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topicnews · October 26, 2024

Testimony in the Delphi murder trial shows how Richard Allen became a suspect

Testimony in the Delphi murder trial shows how Richard Allen became a suspect

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DELPHI, Ind. – For five years after Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German were found dead in the woods along the Monon High Bridge Trail, Richard Allen was not on investigators’ radar.

That changed on September 21, 2022.

Kathy Shank, a retired government employee who had begun volunteering as a caseworker to help with the investigation, came across a “tip sheet” about Allen.

The document seemed to catch Shanks’ attention. She had previously read that a girl had reported that on the afternoon of February 13, 2017, while Abby and Libby were hiking, she saw a man on the trail who was never heard from again. According to the document, three days after the girls’ disappearance, Allen told police that he had also been on the trail that afternoon.

▶ A call, Snapchat photos, the video: Delphi trial provides timeline of girls’ activities

“I thought there might be a connection,” Shank testified Thursday.

Shank and several other witnesses took the stand on Thursday, the sixth day of testimony in the double murder trial, telling jurors about the series of events that led to Allen’s arrest on Oct. 26, 2022, just over a month after the volunteer’s arrest The employee found the old tip sheet about Allen and brought it to the attention of investigators.

Allen, who appeared in court wearing khaki pants and a teal shirt, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree murder in the girls’ abduction. His long-awaited trial comes more than seven years after the girls’ deaths and two years after his arrest.

The path that led to Richard Allen

On February 16, 2017, Allen himself reported to investigators that he was on the trail the same afternoon Abby and Libby disappeared. He was later contacted by Dan Dulin, a captain with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources who was helping with the investigation at the time, and the two met at a grocery store.

Allen said he was on the trail between 1 and 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 and saw three girls near the Liberty Bridge as he headed toward the trail, Dulin testified.

However, Allen was ultimately acquitted and the paper trail of his interaction with investigators was kept in a box.

On Sept. 21, 2022 — a date Shank remembers because it is the anniversary of her husband’s death — she came across a box of tip sheets in a desk drawer, she told jurors. She opened it and started going through the files, thinking she needed to enter them into a database. Then, she told jurors, she saw the Allen tip sheet.

▶ The “Bridge Guy” video: Jurors watch the infamous video and hear from witnesses who said they saw him

Shank, who has lived in Delphi for four decades, began volunteering to help with the investigation in 2017. She started as a receptionist and was given more duties over the years, including processing tips and logging them into a database, Shank testified. She also organized investigative reports, compiled narratives from interviews conducted by investigators and filed them in several closets.

The Allen file was marked with a green dot, Shank said, meaning it had been deleted. The document also appeared to have been incorrectly labeled “Richard Allen Whiteman.” Allen lived on Whiteman Drive in Delphi.

Shank took the document to Tony Liggett, chief deputy of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and lead investigator on the case. He alerted Steve Mullin, who was chief of the Delphi police when the girls were killed and later became an investigator for the district attorney’s office.

At this point, the investigation was focused on Allen.

Investigators discovered that Allen owned a 2006 Ford 500 and a black 2016 Ford Focus. Surveillance footage from the nearby Hoosier Harvestore showed a black Ford Focus driving past the store onto the path just before 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 13.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Andrew Baldwin, Mullin insisted he believed the car belonged to Allen.

▶ Gasping and tears: Graphic images of Abby and Libby are shown to the jury at the Delphi trial

Mullin and Liggett went to Allen’s home on October 13, 2022 to question him. It was the first time he spoke to investigators since meeting Dulin five years ago.

Based on Mullin’s testimony, Allen said the following in his second interview: He spent the morning of February 13 in Miami County visiting his mother. He went home, got a jacket and headed to the trail. As he walked towards the path, he saw three girls near the Liberty Bridge. When he reached the high bridge, he looked down Deer Creek and watched the fish.

Mullin also told jurors that Allen said he was wearing a blue or black Carhartt jacket, jeans and a hat.

At some point during the interview, Allen became agitated and left the room, Mullin told jurors.

Mullin also said he asked Allen if he was “Bridge Guy,” the man seen in the infamous photo and video following Abby and Libby on the high bridge.

“His response was, ‘If the picture was taken on the girls’ camera, there was no way it was him,'” Mullin testified.

There were some inconsistencies in Allen’s statements.

In 2017, he said he arrived at the trail around 1:30 p.m. and left around 3:30 p.m. In 2022, he said he got there around noon and wasn’t on the trail until 2 p.m

Shortly after interviewing Mullin and Liggett, investigators searched Allen’s home. They arrested Allen less than two weeks later.

Allen’s leadership should not have been clarified, says Liggett

Liggett acknowledged that Allen was not considered a suspect in the teens’ deaths for five years, although he himself stated on February 13, 2017 that he was on the trail.

Allen “lost himself in the cracks,” Liggett told jurors, and someone he believes was a dispatcher cleared Allen’s leadership in 2017. But he said it “should not have been resolved.”

During his cross-examination, defense attorney Bradley Rozzi appeared to suggest that Liggett wanted to be arrested because it would benefit his career. Liggett was elected Carroll County sheriff in November 2022, weeks after Allen’s arrest.

▶ “I thought they were mannequins”: Testimony in the Delphi murder trial is emotional on the second day

“It was never about me,” Liggett testified. “It was about the murders of two girls.”

Liggett also acknowledged that none of the physical descriptions eyewitnesses gave of “Bridge Guy” matched Allen.

Knife, a photo album and a gun: what the police say they found in Allen’s house

The state capped the proceedings Thursday with the testimony of two Indiana State Police investigators who assisted in the search of Allen’s home.

Prosecutors reviewed over a dozen photos taken during the search and showed jurors photos of his home, his 2016 Ford Focus and several knives.

Jurors were shown a photo of Allen’s kitchen with a basket that Det. David Vido said he had with him “everyday items” such as keys. Vido said there was a box cutter in or next to the basket.

▶ “Grandma, everything will be okay”: Family testifies as lawyers offer dueling narratives in Delphi trial

Lt. Jerry Holeman testified that Allen was told during the search that he could file a complaint if the home was damaged during the investigation.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s over,” Allen said, according to Holeman.

Jurors were also shown a photo album containing several photos of Allen’s family along the trails near the bridge.

During cross-examination, defense attorneys Baldwin and Jennifer Auger countered that Allen had a fishing license and suggested that fishermen often use knives to cut their lines. Auger also said many families in Tippecanoe and Carroll counties cross the trails.

Police also found the Sig Sauer Model P226 .40 caliber handgun allegedly associated with an unspent cartridge found among the girls’ bodies.

Testimony continues Friday.

Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or kphillips@indystar.com.

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