Jurors in Delphi, Indiana, have begun their deliberations in the trial of Richard Allen after Judge Frances Gull handed the high-profile case over to the jury at 1.25pm Thursday.
After 17 days of evidence, 60 witnesses and more than 300 exhibits, attorneys for the state and Allens defense made their closing arguments throughout the morning.
Allen, 52, stands accused of murdering Delphi teenagers Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13. He has been charged with four counts in connection with the killings – two counts of murder and two of felony murder, which is murder committed during the act of another crime, in this case, kidnapping.
Richard Allen. 52, faces murder charges for the 2017 deaths of teenage bestfriends Libby and Abby
Allen is charged with killing best friends Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, after they went on a hike outside their hometown of Delphi, Indiana, in February 2017
Standing to address the court shortly after 9am, prosecutor Nick McLeland described February 13, 2017, as, ‘a day this community will never forget.’
That was the day, he told them, ‘Abigail Williams and Liberty German went to the trails for a walk and never returned. The day that both of them were murdered by Richard Allen.’
Back on October 18, McLeland told jurors the case was about Bridge Guy, a bullet and the brutal murders of two young girls.
But he reiterated, ‘We told you we would give you evidence to convict Richard Allen, and we have done just that.’
He reminded them that Allen had repeatedly damned himself through his own words by placing himself on the bridge at the time of the girls’ abductions and in multiple prison confessions.
It was Allen who put himself on the trail between 1.30 and 3.30pm, Allen who told investigators he had gone out onto Monon High Bridge, who described the outfit he wore – a match the state asserts to Bridge Guy – and who made a string of prison confessions that included details only the killer could have known.
McLeland once again showed the video recorded by Libby at 2.13pm, ‘the moment the girls were kidnapped.’ The shaky footage played out to the court as Abby could be seen making her way across the bridge as the bundled-up figure of a man walked with purpose behind her.
‘Guys, down the hill,’ echoed through the silent room along with a startled chirp from one of the girls and the horrified words, ‘that be a gun.’
McLeland said to the court: ‘You can hear the fear in their voice. You can see the fear in Abby’s face.’
The state and Allens defense presented their closing arguments this morning, both focusing on the timeline and physical evidence at the scene
Officers found ‘a Bridge Guy starter kit’ in Allens home during a search on October 26, 2022 -including apparel and ammunition
He reminded the jurors of the eyewitnesses they had heard from who were adamant that the person they saw that day was Bridge Guy. He reminded them of the digital evidence gleaned from Libby’s phone which, he said, showed it stopped moving at 2.32pm and never moved again.
McLeland recalled volunteer Kathy Shank’s chance find of the lead sheet in 2022 – something that hadn’t been followed up - recording a man who self-reported being on the trails between 1.30 and 2.30pm. He told them investigators knew ‘all indications pointed to that man being Bridge Guy,’ and he told them that man was Allen.
Indeed, when officers searched his home on October 26, 2022, McLeland said they found ‘a Bridge Guy starter kit,’ - a Carhartt jacket, a Sig Sauer P226 and an unspent 40 caliber Smith and Weston cartridge held in a hope box in Allen’s bedroom.
They also seized numerous electronic devices but the only one that was missing – among a multitude of cell phones, pagers, laptops and iPads – was the phone Allen used in 2017 at the time of the murders, something he had never let law enforcement inspect.
Allen was, the prosecutor told jurors, ‘familiar with the area.’ He had frequently visited the Monon High Bridge alone and with his family. ‘See how the pieces are starting to fall into place?’ he urged.
McLeland reminded them that the state presented evidence that the cartridge found between the girls’ bodies had, he said, ‘been cycled through Richard Allen’s gun.’ It was he who suggested concrete evidence that connected Allen to the girls and the crime scene.
‘That could have ended the case,’ he asserted. ‘But then he starts to confess.’
During the 13 months when Allen was held in solitary confinement – or one-man cell as the state referred to it – he made multiple confessions in phone calls to his mother Janice and wife Kathy, in person to the corrections officers tasked with watching over him on suicide watch, his prison therapist Dr Monica Wala and his prison psychiatrist Dr John Martin.
