LIBBY GERMAN & ABBY WILLIAMS: Indiana vs. Richard Allen for 2017 murder of two Delphi girls *TRIAL IN PROGRESS*

On February 14, 2017, the bodies of Abigail Williams and Liberty German were discovered near the Monon High Bridge Trail, which is part of the Delphi Historic Trails in Delphi, Indiana, United States, after the young girls had disappeared from the same trail the previous day. The murders have received significant media coverage because a photo and audio recording of an individual believed to be the girls' murderer was found on German's smartphone. Despite the audio and video recordings of the suspect that have been circulated and the more than 26,000 tips that police have received, no arrest in the case has been made.[1][2][3]

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Police have not publicly stated nor released details of how the girls were murdered.[6] As early as February 15, 2017, Indiana State Police began circulating a still image of an individual reportedly seen on the Monon High Bridge Trail near where the two friends were slain; the grainy photograph appearing to capture a Caucasian male, with hands in pockets, walking on the rail bridge, head down, toward the girls.[4] A few days later, the person in the photograph was named the prime suspect in the double-homicide.[5]

On February 22, law enforcement released an audio recording where the voice of the assailant,[7] though in some degree muffled, is heard to say, "Down the hill." It was at this news conference that officials credited the source of the audio and imagery to German's smartphone, and, further, regarded her as a hero for having had the uncanny foresight and fortitude to record the exchange in secret. Police indicated that additional evidence from the phone had been secured, but that they did not release it so as not to "compromise any future trial." By this time, the reward offered in the case was set at $41,000.[5]


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I have often wondered if RA was put in an identity parade ? Maybe not, as he admitted being there?
Maybe. They may have done that with the witnesses once they knew they were onto their man or in that process, maybe with a photo line up if not a real one...? Guess there's no way to know at this point.

BUT this happened long before they were allegedly onto RA so I don't think it applies as to this witness with the poor eyesight or whatever it is.
 
At this rate there won't be any evidence, if everything the P and D have requested blocked gets allowed.
Kind of lost me with that one? Meaning if all is blocked you mean, rather than allowed?

There will be because she did not block confessions, search warrant results and all the other stuff the D has been trying for with no real basis for months on end.
 
BG is quite clearly  not KK ( or RL if that is where you are going next. )
The sketch is clearly BG. The first one. And RA clearly fits the video L took. The sketch is a sketch from memory and description imo from the girls. That ended up matching L'[s video pretty darned well. But as you said, a sketch is a sketch.

And I will say video is video and actual. And he fits it very well. And the sketch was very close to BG. That's how I look at it.
 
Kind of lost me with that one? Meaning if all is blocked you mean, rather than allowed?

There will be because she did not block confessions, search warrant results and all the other stuff the D has been trying for with no real basis for months on end.
Yes, we have had the D trying to get the PCA blocked plus the confessions plus some of the jail witnesses and other stuff i can't remember, now i guess the P are trying it. My comment was tongue in cheek, really. They even wanted the f'ing judge gone too, several times they tried that.
 
In reading I think a link from I'm amazed, these jurors are being transported 100 miles a day on top of being sequestered?? I guess I knew they were being transported from elsewhere but not sure I realized what the length of each day is going to be for them. And sequestered for a month on top of it. Now I personally don't think there's enough for a month but feel the D will attempt to use up every bit of it even if going off into irrelevant stuff and witnesses or trying to I'd say. And what is court running? I think it's like 8 to 5:30? Or is it 9, and then jurors have travel. I sure hope they have some things planned and options for the weekend which by the way they should be able to go or refuse even if they have to leave a bailiff or whoever or two at the hotel and send some with on any excursion.

I can tell you I could do it. Give me enough to watch and a pile of old school magazines of my choosing, a jigsaw puzzle, books and time off and I could do it. With no phone, computer, etc. So LONG as I knew in any emergency family could reach the court and get news to me in rapid time at any time. And if I could order what I liked within reason to eat, etc. when I wanted it and so on lol. Also, so long as one has their own room. Putting two in together when you don't know the other, after long stressful days, no thank you.

That part I'd embrace I am pretty sure. Unplugging.

However, the part that would be hard that I did not mention is long days of hard testimony, day after day, of travel, showering, dressing day in and day out, and travel, and little time before the next day to process and be doing it all over again for a month. I'd really embrace the weekends... I wouldn't be embracing the long days, travel, and being dependent on others and required to do this or that, etc. but I'd do it.

I do think though there are types that will really struggle with this and I hope no such types are on the jury. And even those that might think it won't get to them may find it does.

So just a bit of an aside about what it will be like for this jury--those are going to be some LONG days.

Question, can they have even supervised contact say weekly just to check in at home?
 
