KILLER CONVICTED
Richard Allen stonefaced as he’s found guilty of Delphi murders after slitting teens’ throats & leaving bodies in woods
Prosecutors shared Liberty's final words to her family a day before she and her best friend were found dead
RICHARD Allen has been convicted of the brutal 2017 Delphi double murders of Liberty German and Abigail Williams.
Allen, whose defense attorneys claimed he confessed only when his mental health deteriorated after 13 months in solitary confinement, was found guilty on all counts on Monday.
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After nearly 19 hours of deliberations, the verdict closes this chapter on the horrific fatal knifing of teenagers Liberty "Libby" and Abigail, whose relationship state prosecutors described as "more like sisters" than best friends.
Allen, a 52-year-old father, sat at the defense table unfazed as his wife, Kathy, and mother sobbed after the fourth guilty count was read, according to .
Sentencing was set for December 20. Allen is facing life in prison.
A gag order is in place until Allen's sentencing.
The murders, which occurred on February 13, 2017, near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi, , sent shockwaves across the tight-knit community, rocking the town's foundation after investigators arrested Allen in 2022.
"[February 13, 2017] is a day this community will never forget - a day Abigail Williams and Liberty German went to the trails for a walk and never came back," Carroll County prosecutor Nick McLeland said during closing arguments.
McLeland reminded the jury that the last thing Liberty told her family as she and Abigail headed out to the trail was, "Grandma, it'll be OK."
The prosecution painted a picture to jurors of the final moments Liberty and Abigail spent together, frozen in fear as they were held at gunpoint by Allen.
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Investigators argued that years after Allen slit the throats of Liberty and Abigail, he hid and roamed freely around Delphi, camouflaging in the town of less than 3,000 residents, working as a local CVS pharmacy technician.
Liberty, 14, and Abigail, 13, were found dead on February 14, 2017, in a wooded area covered in leaves and dirt, according to gory photos shown in the courtroom during the trial.
New Delphi evidence will prove Richard Allen was not at scene of murders & could point to fresh suspect, defense claims
Branches were placed on top of the girls' lifeless bodies as Liberty lay fully nude, and Abigail wore her best friend's sweatshirt and jeans.
Five years after the murders, investigators were able to link a .40-caliber bullet found near the girls' bodies to a gun that belonged to Allen, who was arrested on October 28, 2022, and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
When confronted by investigators about the cartridge found at the scene, Allen had no explanation.
"See how the pieces are starting to fall into place," McLeland told jurors.
However, Allen's defense team stressed the prosecution's case was riddled with inconsistencies, including a broken timeline, bumbled ballistics, false confessions, and digital forensics data.
"You should question the credibility of this investigation," Brad Rozzi, one of Allen's attorneys, said during closing arguments.
Rozzi underscored that investigators only arrested the defendant because of a "magic bullet," which he claimed the state tried to use as leverage against Allen.
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THE 'BRIDGE GUY'
The prosecution set out to prove and convince jurors without a reasonable doubt that Allen was the "bridge guy" captured in the video on Liberty's final post.
In the picture, the man was seen wearing a blue jacket with his hands in his pockets and his head facing downward as he walked several feet behind the girls on the Monon High Bridge.
Indiana State Police also recovered an audio recording in Liberty's cell phone where the "bridge guy" was overheard telling the girls, "Guys, down the hill."
The video, McLeland said, "shows the moment Abby and Libby were kidnapped.
"You can hear the fear in Libby's voice and see the fear on Abby's face," he added.
Investigators initially interviewed Allen about the murders and confirmed to police that he was wearing the same clothing as the "bridge guy."
After becoming combative with investigators questioning him, authorities obtained a search warrant and combed through Allen's car and home.
"Surprise, surprise, the same jacket as 'bridge guy' was wearing," McLeland said after investigators found a similar blue Carhartt jacket in Allen's car.
The search also uncovered a .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun and images of the bridge in a photo album.
Between January 2022 and April 2022, McLeland said Allen conducted 11 searches about Delphi, including "Delphi IN news."
I killed Abby and Libby. I'm sorry.
Richard Allen
During the 18-day trial, jurors watched more than a dozen videos of Allen's incarceration at Westville Correctional Facility, where he was held while he awaited trial and where his defense team said his mental health declined.
The defense emphasized that Allen was placed in solitary confinement for 13 months and was under suicide watch between November 2022 and April 2023.
Deanna Dwenger, a clinical psychologist who worked for the Indiana Department of Corrections Behavioral Health, testified for the defense that he diagnosed Allen with a serious mental illness in April 2023 and that a team of mental health professionals concluded he had a "grave disability."
Allen developed strange behaviors while in jail, including refusing to wear clothes, banging his head on the wall, and eating his feces, the defense argued.
In the days that followed, Allen would confess multiple times to a prison psychologist and during phone calls to his wife and mother.
"I killed Abby and Libby. I'm sorry," Allen allegedly told prison psychologist Monica Wala during an April 5, 2023, session.
During two sessions with Wala in May 2023, Allen allegedly told the prison psychologist, "I killed Abby and Libby. I will kill everyone," and "I just want to sign my confession."
