DELPHI, Ind. — It's been over 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 12th day Thursday.
The trial began Friday, Oct. 18.
Sixteen Allen County residents were selected to serve on the jury. Twelve of those people (eight women and four men) began the trial as jurors with four (two men and two women) serving as alternates.
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.
Follow along with the latest updates from Thursday below:
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Day 12 summary
The state rested its case against Richard Allen Thursday. Before it did, the jury heard Allen in his own voice, in his own words, confess to his wife and mother on the phone that he killed Abby and Libby.
Thursday morning, the prosecution played seven phone calls Allen made from prison, five of them where he confesses to his wife Kathy that he committed the murders. In one of those calls, from April 2023, Allen tells his wife, “I did it…I killed Abby and Libby.”
The prosecution also replayed the video from Libby’s phone with “bridge guy” telling Abby and Libby, “down the hill.” Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland asked Indiana State Police Master Trooper Brian Harshman, who’s listened to all 700 calls Allen made from jail in the past two years, if he recognizes the voice on the video. Harshman looked right at the defendant and said, “It’s the voice of Richard Allen.”
Thursday afternoon, the defense began presenting its case, calling two witnesses. The first said she was on the Monon High Bridge the day of the murders with a friend and saw a man who didn’t respond when they said hi.
The second witness, who lives across the creek from where the girls’ bodies were found, testified she saw a man she didn’t recognize standing near a group of mailboxes near her house that day. She said she didn’t get a good look at the man’s face and has never seen him again.
9 a.m. - On Thursday, Richard Allen entered the courtroom wearing a blue shirt with white pinstripes, khaki pants and glasses on the top of his head. The prosecutor replaced three media seats with three state seats, leading to confusion.
Judge Frances Gull entered the courtroom just after 9 a.m.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said he is entering jailhouse calls today, and jurors would hear seven phone calls from Richard Allen to Janice Allen and Kathy Allen.
Defense attorney Brad Rozzi said the state is not playing recording No. 1 and only plans to play No. 2 and 3 from April 3, 2023. He objected based on the completeness doctrine.
Those three recordings were from three calls on that date. The first, from 3:12 a.m. that day, is from Richard Allen to his mother, Janice Allen. In that call, there are no incriminating statements from Richard Allen. He says he doesn't know how much longer he can stay lucid and is losing his mind. He professes his innocence.
The other two calls, from 5:14 a.m. and 8:45 a.m., are from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy Allen.
Rozzi said that you can't listen to the second and third calls without the context of the first call, and that the state is intentionally trying to omit that call in an attempted to present facts to the jury.
McLeland responded that based on that logic, you'd have to play every call Richard Allen ever made. McLeland said the defense can call Richard Allen and play the first call.
Rozzi responded that it's unfair to expect Allen to waive his right not to testify due to the state's unwillingness to follow evidentiary rules. "It's one of those situations where you play all or you play none."
Gull said she doesn't believe the doctrine of completeness applies because each of the two calls would be played from beginning to end. Baldwin said Allen references the earlier call in his later calls. Gull said she was sticking with her decision to allow the jury to hear only calls two and three.
State's 40th witness, Indiana State Police Master Trooper Brian Harshman
9:30 a.m. - The state's 40th witness was Indiana State Police Master Trooper Brian Harshman, who has been with ISP for 30 years and started in the Delphi case in April 2020. Harshman monitored Allen's calls from the county jail, Department of Corrections and Cass County Jail. That included telephone calls, video chats and texts.
Harshman reviewed about 700 Richard Allen calls. He said most were around 30 minutes and that he spent an "unsurmountable" amount of time listening to calls from Richard Allen to his wife and mother.
Regarding a Nov. 14, 2022 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy, Harshman said Richard Allen tells his wife, "If this becomes too much for you, call the detectives and I'll tell them whatever they want to know."
Nov, 14, 2022 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy (approximately 5 minutes):
Richard Allen says, "I love you" and is crying, sounds distraught. He tells Kathy, "I don't want you to worry about me." He says, "I'm sorry" three times while crying. He also says, "I f***ed up,", "If anything happens, I'll see you in the next life," and "Take care of the family."
April 2, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his mother, Janis (approximately 9 minutes):
Harshman said Allen confesses to killing Abby and Libby, and tells his mother he has found Jesus and God.
