Redacted Delphi Documents Unsealed Transcript

We now know more about the evidence. Investigators believe links Richard Allen to the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi. Today the judge ordered a redacted charging document and probable cause affidavit to be released to the public.

The documents include new details about the charges, a bullet found at the scene, new information on the video obtained from Libby’s phone, and statements from witnesses about the man on the bridge.

Abby and Libby were found dead near the Monon High Bridge in 2017, and now for the first time we know why detectives arrested Richard Allen nearly six years later.

We have team coverage digging into the documents and the new timeline from the day the teens were killed. Plus what we still don’t know about this investigation that’s captured Hoosier’s hearts from the beginning

And again, tonight for the very first time, the public and the press can now read those redacted court documents about the Delphi double murder case. The judge overseeing the case ordered them to be unsealed today

In the probable cause affidavit, the State lays out some of the evidence that led to Richard Allen’s arrest. The document shows how a single unspent round from a gun linked him to the murders. Now, Abby and Libby were found dead near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi in 2017, just one day after being dropped off for a hike. The documents do not say how they were killed. The newly released charging document does say though that Allen killed Abby and Libby while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping. He’s charged with two counts of felony murder.

The affidavit says investigators believe Allen is the man we’ve come to know as the man on the bridge, based on descriptions from witnesses. State police released the picture on the left from Libby’s phone a day after the girls were found dead. The evidence outlined in the affidavit includes that bullet, video from a nearby store, and statements from witnesses.

Fox 59’s Eric Graves spent the day in Delphi Going to those key places that are listed in the court documents.

We start here at Hoosier Harvestore, it’s on County Road 300 North in between the two entrances to the Monon High Bridge Trail. Video from this store is mentioned multiple times in the docs. Police say they saw a car resembling Richard Allen’s drive past at 1:27 PM, the day the girls went missing. Now to the Freedom Bridge part of the Monon High Bridge Trail passing over State Road 25. It’s on the opposite end of the trail from the Monon High Bridge and near where court docs say Richard Allen said he parked his car on February 13th, 2017.

(02:33)
According to court documents, three teenage girls who came forward say they were here near the Freedom Bridge at around 1:30 the day the girls disappeared. They say they saw a man in blue jeans and a blue jacket walk pass. They described him as creepy. Richard Allen admitted in a police interview that he was here on the same time, in the same area, and saw three girls himself.

(02:54)
Next we go back down County Road 300 North to the entrance to the Monon High Bridge Trail across from Meer’s Farm. The documents say the two victims, Abby Williams and Libby German were dropped off here at 1:49 PM. The two girls then start to walk down the trail to the Monon High Bridge.

(03:09)
Just 30 minutes later, Abby and Libby were here on the Monon High Bridge, which is currently under construction. This is where they encountered the man on the bridge.

(03:17)
At 2:13 PM, Libby takes the video clip we’ve all seen, where a man tells the girls.

Down the hill.

Investigators say this man was Richard Allen. Police say his description matches the man other witnesses saw that day.

(03:30)
Now we’re off the trail on the side of County Road 300 North.

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A witness says she saw a man in blue jeans and a blue jacket walking on this road just before four o’clock.

(03:38)
The witness described the man as muddy with blood on his clothes saying, he looked like he’d been in a fight. Investigators say they believe this was Richard Allen walking back to his car after the girls had been killed. In an interview with police, Richard Allen says he walked back down the trail to his car and left around 3:30 that afternoon.

(03:56)
Fast forward to the next day, February 14th, 2017. Investigators find Abby and Libby’s bodies back into these woods just northeast of the Monon High Bridge Trail.

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In an area described as less than a quarter mile away from the Monon High, court docs say between the two bodies found, an unspent 40 caliber round court docs say a lab proved came from Richard Allen’s gun.

(04:19)
In Delphi, Eric Graves, Fox 59 News.

Eric, thank you. Detectives arrested Allen on October 26th. Two days later he was charged. The documents relating to Allen’s arrest were sealed at the request of the Carroll County Prosecutor. That meant we didn’t know why Allen was arrested or what evidence the prosecution had, information that is typically made available publicly in most criminal cases after an arrest. One week ago today, Allen appeared in court in Carroll County. That hearing centered around whether the probable cause affidavit should remain sealed. The Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland argued that it should stay sealed. One of his main arguments was he said he had reason to believe Allen may not be the only one involved in the murders. That was information we hadn’t heard before.

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He also argued that if an unredacted affidavit were released, witnesses could potentially be harassed. Meantime, Allen’s defense team said the affidavit should be unsealed. They told us they weren’t impressed with the case against their client. They claim he’s innocent. Yesterday Judge Fran Gull ordered a redacted probable cause and charging information to be unsealed, and they were released earlier today. Her order says the State failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence, that the affidavit and charging information should be excluded from public access. She writes, “The court finds that the public interest is not served by prohibiting access and that the protection, and safety of witnesses can be insured by redacting their names from the affidavit.”