Yes, we have had the D trying to get the PCA blocked plus the confessions plus some of the jail witnesses and other stuff i can't remember, now i guess the P are trying it. My comment was tongue in cheek, really. They even wanted the f'ing judge gone too, several times they tried that.
Tongue in cheek I get. Lol. Wasn't sure. Totally get. Yeah, they pretty much tried to get all tossed and the judge in a blanket way, and when that didn't work just kept hitting getting all tossed in various motions and separate attempts but still in a blanket way. All confessions. All result from the warrant. Etc., etc., etc.

The P really hasn't asked much be blocked or motioned themselves, they have mostly just responding to the D wanting all blocked and arguing that of course most should not be. I'm really not sure how I feel about them wanting the sketches blocked but I think they can deal with it. I don't see the need for them but I also think so what. Sketches were put out as they were as a tool. I can understand why the second one was put out and the jury just needs to be told why as well.

I don't think they are necessary but then you know if the D wants them in, they were put out, and just deal with it and get the explanation in.

Maybe Gull will exclude them but I'm not sure she should.

Have we actually seen the basis given? I don't think I have. It came after Tom recently covered things recently filed, this motion.
 
I prefer to follow the local Journal and Courier whenever I can. (Ron Wilkins, I believe his name is.)
They're reporting the same thing.

The seating capped off a day filled with surprise revelations, including Carroll County prosecutors asking to bar the defense from presenting prior sketches of potential suspects and the defense stating a hair found in Williams' hand did not match their client's.

 
I'll bet they do!

Delphi murders: State wants to keep widely circulated composite sketches out of trial​

The state doesn’t want a pair of composite sketches that were highly publicized early in the investigation to be part of the Delphi murders trial.

On Monday, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland filed a motion in limine asking the court to prohibit the admission of the sketches or any reference to them during the trial.
This really bothers me. It's yet another "hey, we're just opening the door for an appeal".
 
The reporting should be very similar since they've all apparently agreed how to pool, share notes, who will attend and how they will all together cover it all or try to. I guess we will see.

I'm undecided on the sketches but I say who cares, just deal with it and explain it and let the jury give it the weight or lack of weight such deserves, just like the confessions and some other things.
 
In reading I think a link from I'm amazed, these jurors are being transported 100 miles a day on top of being sequestered?? I guess I knew they were being transported from elsewhere but not sure I realized what the length of each day is going to be for them. And sequestered for a month on top of it. Now I personally don't think there's enough for a month but feel the D will attempt to use up every bit of it even if going off into irrelevant stuff and witnesses or trying to I'd say. And what is court running? I think it's like 8 to 5:30? Or is it 9, and then jurors have travel. I sure hope they have some things planned and options for the weekend which by the way they should be able to go or refuse even if they have to leave a bailiff or whoever or two at the hotel and send some with on any excursion.

I can tell you I could do it. Give me enough to watch and a pile of old school magazines of my choosing, a jigsaw puzzle, books and time off and I could do it. With no phone, computer, etc. So LONG as I knew in any emergency family could reach the court and get news to me in rapid time at any time. And if I could order what I liked within reason to eat, etc. when I wanted it and so on lol. Also, so long as one has their own room. Putting two in together when you don't know the other, after long stressful days, no thank you.

That part I'd embrace I am pretty sure. Unplugging.

However, the part that would be hard that I did not mention is long days of hard testimony, day after day, of travel, showering, dressing day in and day out, and travel, and little time before the next day to process and be doing it all over again for a month. I'd really embrace the weekends... I wouldn't be embracing the long days, travel, and being dependent on others and required to do this or that, etc. but I'd do it.

I do think though there are types that will really struggle with this and I hope no such types are on the jury. And even those that might think it won't get to them may find it does.

So just a bit of an aside about what it will be like for this jury--those are going to be some LONG days.

Question, can they have even supervised contact say weekly just to check in at home?
I thought they were going to be in a hotel in Carroll County, as that is where the trial is. Or maybe in Lafayette (only 20 minutes away) which is White County, I think.

I don't think they can have any contact.
 
This really bothers me. It's yet another "hey, we're just opening the door for an appeal".
On what grounds would that be appealable do you think? I mean the sketches were done really early, then they had something better superceding them with the actual video.
 
They're reporting the same thing.

The seating capped off a day filled with surprise revelations, including Carroll County prosecutors asking to bar the defense from presenting prior sketches of potential suspects and the defense stating a hair found in Williams' hand did not match their client's.

Thanks, i hadn't seen this yet. Could be the last time we see the sketches.

So they will be in a hotel the whole time, as I thought.

The stray hair in A's hand could have come off L's clothes or the borrowed sweatshirt from K or K's vehicle, or from the overnight stay at L's house, so i don't see that as a problem.

Also, why are the jury seeing the defendant handcuffed? Isn't that prejudicial? Is that normal?

