part of a safekeeping order signed by a Carroll County judge days after his arrest.

“Who could possibly watch that video and for one second believe that man was oriented to time and place?” Rozzi asked.

Rozzi looked cast doubt on phone call confessions to his family, all couched with phrases like “I don’t know” and “I think” and fears that he’s losing his mind.

Rozzi recalled testimony from a former FBI digital forensic analyst who told the court this week that Libby German’s phone logged someone plugging in a headphone jack at 5:45 p.m. and unplugging it at 10:32 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017. That was hours after a state analysis showed the phone registered it last movement at 2:32 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017. The defense expert had testified that she knew only that the move would take human interaction. (An Indiana State Police analyst later testified, based on a Google search of Apple troubleshooting sites, that the phone log could have been due to moisture or dirt in the auxiliary port.)

“Someone was using that phone,” Rozzi told jurors.

Rozzi dismissed the fact that investigators found a common blue Carhartt jacket in Allen’s home as proof that he was Bridge Guy. And he questioned witnesses who said they saw the man in Libby’s video but all described him in different ways, including taller, muscular and younger than the 5-foot-4 Allen.

Rozzi compared Allen’s treatment in a solitary prison cell for months to times of medieval torture, showing the jury an image of a python suffocating its prey – comparing it to how the state handled Allen to get him to admit a crime he didn’t do. “You’re the moral compass,” Rozzi told jurors.

“For five years, he worked at CVS,” Rozzi said. “He had every chance to run, but he didn’t, because he didn’t do it.”

According to media pool reports, Judge Fran Gull told jurors they could deliberate until 4 p.m. each day before calling it a day.

The post Deliberations in Delphi murders trial expected to continue Saturday appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

DELPHI — Confession details and prison conditions continued to be the theme for day eleven in the Delphi murders trial.

Dr. Monica Wala served as suspect Richard Allen's psychologist throughout 2023. She was called to the stand during session one of Wednesday's testimony to speak on her observations of Richard Allen, his health, condition, and the verbal confessions he made in prison.

[caption id="attachment_74239" align="alignright" width="200"] Richard Allen[/caption]

Wala says Allen claimed, verbatim, to have killed Abigail Williams and Liberty German, saying things like, "I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry."

Wala recounted Allen's many statements, including his "intentions" with the girls were "sexual" in nature, that Allen believed the girls were anywhere from 11 to 19, alluding to being a sex addict and reading Playboys at a young age, claiming to have molested his sister, and admitting to being an alcoholic.

She says Allen claimed to have taken God into his heart in March of 2023, that Allen wanted to give his Bible away to the victim's families, was happy he did not kill himself and hoped the family would forgive him.

Wala said Allen would often cry, ramble, rapidly switch from disorganized to coherent, would go on tangents and never come back, and was often suicidal.

Allen often spoke of his idea to climb his prison cell sink, jump off of it head first, land and break his neck.

She says Allen once admitted to "seeing his parents on February 13th, 2017, having lunch, drinking beers, bundling up and headed to the (Monon High) bridge, fumbled with his gun (which is where Allen claimed to have dropped the bullet), ordered girls down the hill, planned to rape them but got spooked by a nearby car, made the girls cross the creek and killed them"

Allen apparently said, “I just want to sign my confession.”

Allen would later say, "I didn’t do everything I said I did, but I did kill Abby and Libby. I want the electric chair."

Despite all of this, Wala said, in her estimation, Allen would appear to fake some of these mental illness episodes and would bounce back and forth from bizarre to coherent behavior.

On cross-examination, Wala admitted to the jury that she was a true crime fan and enjoyed following the Delphi murders case. She enjoyed it so much that she joined several Facebook discussion groups and listened to podcasts, and would then bring those discussions back to Richard Allen.

She also admitted that she never told the Indiana Department of Corrections about her fascination. She did tell them once Allen left Westville Prison, and now Dr. Wala is under investigation by the IDOC.

The prosecution intends to tie it to security footage on County Road 300 North on the day of the murders, which entered the frame of security footage at 1:27 p.m. that day.

Brad Weber, who lives off a private lane southeast of where Abby and Libby were found, testifies he drove his Ford EconoVan home after getting off work at 2:02 p.m. at SIA, 25 minutes away in Lafayette. Weber is another individual the defense team pointed to as a person of interest in their opening statements from October 18th.

When challenged by the defense that he made stops that day, Weber denied it. Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin handed Weber a subpoena before court wrapped up at around 4 p.m.

Prosecutor Nick McLeland told Special Judge Fran Gull to expect two hours of audio Thursday without specifying what that audio would contain. More confessions are expected to be analyzed before the State wraps up its case and the defense takes over.

The post Psychologist testifies in Dephi murder trial appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

FT. WAYNE (WISH) — The trial for Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen has been pushed back until later in 2024.

The push comes following a motions hearing on Tuesday meant to discuss the state’s request to censor pieces of the defense’s argument to the jury.

During the hearing, the defense expressed worry that the prosecution would take too much time during the trial, and requested 15 working days for the defense.

Judge Fran Gull responded saying she couldn’t ask the jury to extend past the dates already set for May, adding that two and a half weeks should be sufficient time for the case.