Allen told Wala how he "cut the girls' necks and covered their bodies with branches."
Despite his alarming behavior and statements, Wala testified that, at times, she thought Allen was faking some of the mental health behaviors.
On an April 3, 2023, phone call with his wife, Kathy, Allen told her, "Honey, I did it. I killed Abby and Liberty," prosecutors said.
Kathy told her husband not to say that, but Allen repeated the claims, "I need you to know that I did this," adding, "I think I've lost my mind."
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Defense's timeline of Richard Allen's 'mental decline'
March 23, 2023: Allen was depressed and withdrawn and said he “was not straight in the head."
April 4, 2023: Allen suffered from insomnia and hopelessness, was suicidal, and stated, “Death would bring relief to him."
April 13, 2023: Allen was exhibiting “bizarre” behavior, including consuming his feces, and was suffering from a “grave disability.” The prison psychologist ordered Allen to receive an involuntary injection of psychotropic medication.
April 21, 2023: Allen’s thoughts were disjointed and he was saying “strange things.” Wala discussed that he might be considered incompetent to stand trial.
May 3, 2023: Allen said he wanted to confess details of the crime.
May 18, 2023: Allen receives another dose of psychotropic medication.
May 23, 2023: Allen was diagnosed as suffering from stress-induced psychosis.
June 8, 2023: Allen’s depression was reported to be “at its peak,” with trembling and knees buckling noted by a psychologist.
June 16, 2023: Allen receives another dose of psychotropic medication.
End of June 2023: Allen’s mental health improving.
October 2023: Allen begins proclaiming his innocence.
ODINISM THEORY
Before the trial, Allen's defense suffered a major blow when Judge Frances Gull ruled that they could not present evidence or mention its theory that followers of Odinism, a pagan Norse religion with links to white supremacist groups, killed the girls.
The defense suggested that Liberty and Abigail may have been killed elsewhere, and the crime scene was staged, which would've been too complicated for Allen to pull off alone.
Investigators carved out a timeline of the murders suggesting that the girls were abducted at 2:14 pm on February 13, 2017, and killed somewhere between 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm.
Indiana State Police Sergeant Chris Cecil testified in August that all movement on Liberty's iPhone 6s stopped at 2:32 pm.
The cell phone never pinged again, nor did any text messages come through Liberty's phone.
Allen's defense argued that Liberty's smartphone "turned on" at 4:33 am, pinged at a nearby cell tower, and received more than a dozen text messages.
The defense underscored that the cell phone activity suggested the device, or the girls themselves, was moved to another location and then brought back to where they were ultimately found on February 14, 2017.
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Liberty's cell phone was found beneath her body and under one of her shoes, investigators revealed.
How the cell phone suddenly began receiving messages again more than 12 hours after the girls were killed has not been disclosed by investigators.
Odinist denies involvement
Richard Allen's attorneys first shared their Odinism defense in a bombshell 136-page filing in September last year.
In the document, Allen’s attorneys made a series of sensational claims and shared intimate alleged details about the crime scene for the first time – following years of silence from law enforcement.
In the filing, Allen’s team reaffirmed his claims of innocence and alleged that the girls were instead murdered by members of a pagan Norse religion called Odinism, which in recent years has been increasingly infiltrated by white supremacists.
The attorneys claimed that two groups of Odinists, one from the Delphi area and one from the Rushville area in southeastern Indiana, were investigated for their involvement in the crimes.
Those alleged Odinists were identified in the documents as Johnny Messer, Brad Holder, Elvis Fields, Patrick Westfall, and Rod Abrams - none of whom has been publicly named as a suspect or charged with any crimes related to the murders.
Allen's attorneys claimed that various Odinist iconography was left at the crime scene, including runes made out of sticks and blood.
Across dozens of pages, the attorneys outlined Messer and co.'s alleged ties to Odinism and pointed to what they call glaring evidence linking the men to the murders, which they alleged was "recklessly ignored" by prosecutors during their pursuit of Allen.
When approached by The U.S. Sun to share his side of the story last year, Messer refused to comment on the specific allegations made by Allen's defense team but said he is considering legal action against them and spoke of the emotional toll their claims have had on him and his family.
"As much as I would like to defend my name, I respectfully decline to [speak] at this time," Messer said in a written statement.
"I am seeking legal action[.] This has turned my life upside down and has taken a huge toll on my family and mental health."
He added: "I just don’t want to say anything to jeopardize my legal action that I’m going to take."
Messer's sister, when contacted by The U.S. Sun, said she would "love" to speak and help clear her brother's name, but she has been advised by legal counsel not to do so at this time.
Attempts to reach the other four men named in Allen's attorneys' filing were unsuccessful.
In their memorandum, Allen's legal team called the links between the Delphi murders and Odinism "confounding."
They alleged that Holder's son was dating Abby at the time of her death and that Holder posted a series of "Easter eggs" to Facebook in the aftermath - including apparent images of runes and other photos mirroring elements of the crime scene - which they claim were uploaded to taunt police about his alleged involvement.
Allen's attorneys claim that investigators failed to vigorously pursue the "obvious links" between the crime scene and Odinism.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, say Allen's team lacks concrete evidence linking any of the men to the crime scene.
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