INDIANAPOLIS — It's been more than seven years since the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German were found near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. Richard Allen, the man accused of killing the two teenagers, will stand trial for the third day.
The trial began Friday, Oct. 18.
Sixteen Allen County residents were selected earlier this week to serve on the jury. Twelve of those people will begin the trial as jurors and four will serve as alternates. Testimonies will continue on the second day.
The jury is made up of eight women and four men. The four alternate jurors are two men and two women.
From opening statements to verdict, 13News will be at the Carroll County courthouse every day of the trial to explain what happened inside the courtroom.
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Follow along with the latest updates below:
State's 11th witness: Duane Datzman, retired Indiana State Police crime scene investigator
2:35 p.m. - Duane Datzman currently works with the Benton County Sheriff's Office. Datzman retired from Indiana State Police three years ago. He started in 1987 with the Lowell District. Datzman spent his last 20 years at ISP as a crime scene investigator.
Datzman said he has investigated hundreds of crime scenes, including 200 death investigations.
Datzman was a crime scene investigator for the Delphi murders.
Datzman said he was at the Lafayette Post when he was notified he was needed at the Delphi crime scene.
Datzman said he got to the scene at 1:11 p.m. Feb. 14, 2017.
Datzman said he took photos at the crime scene and was told to look for evidence along the water. Datzman said he took photos from a helicopter above the scene.
Datzman said he did not bring a gun to the scene; he instead left it in his car due to the bulky size of the gun.
Datzman said he left the scene at 10:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 2017.
Prosecuting attorney Jim Luttrell then asked Datzman to explain what jurors were seeing in the crime scene photos he took. The photos included aerial views showing the victims in the woods, the girls' bodies, a close-up shot of Abby's neck injury and blood on the ground underneath Libby's foot and leg.
Senior investigative reporter Bob Segall noted Abby's mom looked away and Libby's mom kept her head down and was crying during this part.
"I kept seeing a glitter in the leaves," Datzman said. "Underneath the leaves, we found a .40 caliber cartridge."
Datzman said the primer was in the back of the casing, holding the powder together.
Datzman said ISP Sgt. Brian Olehy collected the cartridge, which was the only cartridge recovered from the crime scene.
Datzman said the three crime scene investigators discussed the sticks found between and near the girls' bodies, saying between the three of them, they never got DNA off of the sticks because they determined they had no evidentiary value.
Datzman said he returned Feb. 15, 2017, to recover the sticks and took them to the Lafayette Post. The girls' bodies had already been removed by that point.
Datzman said they used metal detectors on Feb. 15, 2017, on a larger area to see if they could locate any other evidence.
One photo Datzman took showed a disturbance in the soil on the steep hill from the bridge down the hill, but there were no shoe impressions left there.
1 p.m. - Indiana State Police Sgt. Jason Page returned to the witness stand for cross-examination. Defense attorney Brad Rozzi asked if there are scavengers in the woods, such as coyotes, buzzards, as well as if insects could be used to determine the time of death.
Page said crime scene investigators are not allowed to have an opinion on time of death at the crime scene.
Rozzi asked Page if he was aware that there were breaches of the crime scene reported early during the investigation, which included photos taken by someone else, to which Page said, "No."
Rozzi then asked Page if he was aware of any DNA evidence taken from the crime scene that linked to Richard Allen, to which Page said, "No."
Page wasn't able to recall if there had been any evidence of bodily fluids recovered from the scene.
Rozzi asked if it was safe to assume sticks found on the girls' bodies was a "human act" – not nature – which Page said, "That would be reasonable."
Rozzi asked Page how long it would take to process evidence like the hair found on Abby's hand, which Page said Rozzi is asking questions outside of his expertise. Page then said DNA evidence can take a few weeks but can sometimes be rushed.
Then, Rozzi asked Page about the unfired bullet cartridge found at the scene next to Libby's foot. Rozzi asked if Page had seen any photos of the cartridge being removed, to which Page responded, "No."
Rozzi asked if it would be significant if the cartridge was damaged, which Page responded, "Could be."
Rozzi asked Page if he was asked to investigate the area by the farmhouse nears Mears' trailhead or along 300 North, which Page responded, "No."
In the redirect, prosecuting attorney Jim Luttrell asked Page if he noticed any bug activity on Feb. 14, 2017, which Page responded, "No."
Luttrell asked Page who was there in the "Ground Zero" area, with Page saying three crime scene investigators, Indiana State Police Sgt. Jim Cody and the coroner to move the girls' bodies. Page said Libby's body was moved first, and the cartridge had already been discovered by then.
Luttrell asked Page if putting the cartridge on a table to take a photo serve an evidentiary purpose, which Page responded, "No."
In the cross-redirect, Rozzi asked Page if a box of .40 caliber rounds would all look alike, which Page said, "Yes."
Rozzi asked Page if the bullet is a totally different part of the cartridge, where you can't see the bullet in the cartridge case, which Page said, "Yes."
11:30 a.m. - Jurors saw 43 crime scene photos, as well as several diagrams, that were bloody and graphic.
Senior investigative reporter Bob Segall said the victims' families were very emotional. Segall also said some jurors seemed clearly disturbed while looking at the photos.