From the J&C link-

The panel will now head to Carroll County to sequester in a hotel through the end of the trial, which is slated to continue through Nov. 15. Opening statements start Friday, Oct. 18.

The seating capped off a day filled with surprise revelations, including Carroll County prosecutors asking to bar the defense from presenting prior sketches of potential suspects and the defense stating a hair found in Williams' hand did not match their client's.

Allen was charged in 2022 with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while kidnapping in the killings of the girls. Prosecutors allege the girls were walking along trails east of the city on Feb. 13, 2017, when they were forced off and led to a creek before being killed.

The allegation was just the first in new developments revealed Tuesday.

75687692007-untitled-design-20241015-t-095443537.png

Police released two composite sketches during the course of the investigation into the murders of two Delphi girls.
PROVIDED
In a motion filed Tuesday, the state requested the court to bar widely publicized sketches of possible suspect(s) from the trial. Two sketches appearing to show different men were released by authorities during the Delphi investigation, one in July 2017 and the other in April 2019. The drawings, along with cellphone video captured on German's phone, are among the few glimpses of the suspect released to the public.

In the motion, Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland argued “a composite sketch is not relevant, admission would result in undue prejudice, confuse or mislead the jury, or is impermissible hearsay, and the witnesses who participated in the preparation of composite sketch(s) will not be presented by the State for the purpose of in-court identification of the defendant.”

A ruling about the sketches had not been made at the time of this article's publication.

At the start of Tuesday, the case needed two alternate jurors out of Allen County to complete the 16-member jury. Three jurors were then dismissed, dwindling the number to 11. One was dismissed over health concerns, another juror dismissed cited childcare issues. It's unclear why the third was excused.

Day 1: 14 of 16 jurors chosen in Delphi murders trial; selection resumes Tuesday

By 3:30 p.m., the final jury selection was made.

Allen appeared in court handcuffed, wearing a baby blue button-up shirt, khaki pants and glasses on top of his head.

More: Delphi murder case jurors will face unimaginable pressure, life-changing decision

The panel is being chosen from roughly 300 Allen County people summoned as prospective jurors. Special Judge Frances Gull previously decided the group should come from another county versus selecting from Delphi, a town of 2,961 people, to ensure impartiality and Allen's right to a fair trial.

(This story was updated to change or add a photo or video and new information.)

Contact IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson at sarah.nelson@indystar.com

21 hours ago
 
On what grounds would that be appealable do you think? I mean the sketches were done really early, then they had something better superceding them with the actual video.
They didn't take the sketches out of circulation. Let me look at some dates.

Important dates:

2/13/2017 girls were murdered
2/15 stills were released from video
2/22 "down the hill" released
July 2017 sketch 1 released
April 2019 sketch 2 released

The sketches were released after the video
 
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They didn't take the sketches out of circulation. Let me look at some dates.

Important dates:

2/13/2017 girls were murdered
2/15 stills were released from video
2/22 "down the hill" released
July 2017 sketch 1 released
April 2019 sketch 2 released

The sketches were released after the video
Yes but the dates they were drawn with the witnesses were before the video came out, i believe. Not completely sure though. There were other sketches too that were never released. What about them?

I still don't see the grounds for appeal though. If anything, it was good for RA for there to be more than one sketch issued.
 
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Yes but the dates they were drawn with the witnesses were before the video came out, i believe. Not completely sure though. There were other sketches too that were never released. What about them?
If they were never released, they weren't part of the investigation. JMO
 
If they were never released, they weren't part of the investigation. JMO
Well they were part of it but they just decided not to release some sketches.

I wonder if they will allow the selfie of RA posing in front of the sketch, that his wife took?
 
I bet the prosecution would like to get that thrown out.
Article with the new BG sketch in the background. How would it work to get this thrown out?


before their brutal killings.
On the wall behind him is a police sketch released by Indiana State Police in 2019 of the man suspected of murdering the teenage best friends. Mr Allen bears some likeness to the drawing.
The selfie was posted by Mr Allen’s wife on Facebook in December 2021 – the same month investigators issued a fresh appeal urging members of the public to come forward with information about an online catfishing account thought to be tied to the murders.
Now, 10 months later, Mr Allen has been arrested and charged with Libby and Abby’s brutal deaths.

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The 50-year-old from Delphi was taken into custody on Wednesday and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.
On Monday, Indiana State Police announced that he had been charged with two counts of murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is said to be refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
It is not clear what information has led to Mr Allen’s arrest now, more than five years on from the 2017 murders.
Officials would not rule out the possibility that other individuals were also involved in the teenagers’ brutal murders and, if so, vowed that they will also face charges.
The affidavit is currently under seal, with officials declining to provide additional details about the bombshell development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi and gone unsolved for more than half a decade.
Family members of Libby welcomed the charges, with her sister writing on social media: “We got him.”

