Delphi Murders - Allen Case - History

Two days after the girls went missing, and the day after their bodies were found, police released a still photo cropped from a frame of video found on Libby German's cell phone, showing a man walking on the old Monon railroad bridge nearby.

The still picture was first made public at a February 22, 2017, press conference in Delphi.

Opened in 1882, the Monon bridge supported a track that ran from Delphi to Frankfort, completing a line from Chicago to Indianapolis. The bridge was constructed in 1881 and rebuilt in 1891. It is the second-highest bridge (at 63 feet) in Indiana, and the second-longest (nearly 854 feet) on the old Monon line. After CSX abandoned the line, the rails were removed and it fell into disrepair. A restoration project was completed in 2023, but although a platform with a railing now extends from the northern end partway across the bridge, the old bridge floor with some missing or broken beams remains on the southern end. As with other abandoned rail routes, sections of the old railroad right-of-way are now used for biking and walking paths.

The steep hill at the south end of the bridge leads down to a county road that runs under the bridge, used as a private drive. Follow it north and east to get to a single residence, or south to get to Delphi. From the top of the hill, two other houses are less than a quarter mile away on level ground. There is access to the bridge from more than just the Monon High Bridge Trail on its north end.

Five months after the murders, police released this sketch of a man seen in the area at about the time the girls were last seen, based on a witness description. The State Police press release described the man as between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall, and 180 to 220 pounds.

Years passed with no progress.

More than two years after the murders, at a press conference on April 22, 2019, the authorities released a one-second, motion-stabiliized silent video, from the same video the still was taken from, along with two audio clips of the man's voice, one with the word "guys" and the second with the words "down the hill", in the hope that someone would recognize him. In the released file, the two audio clips play once and are repeated twice.

The full 43-second video file has never been made public.

Although many people interpret his words as an ominous command, a minority might wonder if he wanted them to sound like a greeting and some helpful directions. Of course, the second interpretation would imply they were there to meet someone, and police have announced no evidence of that beyond suggesting multiple perpetrators could have been involved.

You may hear a slight accent on "down the hill" but while it narrows the field, it is not uncommon in Indiana.

In the video, the left edge of the picture comes into view in two frames due to the motion stablization. The camera's focus mechanism is searching for something to focus on throughout the clip, so in most of the frames the man is out of focus.

Since he is walking carefully to avoid the gaps in the floor beams, it is probably not his normal walk.

Confoundingly, the police also released a new sketch at the 2019 press conference of what could be a different man, made two years earlier at about the same time as the first sketch. There would have been no need for him to walk the Monon High Bridge Trail, since he was only spotted off county road 625 W which runs under the south end of the bridge. The new sketch replaced the old one on the FBI poster, rather then joining alongside the image of the man seen on the bridge and the trail.

In March 2022, the height had been removed, along with the weight. The state police told WTHR TV "investigators do not want to discourage or stop the public from submitting a tip because the person does not specifically meet the height, weight, and age description."

The age range and hair color were removed the next week.

After the new sketch was released a 2019 article in the Indianapolis Star quoted the FBI as saying his height was 5-8 to 5-10.

Six months after the reset, on October 13, a deputy asked Richard Allen and his wife, Kathy, to come in for an interview, and his house was searched the same day. He went in for another interview on October 26 and was jailed within two days. Allen is five-feet-four-inches tall, or maybe five-five. Because of his goatee, he vaguely resembles the first sketch and not the second.

In the October 27, 2022, probable cause affidavit used for the arrest of Richard Allen, 50, on October 28, then-deputy-sheriff Tony Liggett, 48, wrote "The video recovered from Victim 2's phone shows victim walking southeast on the Monon High Bridge while male subject wearing dark jacket and jeans walks behind her. As the male subject approaches Victim and Victim 2, one of the victims mentions 'gun.' Near the end of the video, male is seen and heard telling the girls, 'Guys, Down the hill.'' The girls then begin to proceed down the hill and the video ends." It begs the question, why did recording stop?

The press conference announcing's Allen's arrest focused on secrecy. Even the affidavit passage quoted above was still secret. The affidavit was thin on evidence. Allen told police right after the murders he had been on the trail that day, walking to the bridge from the north end and watching stock prices on his phone, or the fish swimming in Deer Creek below the bridge. Witnesses reported seeing various things that didn't match up to Allen. He was forgotten for five years, until the reset.

Less than a month after the arrest, prosecutor Nicholas McLeland asked for a gag order "to prohibit the parties, counsel, law enforcement officials, court personnel, coroner and family members from disseminating information or releasing any ex-judicial statements by means of public communication, until further Order of the Court." Ten days later special judge Francis Gull, annoyed that the defense has issued a press release, imposed it. The press release notes deputy Liggett made the arrest just before a contested election for sheriff, which he won. In addition, many normally-public court records, including the probable cause affidavit, were kept secret until the judge acted to pre-empt a potential adverse ruling from the state supreme court. The high court scheduled a hearing for January 18, 2024, to hear arguments on whether the judge's disqualification of Allen's attorneys was allowable, a move which postponed his January trial and allowed her to avoid ruling on some pending defense motions.

Allen was initially placed in the Carroll County jail, then moved to the jail in neighboring White County, but the sheriff argued for more. "ln that the defendant has been charged in said high profile cause, it is felt by the undersigned, potential safety and security concerns exist involving not only the defendant but also both jail facilities in Carroll and White Counties." The judge approved moving Allen in to prison "for safekeeping." Defense motions to get him out of Westville Correctional Facility all failed. The prison system moved him to another prison, Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, in Carlisle, in southern Indiana, on December 6, 2023. On January 12, 2024, Allen's new attorneys expanded on the effort of his original attorneys by filing a motion to have him moved to a county jail, and the judge denied that on February 8 without a hearing she wrote about having in a January 22 order.

The Supreme Court reuled the judge could NOT disqualify the defense attorneys for alleged "gross negligence" and then the prosecutor moved to have them held in contempt, with a hearing now set for March 18, 2024.