Delphi Appeal

The Case That Took Five Years to Crack

Abigail Williams and Liberty German disappeared on February 13, 2017, near the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi. Their bodies were found the next day along Deer Creek. For five years, the case remained unsolved until a missing 2017 investigative report surfaced in fall 2022. NewsNation reported that the rediscovered tip led detectives to Richard Allen, a local pharmacy technician with no criminal history, who was arrested in October 2022.

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Allen's Prison Confessions and Mental Deterioration

Allen made 61 confessions or incriminating statements while held in maximum-security solitary confinement before trial, according to his attorneys. The defense argues his mental state—extreme psychosis—made these statements unreliable and involuntary. WNDU reported that judges questioned why videos of Allen's erratic prison behavior were shown to jurors without the audio where he made bizarre claims about his identity and actions.

Prosecutors countered that Allen's statements remained incriminating even after he improved with medication. The state also argued the confessions were voluntary and admissible under Indiana law. Allen was credited with 786 days already served before being transferred to an Oklahoma prison under an interstate compact agreement.

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The Blocked Evidence: Alternative Suspects and Ritualistic Theories

Trial Judge Fran Gull barred the defense from presenting evidence about an alternative theory: that the murders were ritualistic Odinist sacrifices. Allen's attorneys submitted 1,200 pages of supplementary materials, including social-media posts from Brad Holder, a confirmed Odinist whose daughter was friends with one victim. CBS News reported that the three-judge panel questioned why this third-party suspect evidence was excluded.

The appellate judges also pressed the state on other exclusions. A police composite sketch depicting someone who looked nothing like Allen was kept from the jury. Expert testimony about ballistics toolmark reliability on an unfired bullet was blocked. The judges wanted to know why jurors never heard these details.

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What the Defense and State Are Arguing

Defense counsel Mark Leeman told the court that police suffered from "confirmation bias" and manipulated evidence. He argued: "We live in a world where one or two things happen here: A pharmacy tech with no criminal history goes out for a walk and decides to gruesomely murder two girls. Or, we live in a world where the police through confirmation bias failed to find the right guy." WRTV reported his claim that law enforcement suppressed evidence pointing elsewhere.

Deputy Attorney General Ellen Meilaender defended the conviction, saying Allen "identified himself as Bridge Guy in his statements to police" and linked himself to the crime scene. She argued any procedural errors were harmless and the search warrant was constitutional. The appellate panel took the case under advisement with no deadline set for a ruling.

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