Court is on break until 1 p.m.
State's 10th witness: Indiana State Police Sgt. Jason Page
10 a.m. - Indiana State Police Sgt. Jason Page has been with ISP for 24 years. He has been a crime scene investigator for 16 years.
Page said he has processed 950 to 1,000 crime scenes, including 100 homicide scenes.
Page said he arrived at the crime scene around 1:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 2017, and met with two other crime scene investigators.
Page referred to a 30-square-foot area where most of the physical evidence was located as "ground zero."
A diagram prepared by Page showed the location where Libby and Abby's bodies were found. Prosecuting attorney Jim Luttrell asked Page to show jurors topography and landmarks on a digital map displayed on a large video screen.
In the diagram, Libby's naked body was located next to a tree and large limb, and sticks were found between the girls' bodies.
Photos taken by Page show crime scene tape, trees with the girls' bodies barely visible in the distance and the topography showing the girls' bodies. Page explained to the jury what they were seeing in each photo.
One of the photos showed the girls' bodies, with black marks covering Libby's naked body. Page took more photos from a ladder with the creek in the background, showing the girls' bodies from a higher view.
At one point, a juror put their hand over their mouth as they were looking at the photos, and the mothers of both girls were crying.
Page said the day after the girls' bodies were found, the area was "saturated still with a large quantity of blood" on the ground.
Another photo showed blood stain patterns on a tree on the other side of Abby's body.
Segall noted that Page was very calm and methodical in describing the crime scene photos he had taken.
Page said chemical were used to search for blood on trees. However, the chemical did not show more blood than what was visible to investigators with their eyes.
When asked to describe the Monon High Bridge, Page said it was "sketchy" to walk on.
Segall noted that Page showed crime scene photos and diagrams for approximately 90 minutes.
State's 9th witness: Darron Giancola, detective with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office
9:13 a.m. - Detective Darron Giancola, with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, said he was not on duty the night of Feb. 13, 2017. However, he said he came into work after hearing about the missing girls on social media.
Giancola said he went to search for the girls between the creek and a private drive. Giancola said he could see the area at the end of the Monon High Bridge down the bank where leaves were disturbed and could see a swath of bare ground exposed.
According to Giancola, the search ended around 2 a.m. Feb. 14, 2017, and resumed at 7:30 a.m. that same morning.
Giancola said he returned to search that morning even though he was not scheduled to work.
"We were told members of the search party located something there, possibly bodies," Giancola said.
When he was asked to describe the scene, Giancola said one of the girls was naked and the other was clothed. He said they both had noticeable injuries.
"Both had lacerations to the throat," Giancola said. "Both had a substantial amount of blood on their person and underneath."
Giancola said it was obvious they were both dead.
Indiana State Police was called to the scene after the bodies were found. Crime scene tape was put up, and Giancola said he stayed at the scene all night until the next morning to help secure the crime scene.
Giancola said he didn't notice the bodies while he was walking to the creek, despite being approximately 30-40 yards away from them.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Andrew Baldwin, Giancola was asked if there was blood on both girls' bodies, to which Giancola responded, "Yes."
Baldwin also asked Giancola who the cellphone carrier for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office was, which he responded with AT&T.
During redirect, prosecuting attorney Nick McLeland asked about the terrain where the girls' bodies were found. Giancola said the bodies were found in a slight valley in terrain.
9 a.m. - Jurors entered. Special Judge Frances Gull confirmed the jurors took part in an activity Saturday and family time Sunday.
8:53 a.m. - Richard Allen is wearing a blue-striped dress shirt, khaki pants, brown belt and dress shoes.
Defense files motion to block recordings from Libby German's cellphone
7:20 p.m. on Oct. 20 - The defense file a motion related to how jurors will hear and see the video and audio recovered from Libby German’s cellphone.
The motion does not try to prevent jurors from seeing and hearing the recordings, but the defense does want to create guidelines about how the jurors hear the recordings and what questions can be asked of witnesses on that topic.
In the motion, the defense notes the recording they received appears to contain a phrase spoken by one of the girls, as well as an audio clip of a man speaking. The defense says the state enhanced the recording and plays those sounds on a loop.
The motion filed Sunday evening says it expects the prosecution to try to introduce those enhancements of the recordings from Libby’s phone.
The defense claims those enhancements are “investigatory tools” and that “interpreting the words and sounds on the enhanced video requires a completely subjective analysis.”
The defenses claims, “Testimony identifying the words and sounds on the video is speculative.” The motion continues, “Allowing a witness to speculate as to the words and sounds on the recordings would put ideas in the jurors' heads that would be confusing and misleading.”
Defense attorney Jennifer Auger also wrote that allowing the recordings to be played on a loop would be “unduly suggestive” for the jurors.
Much like the prosecution argued to keep the composite sketches of a possible suspect away from jurors, the defense argues that the video and audio recordings were not used to identify Richard Allen as a suspect and are, therefore, not relevant.
The request specifically asks to prevent questions that would lead witnesses to identify the words and sounds on the recordings. The defense wrote, “It is up to the jury to determine what words or sounds exist on the recordings.”
The state has not yet filed a response.