And we spoke with a defense attorney who is not connected to this case. Fox 59’s Lindsey Eaton shows us why his main takeaways are from these unsealed documents.

Yes. For the past month, this eight page probable cause affidavit remained sealed until earlier today. Names of the witnesses are the only thing redacted and the documents leave a lot of questions out there.

(06:07)
In this eight page probable cause affidavit, some of the evidence is revealed that led police to arrest Richard Allen in connection with the 2017 murders of Abby Williams and Libby German.

Likely when the defense read this, their thoughts were, where’s the rest? And that was my initial reaction as well.

JP Román-Lagunas is a defense attorney. He’s not associated with the Delphi double murder case, but has read the newly released probable cause.

The amount of information that was included in the probable cause affidavit was less than what I would’ve expected. That doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t more information. Well, there certainly is more information to come.

A probable cause affidavit isn’t required to lay out all the evidence, just enough to file charges and get an arrest warrant.

It lays out essentially the State’s case. It’s essentially in order to charge a defendant, the judge would need to review this and find that there was the minimum threshold of probable cause, in order to accept those charges and essentially have the charges filed.

We learned from the core documents that police found an unspent bullet between the girls’ bodies at the scene. Lab analysis matched the bullet to a gun recovered from Allen’s home.

I highly anticipate that the defense will find an expert to look into that and look into how accurate that testing can actually be.

According to court documents, Allen was among those interviewed early on in the investigation. He admitted to police that he was in fact on the Monon High Bridge Trail the afternoon the girls were murdered.

I certainly think that this probable cause affidavit leaves quite a bit to wonder. It leaves quite a bit out there.

Now, we asked Indiana State Police about the release of the documents. They say quote, “Out of respect for the prosecutorial process which is being led by the Carroll County Prosecutor, we are refraining from making any public statements and are going to allow the probable cause affidavit to stand on its own.” Indiana State Police says it will continue to provide resources available to assist in the case. Lindsey Eaton, Fox 59 News.

Lindsey, thank you. Allen says he was on the trail the day of the murders, but denies knowing Abby and Libby, as well as denies having any involvement in their murders. Investigators first interviewed him in 2017. He told them he arrived at the trail around 1:30 PM on February 13th. He says he saw three females but did not speak with them. Investigators interviewed Allen again this year on October 13th. The affidavit doesn’t say why they interviewed him again. It says he told them he was on the trail the day of the murders, and he went to the Monon High Bridge to watch fish. He told investigators he was wearing blue jeans in a blue or black Carhartt jacket with a hood. That day, investigators executed a search warrant of Allen’s home, and that’s where they found jackets, boots, knives, and firearms. Between October 14th and 19th, the Indiana State Police Laboratory performed an analysis on Allen’s SIG Sauer model P226.

(09:12)
You’re looking at a gun just like this now. The lab’s analysis determined the unspent round found near the bodies, had been cycled through Allen’s gun. Investigators spoke to Allen again on October 26th, the day he was arrested. He told them he never allowed anyone to use or borrow the gun. Investigators asked him about the unspent bullet and the affidavit says he did not have an explanation of why the bullet was found at the scene. He admitted to being on the trail, but again denied knowing the girls and denied involvement in their murders. Now, based on these court documents, part of the State’s case relies on that single unfired bullet to put Allen at the scene. Though again, we don’t know from those documents how the girls were killed.

But investigators did link Allen to the case by examining that one unfired round. Fox 59 Chief Investigator, Steve Brown explained some of the science that may have been involved in that analysis.

The probable cause affidavit for Richard Allen says, the Indiana State Police Laboratory determined the unspent round has been cycled through Richard Allen’s SIG Sauer P226. This is what the handgun looks like. Retired IMPD Detective Sergeant Greg Arkins tells us, when a round or shell casing is ejected from a firearm that leaves distinct marks even if it isn’t fired.

Whenever a person unloads a gun that’s loaded with a round in the chamber, then when you pull back on the slide, the extractor grabs a hold. And the extractor is made of hard metal, where the shell casing is made of slightly softer metal, so it leaves very unique microscopic striations on the shell casing.

The term striation, those are marks, scratches?

Correct. It’s a sometimes microscopic, but it’s the mark that an extractor will make.

How reliable is this information, that ejection information from a gun?

I’m not a firearms examiner, but from my experience, I found it’s like 98, 99%.

Steve Brown, Fox 59 News.

