Newly unsealed documents in the Delphi murders case reveal how Indiana investigators tied a local CVS employee to the 2017 crime and how the girls might have been killed.
Investigators believe Richard Allen used a "sharp object" to kill Liberty "Libby" German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, Feb. 14, 2017, while the two teen girls were walking on a popular hiking trail in Delphi, court documents unsealed Wednesday revealed.
Investigators initially questioned Allen that same year after witnesses and security footage tied him and his vehicle to the crime scene.
He admitted to being on the Monon High Bridge Trail the day Libby and Abigail were reported missing Feb. 13, court documents show.
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The girls' family members had dropped them off at the trail around 1:50 p.m. that day and became worried when they could not contact or locate the girls later on. The girls were reported missing, and authorities found their bodies in a wooded area less than 24 hours later on Feb. 14.
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A pair of underwear and a sock appeared to be missing from the crime scene when police arrived. Under Libby's body, detectives found a phone, which had a 43-second video showing Abigail walking on the Monon High Bridge toward Libby while a man wearing a dark jacket and jeans walks behind her. The man can be heard ordering the girls "down the hill," according to an affidavit released Wednesday.
Libby captured the video at 2:13 p.m., less than 25 minutes after she and Abigail's family members dropped them off at the trail.
Abigail and Libby were two of six girls who went walking on the Monon High Bridge the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017. Investigators interviewed the four other girls, who confirmed that they had seen a man wearing a dark jacket and jeans on the trail that afternoon.
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Based on their investigation, authorities "believe a firearm was involved in the abduction and murder of Abigail Williams and Liberty German because an unspent .40-caliber round was found between the bodies of Abigail Williams and Liberty German."
Investigators also "believe a knife was used in the murder of Abigail Williams and Liberty German."
A medical examiner determined the girls died by homicide and had wounds caused by a "sharp object," court documents state.
Five years later, on Oct. 13, 2022, investigators again interviewed Allen and his wife, Kathy Allen. During that interview, Allen confirmed he had been wearing "blue jeans, and blue or black Carhart jacket with hood and that he was wearing head covering" when he was on the trail that day.
Authorities said Allen's description of his clothing that day and items that were later recovered from his home "match the description of the man seen on the bridge from the video taken by Liberty German's phone. "
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Investigators executed a search warrant at the Allens' home in Delphi Oct. 13, 2022, and they recovered a blue Carhartt jacket, a SIG Sauer P226 .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and a .40-caliber S&W cartridge in a "wooden keepsake box" from a dresser between two closets in Allen's bedroom.
The handgun recovered at Allen's home was consistent with the .40-caliber unspent bullet police located at the site of the murders in 2017.
Investigators determined Allen was the last person to contact Abigail and Libby. After recovering items from his home in October 2022, they took him into custody in the girls' murders.
Approximately 100 documents were unsealed in Allen's case Wednesday after journalist Áine Cain and attorney Kevin Greenlee, who co-host "The Murder Sheet" podcast and have been closely covering the Delphi murders case, petitioned the court to release them.
"We are extremely gratified by Judge Gull's swift ruling and her adherence to transparency. We are also pleased that the other parties in the case have agreed that it is in the interests of both the public and the case to allow for the widespread viewing of court documents," Cain and Greenlee said Wednesday in a statement.
"Of course, Prosecutor [McLeland] and defense attorneys Baldwin and Rozzi will still retain the ability to file motions to seal certain sensitive documents, whenever it is appropriate and necessary to protect Richard Allen's rights, the privacy of civilians or any ongoing investigative angles."
