DELPHI, Ind. — The fate of a Delphi, Indiana, man accused of killing two girls on a hiking trail is now in the hands of a jury after a trial that revealed new details of the mysterious case.

Richard Allen pleaded not guilty to the murders of his best friends Abby Williams (13) and Libby German (14). Their bodies were left in the forest on February 13, 2017 and were found the next day.

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The crime gained national attention when police released an image of the suspect found on Libby’s phone and audio recording of him saying “down the hill.”

Allen admitted that he was on leave the day of the murders but denied involvement.

Here’s a look at the trial’s key takeaways:

How did the girls die?

For more than seven years, investigators remained tight-lipped about how the girls were killed; They did not disclose whether their deaths were caused by a knife, gun or other weapon and whether they were sexually assaulted.

Prosecutor Nick McLeland then announced in his opening statement that the girls’ throats had been slit.

The pathologist who performed the autopsies, Dr. Roland Kohr testified that Abby had a 1-inch-deep, 3-inch-long incision wound on her neck.

Kohr said Libby had several slash wounds on the right side of her neck, the largest of which was about 3.5 inches long.

Kohr said he initially thought a serrated knife was used to cut the girls’ necks, but came to believe a cutter may have been used during preparations for the final trial.

Prosecutors said Libby’s body was found naked, but the rape investigation concluded there was no DNA evidence to suggest the girls had been sexually assaulted, according to testimony from a forensic scientist.

Eyewitnesses remember the ‘bridge man’

McLeland said that after Abby and Libby crossed the Monon High Bridge, they saw a man behind them and Libby began recording on her phone. McLeland said the man pulled out his gun and ordered the girls to “go down the hill.” The girls complied, and then the video on Libby’s phone stopped recording, McLeland said.

The video clip of the “bridge man” from Libby’s phone was released early in the case after investigators asked the public to help them identify him.

During Allen’s trial, a pair of teenage girls who were on the trail that day shared their memories of the “bridge man” with the jury.

Railly Voorhies said the man he saw was overdressed due to the weather, wearing dark clothing, a hat and his hands in his pockets.

The prosecution took a photo of the “bridge man” and Voorhies said, “That was the guy I waved to on the road.”

Breann Wilber, who was on the road with Voorhies, said she also noticed the man overdressed due to the hot weather.

He said the man was walking “with purpose”, did not respond to Voorhies saying hello and was emitting “strange vibrations”.

Wilber said that when he saw the picture of the “bridge man” “the first thing I thought of was the person I saw on the road.”

During cross-examination, the girls were pressed about how their descriptions of the man had changed over time.

timeline of crime

The timeline of the crime was revealed thanks to data taken from Libby’s phone, which was found under Abby’s body.

Libby’s phone call showed the girls were dropped off at the trailhead around 1:40 p.m., and were near the Monon High Bridge at 2:05 p.m., Indiana State Police Sgt. Christopher Cecil testified.

At 2:14 p.m., Cecil said Libby shot the infamous “bridge man” video.

Cecil said phone records recorded a change in longitude, elevation and elevation at 2:31 p.m., meaning Libby’s phone had moved. At 2:32 p.m., the teen’s phone stopped working and never came back on, Cecil said.

Cecil testified that Libby’s phone slowly turned off throughout the night, that she died at 10:32 p.m., and then woke up suddenly at 4:33 p.m. Cecil said his phone was receiving 15 to 20 text messages at a time. One of the messages from Libby’s grandmother, sent about 12 hours earlier, read: “You need to call me now!!!” it said.

Cecil said he didn’t know what caused this gap in time.

Cecil said 23 devices were seized from Allen’s home, but none of them linked Allen to the girls or the crime scene.

Allen’s mental state, prison confessions

Allen’s mental state during the many confessions he made while in custody became the main focus of the trial.

Allen was arrested in the fall of 2022. In the spring of 2023, his behavior changed. According to corrections officers, Allen’s strange behavior in custody included banging his head against the wall, washing his face in the toilet, refusing food, eating paper, smearing feces on his cell and placing feces on his face for two hours.

Allen began repeatedly confessing to the murders to his wife, a psychologist and corrections officers in the spring of 2023, according to testimony.

Psychologist Monica Wala stated that in one of Allen’s confessions to her, he said that he saw the girls on the road and followed them to the bridge.

Allen ordered the girls “down the hill” and planned to rape them, but then he saw something (a person or a van) and was surprised, Wala said. According to Wala, Allen said he ordered the girls to cross the stream, slit their throats and covered their bodies with branches.

Allen also allegedly confessed in numerous phone calls to his wife in prison.