Steve, thank you. Three pieces of evidence that were released in February 2017, were a picture, this video and audio from Libby’s phone. The affidavit shares more information about that as well. Abby and Libby were dropped off for that hike 1:49 PM that day, February 13th. Video from Libby’s phone shows they encountered a man on the Monon High Bridge at 2:13 PM. State Police released part of the video in the weeks after the murders, to try and gather tips on the man’s identity. According to the affidavit, the video shows the man approaching Abby and Libby, one of the girls mentions a gun as that happens. The affidavit goes on to say, the man ordered Abby and Libby down the hill. That’s the audio clip that state police released, which we’ve played for you many times here through the years.

Guys, down the hill. Guys, down the hill. Guys, down the hill.

The affidavit says, after that no witnesses saw Abby or Libby, and no outgoing communications were found on Libby’s phone. Abby and Libby were both found dead the next day.

And while we have learned more about the State’s case from these documents, there are still many unanswered questions. It doesn’t go into how Abby and Libby were killed or what the murder weapon was.

It also doesn’t mention if anyone else is accused of being involved at this point. The County Prosecutor said in court last week, there was reason to believe others could be involved and that was an argument they laid out for trying to keep those documents sealed. Those documents don’t mention any other potential suspects. They also don’t talk about the social media account that investigators had said was believed to be tied to this case. Transcripts released this year reveal someone behind that account was supposed to meet the girls on the trail the day they were killed. Please traced that profile to a man named Kegan Klein. He is not mentioned in the documents either. In August of 2020 he was charged in connection to a child porn case and is currently in custody. He’s never been charged or named as a suspect in these murders. Klein says it’s also possible his father had access to that account, but neither man has been charged in the Delphi case and it’s not clear from the documents released today if or how that account is connected to the arrest made in the murders.

And there was another big filing in the Delphi case before the release of those documents. Allen’s defense team is requesting a change of venue. They want the trial moved 150 miles away from Carroll County, that would only leave a small portion in southwestern Indiana. Fox 59’s Max Lewis shows us why they’re making this request.

The defense cited intense media coverage of this case as one of the reasons to ship the trial elsewhere. However, one former prosecutor who has handled several change of venue cases, says this case’s impact on that small community is the biggest reason to move it.

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It’s hard to live in Carroll County and not know the name Richard Allen. In fact, his defense team cited Google data that shows around half of the county residents googled his name in the month after his arrest.

The issue is not has somebody heard of the case. The issue is whether they’ve heard of the case sufficient to have formed an opinion with respect to this defendant’s guilt or innocence.

Former Marion County Homicide Prosecutor, Denise Robinson believes that’s where having the trial in Carroll County would be hard. The defense team cited data that shows about 10% of the county’s population participated in the search for the girls when they went missing, and there are other connections to consider.

You have two different girls families, then you have investigating officers, police officers, you have EMS personnel who responded, all of whom live in that county and have family in that county. Now you’re starting to eat up into the county population pretty quickly.

The defense team said it would be impossible to select a jury in Carroll County that has no preconceived notions, but Robinson doesn’t believe they need to go excessively far. She says escaping connection to the community is much more important than worrying about media coverage.

You could probably bring a case from Carroll County to Marion County, which isn’t that far in distance, and have quite a few people in Marion County that simply don’t watch the news, that know virtually nothing about the case.

Robinson tried to change a venue case before Judge Gull in 2016 and says the judge knows what she’s doing. While there may be arguments, she says it’s in everyone’s best interest to avoid anything that could get a case thrown out.

I don’t know of too many prosecutors that want to try the case, get a conviction, and then have to try the case again.

Now, there’s a couple ways this could happen if the judge grants the motion. They could pick up the trial and move it to a different county, or they could bring in a jury that was selected from a different county and still hold the trial in Carroll County. Robinson says moving the entire trial is less of a hassle and less costly, but it will of course be up to the judge to decide. In the newsroom, I’m Max Lewis, Fox 59 News.

Max, thank you. The next hearing in this case is scheduled for February 17th. It’s a bail hearing, which Allen’s attorneys requested just last week. In that filing, they argue there is no proof of guilt evident or presumption of guilt against their client. They say Allen should be freed on a reasonable bail or released on his own recognizance. That would mean he wouldn’t have to post bail, as long as he agrees to appear in court when required. At the hearing in February, the judge will decide whether to set bail. We also know last Tuesday, the prosecutor filed a request for a gag order.

Yeah, this would mean anyone involved in the case would legally not be allowed to speak publicly about the evidence, the investigation, or the trial. The judge has not yet ruled on that gag order. Right now, the tip line set up in the Delphi double murder case remain open. If you have any additional information to share, you can contact the number or the email address you see there on your screen. We have all of that for you on our website, fox59.com, where you can also find all of our coverage from this nearly six year investigation. We have an updated timeline of the case with new details from the court documents out today, and you can read the redacted probable cause as well.