Indiana women identify 'Bridge Guy' on day of teen double murder

Oct. 23 (UPI) — Two teenage girls walking near the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana, on the same day that two younger girls were murdered nearly eight years ago testified Wednesday that they recognized the suspect.

Railly Voorhies said she was 16 and was walking with her two sisters and a friend, Breann Wilber, on Feb. 13, 2017, when they passed a man who they said was white and overdressed because of the warm weather .

Voorheis testified in court that the man was wearing dark clothing and a hat and had his hands in his pockets as she walked past him near the Liberty Bridge, waving and saying hello.

A prosecutor showed Voorheis a grainy photo of a man and asked if he was the same man Voorheis had seen on the trail. She said it was the same man the prosecutor identified as defendant Richard Allen.

Allen, 52, is accused of kidnapping and killing Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, that day and was arrested in October 2022.

He is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while kidnapping.

Allen's defense attorney, Jennifer Auger, argued that Voorheis' description of the man in an earlier interview differed from that of the man in the photo.

Voorheis originally said the man she saw was in his 20s or 30s and had a tall build, brown eyes, curly hair, a square jaw and a wrinkled face. She also said he was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie, a black mask and black boots.

Prosecutor Stacey Diener later asked Voorheis if she had ever made statements to police estimating the height or weight of the man pictured, to which she replied, “No.”

“I was sure that was the man I saw,” Voorheis told Diener. “I can say with certainty that the person in the picture is the person I saw.”

Auger asked Voorheis if seeing the photo might have influenced her change in the suspect's description, which Voorheis thought was possible.

Wilber also testified that the man she and Voorheis saw that day was overdressed because of the warm weather, adding that he walked with a “purpose” and did not respond when Voorheis waved and said hello.

Wilber referred to the man in the picture as a “bridge guy” and said he was the person she saw on the trail.

Auger also asked Wilber why her description of the suspect had changed over the years.

A third witness, Sarah Carbaugh of Delphi, also testified Wednesday, saying she saw a man walking down an area street covered in blood and mud around 4 p.m. on the day the two girls were killed.

Carbaugh said she looked at the man, but he didn't make eye contact. She said she later received the AMBER alert about the missing girls and saw a photo of the suspect on the local news, where she recognized the man she had seen covered in blood and mud.

Williams and German were reported missing and later found dead after a man forced them off the trail with a gun. The bodies of the two girls were found a day later.

German had noticed the man following them and began recording him with her cell phone until he pulled out the gun and asked her to get off the trail. Then the recording stopped.

Prosecutors showed the video to jurors Tuesday and said it showed Allen following the two girls.

On Wednesday, Indiana State Police Sgt. Christopher Cecil testified that he extracted data from 23 of Allen's devices while investigating the murders in November 2022.

Cecil said he found nothing linking Allen to the girls' murders, but said someone had used Allen's electronic devices to find information about the girls online.

There was no evidence of direct contact between the girls and Allen, Cecil said.

The trial began Friday in Allen Superior Court in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with special judge Frances Gull presiding.