Delphi murders: Jury sees disturbing crime scene photos

People in the packed courtroom reportedly gasped loudly as a close-up of the young victim's bloodied face was shown to the jury on a large monitor.

This week, prosecutors in the double murder trial of Richard Allen, 52, of Indiana, shared publicly for the first time how Libby German, 14, and her best friend Abby Williams, 13, were killed – and the frightening scene that awaited investigators when they found their bodies one day , after they disappeared from a hiking trail in the small town of Delphi on February 13, 2017.

For years, the public had almost no information about the circumstances of the murders, even as true crime fanatics shared their theories online and the girls' families regularly advocated for anyone with information to come forward. Ultimately, it was these details of the crime – which only the girls' killer could have known – that Allen himself revealed when he confessed to the murders recorded calls he made from prison to his wife and mother.

Allen, a Delphi resident who was arrested years after the October 2022 killings, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and kidnapping. His defense attorneys argued that his more than 60 alleged confessions were coerced and unreliable because his mental health deteriorated while incarcerated.

As the long-awaited trial began, the judge warned jurors that the crime scene photos they would see would be harrowing and, according to reporters in the courtroom, they were visibly disturbed when dozens of graphic photos were shown during testimony from three investigators Crime scene.

The jurors covered their mouths, held their heads, exhaled audibly and their faces flushed. WRTV And WTHR reported when the first series of photos was shown on Monday.

It was Allen, who was allowed to wear street clothes and remain uncuffed during the trial Take notes and did not visibly react when viewing the photos, reporters said.

The photos show that grotesque wounds The Journal and Courier reported that the girls suffered and were last seen on a local hiking trail, where prosecutors say they filmed their alleged attacker approaching them with a gun.

According to investigators, Libby and Abby's necks were slashed several media Points of sale. Their bodies lay in a wooded area by a stream about a half-mile from the spot on a bridge where the man – later dubbed “Bridge Guy” by online sleuths – ordered them to go “down the hill,” according to reports According to a video, investigators said they retrieved Libby's cell phone. The video that had just been shared in excerpts by the police over the years, was played completely for the jury on Tuesday. Footage is captured of the girls descending to a stream. Fox 59 reportedwhere some of her clothes were discovered in the water, according to the Carroll County Comet. Their bodies were found the next day on the opposite bank of the creek.

The phone was found under Abby's body, investigators said, and near Libby's ankle they found an unspent bullet that prosecutors said she possessed linked to a pistol belonging to Allen.

Other crime scene details shown in photographs and described by crime scene investigators were bizarre.

The girls' bodies lay several meters apart. Investigators at the crime scene said the ground beneath them was saturated with blood. according to WRTV and other outlets.

They said they also noticed blood in an unusual location: on a tree near Abby's body, with blood stains on the trunk that were clearly visible in crime scene photos shown in court Kokomo Tribune reported.

Allen's defense attorneys had claimed in one Bombshell court documents Last September, researchers reported that a tree near the girls' bodies had been painted in blood with a rune associated with the pagan deity Odin – evidence that Odinists killed the girls in a ritual sacrifice.

Last month, the judge dealt Allen's defense team a blow when she ruled they would could not present the Odinism theory to the jury.

Another discovery at the crime scene confirmed a strange detail in the defense files from last year: sticks and branches had been attached to the girls' bodies.

Three large branches formed a triangle on Libby's body, more than twice the size of the girl, WISH News 8 reported. At least two large sticks covered Abby's body.

Another crime scene investigator, Duane Datzman, told jurors Monday afternoon that the sticks and branches were not immediately collected from the scene, WTHR reported.

Datzman also reportedly said he spotted a “glitter” in the leaves at the crime scene. It turned out to be an unspent shell casing that prosecutors said was related to a gun owned by Allen. No other cartridges were found at the scene, he said.

Allen's lawyers asked why no video or photos were captured by the removal of the cartridge from the ground, Fox 59 reported. In opening arguments, defense attorneys had claimed that Allen was the victim of a botched investigation, that evidence was mishandled and that the The ballistic evidence was unreliable.

Prosecutor Nick McLeland said in his opening statement last week that witnesses would testify that they saw a man who resembled Allen on the afternoon of the girls' disappearance. In court documents released in December 2022, investigators said a woman reported she had a “muddy and bloody“Man later this afternoon. McLeland said she told investigators he looked like he had just done it slaughtered a pig, According to reporters in the courtroom.

Still, investigators said this week that they had found something no evidence Linking Allen's DNA to the bloody crime scene Indy Star And other outlets reported.

Despite the great interest in the case and the secrecy of the investigation, very few people were able to see the trial.

The judge declined to livestream, film or audio record the case. They banned photo and video cameras from the courtroom and even from areas outside. Last week it announced that police had seized the video and photo cameras of several news outlets, including NBC and The Associated Press, and destroyed their memory cards. The journalists had allegedly filmed and photographed when the jury's charter bus arrived, which the judge said violated her order.

The jury of eight women and four men (plus four deputies) will be sequestered for the entire trial, which will take place six days a week and is expected to last a month. You'll stay overnight at a hotel in Lexington, about 20 minutes from Delphi.

Accordingly WTHR reporter Bob SegallJurors can only access their phones, which are held by court staff, to call their loved ones in the presence of a bailiff.

Journalists are also prohibited from bringing their phones or other electronic devices into the courthouse. News outlets rely on updates from reporters who rush out of the courtroom during breaks or at the end of the day to share their scribbled notes. Even respected members of the media lined up outside the courthouse overnight, alongside true crime content writers and members of the public vying for a spot in the tiny courtroom.

The trial also gave the girls' families the first opportunity to speak about them since 1990 Gag order came into force in December 2022. On the witness stand, relatives described her as bright, adventurous and always smiling.

Abby was “a very nice little girl, helpful, smart, funny,” her mother, Anna Williams, said through tears as she testified Friday afternoon Indy Star reported.

Since the trial began, Libby's grandmother Becky Patty has posted various pictures of her granddaughter playfully grinning at the camera almost every day.

And while the trial marks a milestone in the families' long search for justice, Patty posted a poignant reflection in one Facebook post about whether it could bring closure to the grieving family.

“In the end – you will never come back to us – nothing changes – missing you will never stop, the pain of losing you will never stop, the love for you will never stop, there will never be real healing” , Patty wrote. “Maybe we’ll learn to move forward when this is over – maybe not. However, one thing is certain: we will live our lives loving and honoring you. I love you and miss you so much, Libby.”