Gull also said it was not her job to “micromanage” the communication between prosecutors and the defense, and said she would have allowed more time if asked by the defense sooner.

Prosecution replied saying that they tried to “cut the fat” as sufficiently as possible, and planned to call 45 witnesses with a projected end date of May 25, which would give the prosecution seven days to present outside of jury selection.

This would leave the defense team with five days to bring their findings before the court. “What it sounds like to me is that they can present evidence until the cows come home,” Allen’s attorney Bradley Rozzi said.

After a five-minute recess, the defense removed their request for a speedy trial. The prosecution maintained they were ready to start the trial on May 13.

The new dates for the trial are Oct. 14, 2024-Nov. 15, 2024. Judge Gull said after providing the new trial dates, that “If you can’t try this case in a month, there is something wrong.”

Rozzi replied, “You don’t know anything about this case, so how do you know how long this will take.”

Gull responded by saying with all her experience, it was bold of them to assume she didn’t know how long it would take.

The next court hearings are May 21-23 in Carroll County to hear several different motions. It was unclear which ones would be brought before the court.

Allen was arrested in October 2022 and charged in the 2017 slayings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. He pleaded not guilty to the original charges.

The post Delphi murders trial pushed back to October appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

The post Delphi murder trial moved to late 2024 appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

Special Judge Fran Gull denied a request from attorneys for Richard Allen to relocate him from the Indiana Department of Correction’s Westville Correctional Facility because of what they said were his deteriorating health and poor living conditions at the prison where he has been held since last November.

His lawyers argued, among other things, that Allen sleeps on a pad on a concrete floor; must wear the same clothes including underwear for days that are soiled, stained, tattered and torn; and has had no chance to visit his wife or other family members in the past five months. His attorneys have described his living conditions as “akin to those of a prisoner of war.”

But the judge ruled, without going into specifics, that “the evidence presented demonstrated that the Defendant is treated more favorably than other inmates housed at the Westville Correctional Facility,” online court records said.

Allen faces two murder counts killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, in 2017.

In February of that year, a relative dropped them off at a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge just outside their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the trail.

The deaths were ruled a double homicide, but police have never disclosed how they died or described what evidence they gathered.

Allen has pleaded not guilty to the killings.

The killings have haunted Delphi, a city of about 3,000, where Allen lived and worked at a local drug store.

The post Judge orders Delphi murder suspect to remain at northern Indiana prison appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

DELPHI, Ind. — The cause of death for two teenagers killed in Delphi in 2017 has been revealed for the first time.

Abigail Williams and Liberty German died due to “wounds caused by a sharp object,” according to a massive collection of court documents released Wednesday by Special Judge Fran Gull.

Over 100 documents date back to the October 2022 arrest of Richard Allen, accused of stabbing the girls to death in February 2017.

Evidence taken from Allen’s home includes dozens of knives, a gun, ammo, and certain pieces of clothing. Electronics were also on the list included in Wednesday’s document drop.

According to the prosecution and defense, Allen has admitted to killing the girls multiple times. One document details a phone call between Allen and his wife Kathy, where Allen apparently repeated his admission over and over again until she cuts the phone call. Allen’s legal team says this apparent admission of guilt should not be considered because of Allen’s mental, physical and emotional deterioration.

According to one document, Allen has apparently refused food, refused to sleep, and has even eaten paper documents given to him by his attorneys. He’s said to have also broken electronics given to him to use for texting and calling family.

An inmate wrote a letter to the court, claiming Allen has been threatened and abused by prison staff and inmates since his arrest. Allen’s legal team used this an example as to why he should be moved out of state prison and to a county jail near Carroll County.

Richard Allen faces two charges of murder. His trial begins Jan. 8, 2024.

The post Suspect allegedly confessed more than once to Delphi murders appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

Richard Matthew Allen, 50, will be moved to another facility that will accommodate his medical, physical and psychological needs, the Journal & Courier reported, citing a court order signed Friday.

Since shortly after his arrest in the 2017 killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, Allen has been held in isolation at the maximum-security Westville Correctional Facility for his protection. It’s unclear where he’ll be sent next, but the order suggests it will have different medical facilities.

In an April 5 request for Allen’s transfer, his defense team said he sleeps on a pad on a concrete floor, hasn’t received visits from his wife or family for the past five months, and is forced to wear the same clothes for “days and days on end, all of which are soiled, stained, tattered and torn.”

The attorneys’ request cited a change in “his overall mental status.”

The judge’s order does not specify where Allen will be moved, but it asks officials to follow the guidance of physicians and psychiatrists. Gull has scheduled a June 15 hearing on a defense request to allow Allen to be released on bail.

Allen, of Delphi, has maintained his innocence.

He was arrested in October and charged with two counts of murder in the February 2017, killings of the girls, known as Libby and Abby. They had gone hiking on a trail just outside of their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily-wooded area near the trail.

Police say the teens’ deaths are homicides but have not revealed how they died in the case that has haunted the Indiana city of about 3,000 residents.

The post Jailed Delphi murder suspect wins appeal to be relocated appeared first on News Now Warsaw.