McLeland played one of Allen’s calls to his wife in court from April 3 when Allen said, ‘I just wanted to apologize. I did it. You know I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.’
Allen reported to investigators that he was on the trail between 1.30 and 3.30pm
The two best friends were last seen alive going on their fateful hike to Monon High Bridge in February 2017
Allens defense said the conditions he was held in caused an already ‘fragile egg’ to become mentally ill - to the point of developing Major Depressive Disorder with Psychosis
The call was, McLeland said, ‘unprovoked, unpressured’ and ‘made of his own volition.’
Later that month, Allen confessed he had stolen a box cutter that he used to kill the girls and then threw it in the trash at the CVS where he worked.
On April 26, he made his most detailed confession yet to Dr Wala in which he told her he had intended to rape the girls but had seen a van, got scared and killed them instead.
Quoting Allen’s own words the prosecutor said, ‘He continued living his life after time had passed because he hadn’t been caught.’
Taking the jurors back to February 13, 2017, McLeland said: ‘That day started out like any other day. The day that Bridge Guy stole the youth and the life away from Liberty and Abigail. The state has shown you Richard Allen is Bridge Guy.
‘For five years he lived amongst us. He didn’t realize he left behind a cartridge from his gun, and he also left behind Liberty’s cell phone.’
But according to Allen’s defense lawyer Bradley Rozzi, who delivered the defense’s passionate closing statements, the state had proved nothing.
He described their timeline as ‘broken,’ their ballistics evidence as ‘bungled’ and the confessions as ‘false.’
The one thing that ‘speaks the truth’ he insisted was something the state hadn’t told jurors – raw data gleaned from Libby’s cellphone which, he said, showed that at 5.45pm on February 13, 2017, somebody had plugged headphones into the phone and, at 10.32pm, someone had removed them.
The state has sought to dismiss this as a technical glitch more likely caused by dirt or water damage.
Rozzi told them, ‘The magic bullet is nothing more than a tragic bullet. It is the catalyst that landed Rick in that prison.’ The prison in question was Westville Correctional Facility in Westville some 76 miles outside Delphi.
In their case, the defense has emphasized the conditions in which Allen was held, stating they caused an already ‘fragile egg’ to become seriously mentally ill and develop Major Depressive Disorder with Psychosis.
The confessions were, they insisted, nothing but the product of his psychotic mind and should be dismissed entirely and given no weight.
The conditions in which he was held were tantamount to torture, according to his defense. A picture of a medieval rack popped up on the large screen behind Rozzi followed by a picture of a thumbscrew.
McLeland referred to Libbys grandmothers testimony and said: ‘Libby told her, someday I’m going to grow up and help police solve crimes that’s exactly what she did, and she brought Abby along with her
The abandoned Monon High Bridge outside Delphi, Indiana, where Abby and Libby were murdered
These were, he said, ‘Medieval devices to interrogate people. As a society, we’ve evolved…to a more subtle form called solitary confinement. Whether intentional, reckless or negligent somebody should have spoken out. Where was the moral compass? You are the moral compass.’
Hammering his point home Rozzi displayed pictures of Allen in open court, taken from prison video that has, to this point, been shielded from public view and seen only by the jury.
In one he lies naked, curled up in the fetal position on the floor. In one he is naked against a wall In another he wears a suicide smock and has a white spit hood over his head.
‘That’s the power of your state,’ he said, pointing to the screen behind him. A picture of a python crushing its prey followed next. ‘Now is the time to step up and recognize this is not how we function.
‘Rendering a verdict of guilt would be endorsing this process and you should not do that. We’re asking you to set Richard Allen free.’
But standing to give the brief rebuttal to which the state is entitled McLeland sought to refocus jurors’ minds. ‘There are two victims in this case,’ he said. ‘Liberty and Abigail. But they’re more than victims they’re heroes. Libby for making the video. Abby for hiding the phone and both of them for camouflaging the bullet.’
Finishing his brief response, he reminded them of the testimony of Libby’s grandmother Becky Patty delivered on the first day of evidence.
Libby told her, “Someday I’m going to grow up and help police solve crimes" that’s exactly what she did, and she brought Abby along with her.’