Delphi murder trial: Jury deliberations continue Friday in the trial of Richard Allen

CNN
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Jury deliberations will continue on Friday in the high-profile double murder trial of Richard Allen – who is accused of killing two teenage girls and leaving their bodies near a hiking trail in the small town of Delphi, Indiana, more than seven years ago.

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

The 12-member jury began deliberations Thursday and will return Friday morning. According to CNN affiliate WTHR, they will deliberate Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until they reach a verdict. Last month, 16 Allen County residents were selected to serve on the jury, including four people who served as alternates, according to WTHR.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Frances Gull gave her final instructions to jurors Thursday morning, telling them to “consider the facts” before Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland made closing arguments and walked the jury through the during Evidence and testimony presented during the trial, WTHR reported.

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

McLeland showed jurors graphic photos 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 was heard telling his wife. “I killed Abby and Libby.”

Defense attorney Brad Rozzi said in his closing argument that a disrupted schedule, false confessions and a lack of DNA or weapons evidence should lead to acquittal.

“The defense is assuming that what you have heard in the last few weeks is more important than what you are hearing today,” Rozzi told jurors Thursday.

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

The Delphi murder case dates back to February 13, 2017, when “Abby” and “Libby” went for a hike on the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. The two girls were reported missing after they failed 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 gained public attention, among other things, through a photo 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 in the audio the muffled voice of a man can be heard saying, “Guys, down the hill.” Although police only have the photo and audio recording spread a few days after the murders and identified the “Bridge Guy” as their prime suspect, the case lay dormant for more than five years until Allen was arrested in 2022.

Allen had apparently escaped police attention, remaining in the small town of Delphi and working at a local CVS pharmacy until September 2022, when an employee digitizing tips related to the investigation noticed he had been at the crime scene. Just days after the bodies were discovered, Allen told police that he had been on the trail during the period in which the girls were believed to have been killed.

Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett said Allen “got lost in the cracks” despite the tip, according to CNN affiliate WLFI. About a month after the tip was rediscovered, Allen was arrested after police matched an unused cartridge found among the girls' bodies to a handgun recovered during a police search of his home.

After Allen was arrested on October 26, 2022, he was charged five days later with two counts of murder for kidnapping or attempted kidnapping. Prosecutors later added two more counts of murder to the charges.

Allen's mental state and confessions were highlighted

During the trial, which began Oct. 18, prosecutors highlighted Allen's dozens of confessions while incarcerated: He confessed to the crime more than 60 times, prosecutors said, including to his wife, his mother, the psychologist, the prison director who treated him and other prison employees and inmates. They played audio recordings of some of the confessions to the jury.

Monica Wala, the former chief psychologist at the Westville Correctional Facility where Allen was housed, testified that he initially told her he was innocent, but in April 2023, around the time he was placed back on suicide watch, he began to confess the crimes.

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

The defense has sought to portray Allen as a mentally ill man whose fragile mental state was exacerbated by months in solitary confinement, including during the time he confessed to the crimes. While in prison, he was placed on suicide watch twice, exhibited bizarre behaviors such as eating his own feces and hitting his head, and was once diagnosed with a “brief psychotic disorder,” according to Wala's statement.

As a defense witness, 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 “severe disability”. ” according to CNN affiliate WRTV.

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

Audio recordings and bullet evidence became focal points

Despite Allen's confessions, there is very little physical evidence linking him to the case: A DNA expert who testified for the state found no DNA from Allen at the crime scene, and on items recovered from his home, No DNA from Libby or Abby was found.

Prosecutors drew attention to the unspent .40-caliber cartridge found in the girls' bodies, which a prosecution expert said matched Allen's pistol. According to WRTV, the defense expressed doubts about the bullet evidence, questioning why more pictures weren't taken of the cartridge and suspecting the bullet could have come from a police officer's gun.

Prosecutors have also tried to link Allen to the video and audio recording of the “Bridge Guy” recorded on Libby's cellphone. Indiana State Police Capt. Brian Harshman, who said he listened to more than 700 of Allen's prison phone calls, testified for the prosecution that in his opinion “the voice of 'Bridge Guy' is the voice of Richard Allen.” to WRTV.

“Richard Allen is a bridge guy,” McLeland told the jury. “He kidnapped her and later murdered her.”

In response, Rozzi said Allen was not positively identified by witnesses as the man who was on the trail or bridge when the teens went missing. He also pointed out that Allen continued to live in Delphi for more than five years after the girls were murdered.

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