Richard Allen is seen posing for a smiling selfie in front of a police sketch of the killer

Richard Allen is seen posing for a smiling selfie in front of a police sketch of the killer (Supplied)
Before his sudden arrest, Mr Allen’s name was never publicly linked to the case.
At the time of the murders, Mr Allen would have been 44 years old. He appears to have no prior criminal record though jail records list him as also going by the alias of Craigh Ross Rentfrow.
The 50-year-old is a local resident of Delphi, the small, close-knit town of around 3,000 people.
His family home is less than a five-minute drive away from where the bodies of Libby and Abby were found, residing in a neighborhood southwest of the Monon High Bridge.
According to online records, Mr Allen has lived in Delphi there since at least 2006, and in Indiana his whole adult life.
Married to his wife Kathy with whom he shares an adult daughter, Mr Allen is a trained pharmacy technician, receiving his most recent pharmaceutical licence in February 2018 – one year on from the murders.
He currently works at the local CVS store – coming into contact with members of the community as part of his job.
Libby’s grandparents Mike and Becky Patty said that they recalled Mr Allen processing photos for them at the store.
CVS offered its condolences to the victim’s families and said it would cooperate with the investigation in any way it can.

Police sketches released in 2019 (left) and 2017 (right) in the search for the killer

Police sketches released in 2019 (left) and 2017 (right) in the search for the killer (Indiana State Police)
“As members of the Carroll County community, we remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families,” the company said in a statement to local outlet WRTV.
“We are shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.”
Local residents reacted with shock when news broke on Friday of his arrest, saying that he seemed “like a normal guy”.
“When I will go into CVS as a customer myself, he would say ‘do you need any help?’ I would be like ‘no’,” Chandler Underhill, the manager of the local Brick & Mortar Pub, where he said Mr Allen was a regular, told Fox59.
“Just like a normal guy that I’ve seen for the last couple years, not really thinking anything.”
Mr Underhill said that Mr Allen always seemed “normal” when he would come into the pub where he works.
“I would talk; he wouldn’t say much. He seems like a normal guy,” he said.
“One of my servers was telling me that he wouldn’t speak much.”
Libby’s grandfather told reporters on Monday that his granddaughter’s accused killer had been “hiding in plain sight” the whole time.
On 13 February 2017, Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in their hometown of Delphi.
During the walk, Libby posted a photo of her best friend walking along the Monon High Bridge. It was the last known photo of Abby before she was killed.
Later that day, the teenagers were reported missing when they failed to return to a spot where a family member was picking them up.

Richard Allen pictured in mugshot after arrest for Delphi murders

Richard Allen pictured in mugshot after arrest for Delphi murders (Indiana State Police)
The next day – Valentine’s Day 2017 – their bodies were discovered in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.
For the last five years, no arrests were made and police remained tightlipped about the crime scene and how the girls died.
Investigators have long been searching for a man captured on Libby’s cellphone before she died.
A grainy video shows a man dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge.
Investigators released a still image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: “Go down the hill.”
Prior to Mr Allen’s arrest, other names have fallen under suspicion but no one has ever been charged.
Investigators zeroed in on local man Ronald Logan back in 2017, according to a search warrant application filed by an FBI agent back then before being obtained by podcast The Murder Sheet and shared with The Independent this May.
The partly redacted document reveals law enforcement wanted to carry out a search on Mr Logan’s home which was just 1,400 feet from where the girls’ bodies were found.
He had also allegedly lied about where he was at the time that the teenagers disappeared, claiming he was out of the area with a friend when cellphone location data actually placed him in the area around the trail.
The document gave further details about the brutality of the murders, revealing that they were believed to have been killed elsewhere before the murderer moved and staged their bodies at the scene.
The girls had lost “a lot” of blood during their deaths and had been killed by some type of weapon – with the word redacted – the document states.
The murderer would have been covered in the victims’ blood in the aftermath of the slayings due to the “large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene”, it reads.
The killer was also believed to have taken some sort of souvenir from the scene.

Libby German (left) and Abby Williams (right) pictured together

Libby German (left) and Abby Williams (right) pictured together (Facebook)
Mr Logan was never charged and he died in 2020.
In December, investigators also honed in on Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru whose home was searched on suspicion of child porn charges just two weeks after the 2017 murders.
Kline had allegedly confessed to investigators to using the fake social media account @anthony_shots to groom underage girls online and get them to send him nude photos and to arrange to meet him.
The account is believed to have been used to contact one of the victims around the time of her death.
Kline denied any involvement in the murders.
Indiana State Police announced details of the fake account to the public and urged anyone who had communicated with, met, or attempted to meet the individual posing as @anthony_shots to come forward with information.
It is not clear if this is tied in any way to Mr Allen’s arrest or what may have led to his arrest now – more than five years on from the 2017 slayings.

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