Verdict reached in murder trial in Delphi, Indiana, for the murders of two teenage girls

CHICAGO (CBS) — After more than three days of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict Monday in the double murder trial of Richard Allen, who is accused of killing two teenage girls who disappeared while hiking in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017.

The case went to the jury Thursday afternoon and deliberations continued Friday, Saturday and Monday following closing arguments from the jury week-long process.

It was not immediately clear how soon the verdict will be announced at the Carroll County Courthouse.

Allen had pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated murder in connection with the deaths of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German and 14-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams.

Prosecutors told jurors that Allen was the man seen in a grainy cellphone video taken by one of the girls as they crossed an abandoned railroad bridge on Feb. 13, 2017, shortly before their disappearance. It was also discovered that Allen had repeatedly confessed to the murders in person, by telephone and in writing. In one of the recordings, Allen could be heard telling his wife, “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.”

Allen’s defense cast doubt on the confessions. Witnesses, including a psychologist, said Allen was insane and psychotic after months in solitary confinement. The defense further argued that there was no physical evidence linking Allen to the murders, stating that no witness specifically identified Allen as the man who was on the trail or on the afternoon the girls went missing was seen on the bridge.

Five years after the teens’ murders, Allen was still living in Delphi while working at a local pharmacy.

Delphi Murders: Timeline of Events

Abigail, 13, and Liberty, 14, better known as Abby and Libby, were close friends who were dropped off by a relative at a hiking trail at the Monon High Bridge in Delphi on February 13, 2017. When they failed to meet Libby’s they were reported missing later that day. According to prosecutors, they were found dead with cuts to their throats about a mile from where they were last seen.

The police searched for a suspect for years and investigated Thousands of leadsand the release of several composite sketches of the suspect based on eyewitness accounts.

Audio evidence Libby’s cell phone revealed that an unknown man had told the girls to go “down the hill.” Libby too I recorded a short video of a man the police believed was the murderer. Although police released the photo and audio just days after the murders, the case remained unsolved for more than five years until Allen was arrested in 2022.

Allen remained in the small town of Delphi, working at a local CVS pharmacy, until September 2022, when a case worker assigned to the investigation noticed that he had been at the scene of the murders. Just days after the bodies were discovered, Allen told police he had been on the trail at the time the girls were believed to have been killed. He told them that he had been walking in the area and had seen three “females” near a bridge, but had not spoken to them.

On October 13, 2022, Allen was questioned again after police searched former suspects. Allen was arrested after police matched an unused cartridge found between the girls’ bodies to a handgun recovered during a police search at his home.

Allen was arrested on October 26, 2022 and charged five days later with two counts of murder in the commission or attempt of kidnapping. Prosecutors later added two more counts of murder to the charges. Allen pleaded not guilty to the charge.

During the trial, which began Oct. 18, prosecutors highlighted Allen’s dozens of confessions he made while incarcerated: He confessed to the crime more than 60 times, prosecutors say, including to his wife mother, the psychologist who treated him, the warden and other prison employees and inmates. They played audio recordings of some of the confessions to the jury. The defense questioned the confessions, saying they were involuntary and that he was suffering from mental illness at the time.

Monica Wala, the former head psychologist at the Westville Correctional Facility where Allen was housed, testified that he initially told her he was innocent, but began confessing to the crimes in April 2023, around the time he returned was placed under suicide watch.

According to WTHR, Wala testified that Allen told her, “I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry,” and that he originally planned to sexually assault the victims but ran away when he saw a van nearby and that he injured them. She testified that they beat girls’ throats and their bodies with sticks would have covered.

Allen’s lawyers previously suspected it was the girls killed as part of a pagan sacrificial ritual and accused police of ignoring evidence from the crime scene. In a search request in March 2017, an FBI agent claimed the girls’ bodies appeared to have been “moved and placed” at the crime scene. That theory was not heard by the jury, according to the judge’s decision.