“I did it. I killed Abby and Libby,” Allen told his wife Kathy.

“No, you didn’t,” he said. “Yes, I did,” Allen replied.

“Why did you say that?” Kathy said. “I know you didn’t. There’s something wrong.”

Allen spent 13 months in solitary confinement, and a neuropsychologist who testified for the defense said it could change a prisoner’s brain chemistry.

The neuropsychologist said Allen was experiencing hallucinations, psychosis and suicidal ideation.

While testifying for the prosecution, corrections officer Michael Clemons testified that Allen told him, “I, Richard Matthew Allen, killed Abby and Libby by myself. No one helped me.” he said. Clemons said Allen shouted at other inmates, “I’m not crazy, I’m just acting crazy.”

Another corrections officer, Michael Roberts, testified that on April 23, 2023, Allen said, “I killed Abby.” and Libby. My wife was not involved. I want to confess.”

Days later, according to Roberts, Allen said: “Can I talk? Can you listen I killed Abby and Libby? How do I prove that I’m crazy?”

Dr. who treated the prisoners. John Martin was called as the state’s rebuttal witness.

Martin said he met Allen shortly after his arrest in November 2022. Martin said Allen arrived at the prison with a Prozac prescription because of his history of depression, but Martin said he thought he was stable.

According to the doctor, it was April 2023 when Allen started showing signs of psychosis.

Martin said he received a call to visit Allen on April 13. Martin said he found Allen naked on a bed, covered in feces, and was told he had eaten it.

Martin said he gave Allen an anti-psychotic medication; He said it took until April 25 for the medication to resolve and for Allen to show signs of improvement.

As of May 18, 2023, Allen showed no signs of psychosis, according to Martin.

On June 20, 2023, Allen — although still showing no signs of psychosis — told Martin that he “wanted to apologize to the families and his victims,” ​​Martin testified.

Martin said Allen had not shown any signs of psychosis for several weeks and was not under pressure to say anything.

Weapon

The prosecution’s key evidence is the police analysis of Allen’s gun; This analysis determined that the unspent .40 caliber bullet discovered by the girls’ bodies had been fired from Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226.

However, defense witness Dr. Erin Warren questioned this.

The defense asked Warren to review the work of former Indiana State Police crime lab technician Melissa Oberg, who examined the unspent bullet found at the scene and compared it to Allen’s gun.

Warren called it an “apples to oranges” comparison and said Oberg was comparing the first bullet, which was fired in a cyclic manner, to a bullet fired from Allen’s gun.

Oberg had previously said on the stand that “a launch signal is a launch signal” regardless of whether the bullet is fired repeatedly.

Warren disputed that statement and said the lab should have identified tool marks under the circumstances in which the lead was found.

Jurors had 15 questions for Warren about the cartridge’s testing method; this was far more questions than most witnesses received from the jury.

Closing arguments

In his closing argument, defense attorney Brad Rozzi argued for his client’s innocence and noted how Allen continued to live at Delphi in the years following the crime, even though he had the opportunity to leave at any point.

Rozzi reminded the jury that Allen came forward alone in 2017 and told police he was after her the day of the murders. Rozzi said Allen cooperated with his first interrogation in October 2022 and went for questioning a second time even though he knew he was likely a suspect at that point.

Rozzi underlined that hours of video interviews were lost in 2017.

He also brought up the 13 months Allen spent in solitary confinement, saying the only thing the state wanted to draw attention to was what Allen said, not his situation.

Rozzi argued that the Indiana State Police laboratory could not rule out that the gun belonging to local resident Brad Weber was the one found among the girls’ bodies, and said Weber changed his story about going directly to the home the day of the incident. murders.

In closing indictment, McLeland said the state had proven that Allen was a “bridge man” and reminded jurors that the 2016 black Ford Focus seen near the road that day was the only Ford Focus registered in the county and that it belonged to Allen.

Despite the defense’s doubts, McLeland said the state proved that the unspent bullet found among the girls’ bodies had passed through Allen’s gun, and the test was confirmed three times by the technician’s boss.

McLeland also detailed Allen’s numerous confessions and played Allen’s phone call confessions to his wife for the jury. McLeland said Allen’s confessions were “unprovoked, uncoerced” (And) of his own free will,” he said, adding that Allen did not show any signs of psychosis in most of his statements.

The prosecutor emphasized that in one of Allen’s alleged confessions he mentioned seeing a minibus at the scene. McLeland reminded jurors that Weber was believed to be driving a minivan home from work around the time of the murders. McLeland said it was “something only the killer would know.”