Delphi murders trial: Richard Allen used power and fear to kill teen victims, prosecutors say
Richard Allen was armed with a gun when he came across teenage friends Abigail "Abby" Williams and Liberty "Libby" German near a hiking trail in Delphi, Indiana, in February 2017, then used "power and the fear" to force them "down the hill" before slitting their throats, prosecutors said in their opening statement Friday in his double murder trial.
Richard Allen was armed with a gun when he came across teenage friends Abigail "Abby" Williams and Liberty "Libby" German near a hiking trail in Delphi, Indiana, in February 2017, then used "power and the fear" to force them "down the hill" before slitting their throats, prosecutors said in their opening statement Friday in his double murder trial.
When the girls' bodies were found the next day after they were reported missing, Libby, 14, was naked and covered in blood, while Abby, 13, was clothed in Libby's sweatshirt and jeans, with other clothing dumped in a creek, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland told jurors. He choked up while describing the scene to the jury of seven women and five men.
The "last face the girls saw" was Allen's, McLeland said.
Liberty German and Abigail Williams. NBC ChicagoHe said that Allen would later admit to police to walking along the trail that day, and that an unspent bullet found at the scene and confessions he allegedly gave, including to his wife, would prove he is guilty in the teens' deaths. The prosecution also plans to call witnesses who said they saw Allen at the trail.
Defense lawyer Andrew Baldwin later proclaimed Allen's innocence, instead painting to jurors during his opening statement of a muddled investigation that was "messed up from the beginning" and included evidence being lost and a "turf war" between state investigators and the FBI.
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