During the call, Allen initially sounds upbeat and positive and asks his mother if she's going to church that day. Allen then cries and asks his mother, "Did Kathy tell you I told her that I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior?" He also say, "I've got a family that's always going to love me no matter what," and "I know we're all going to be back together eventually." He also says, "I didn't accept God into my life until March 21, 2023."
April 3, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy (approximately 3.5 minutes):
Thursday morning, jurors heard a number of calls from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy, in which he calmly said her that he killed Abby and Libby.
"Honey, I did it. I killed Abby and Libby," Allen said during one of the calls.
Kathy Allen repeated to her husband for him not to say that, but he continued to state he killed the girls in the call.
May 10, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy (approximately 5 minutes):
During this call, Allen told his wife, "I think I've lost my mind," to which his wife responded, "We've all lost our minds at this point."
Senior investigative reporter Bob Segall said Allen sounded calm and matter of fact during this call.
"I need to tell you something anyway," Allen said to his wife, which she responded, "Are you sure you want to talk to me over the phone?"
"I think I need to. I need you to know that I did this," Allen said to his wife in the call.
"What? No. There's no way," Kathy responded. "You are not well, so you don't need to say you did something you didn't do."
Allen then says again in this call, "I have to let you know that I did it."
The call ended because time ran out on the call.
Another May 10, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy (approximately 5 minutes)
"I may have to spend the rest of my life here," Allen said to his wife on this call as she can be heard crying. "I don't understand. I just got to know everybody is still going to love me."
Allen confesses to the crimes again in this call.
"It's OK, honey. I did it. I did it, baby," Allen can be heard telling his wife. "I killed Abby and Libby."
Allen is heard asking his wife if she is always going to love him, with her crying and saying, "I love you."
June 5, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy (approximately 7 minutes)
Senior investigative reporter Bob Segall noted Allen sounds depressed in this call, noting it is a very quiet call.
In the call, Allen talks about losing his mind and ends the call with, "But you know that I done it, right?"
June 11, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his wife, Kathy
The call starts with Allen telling his wife, "I did it" and asking her if she still loves him.
The call continues, with Allen later telling Kathy "I feel like I'm already in hell."
After listening to seven calls, Harshman describes Allen's tone as "calm, subdued and solemn."
McLeland asked Harshman if there was any indication Allen was under stress, which Harshman responded, "No."
Referring back to testimony from Dr. Monica Wala, who treated Allen while he was at Westville Correctional Facility, Harshman said what stood out to him from Allen's alleged confession to Wala was the detail where he said he was scared when he saw a fan.
11 a.m. - McLeland asked Harshman if he recognized the voice of the man on Libby's cellphone, which Holeman said, "Yes."
McLeland then asked Harshman, "Who do you believe that voice to be?"
Harshman responded, "The voice of Richard Allen."
Rozzi began cross-examining Harshman after a mid-morning break. Rozzi asked Harshman if someone told him that Delphi resident Brad Weber was "not a credible human being," would that change his opinion? Harshman responded, "No."
Rozzi asked Harshman if he ever considered Weber could be involved in the crime if his van was there at the time, which Harshman responded, "No."
Harshman confirmed Allen was videotaped 24/7, but Harshman did not agree that seeing those videos would be helpful in providing context.
Harshman also confirmed throughout his career, he has never been assigned to monitor an inmate like this.
Harshman said he did not go see Allen's cell in Westville but did go to his cell in Cass County.
Rozzi asked Harshman if he saw video of Allen eating feces, which Harshman said, "Yes." Rozzi then asked Harshman if he though this to be psychotic behavior, but Harshman said he thinks Allen was just trying to get attention.
Rozzi said Harshman mischaracterized a phone call Allen made to his wife. Rozzi claims Allen said he would say "whatever it is they want me to say."
Rozzi asked Harshman to confirm Allen made three phone calls on April 3, 2023, one of which wasn't reviewed by Harshman in his testimony. That call was allegedly made to Allen's parents.
Rozzi asked Harshman if Allen proclaimed his innocence in the phone call, but the prosecution objected to the question, which Special Judge Frances Gull sustained.
Gull then had a sidebar conversation with the counsel.
Rozzi said Allen made 700 phone calls while in solitary confinement for two years.
1:39 p.m. - The jury returned from lunch break and heard another phone call.
May 17, 2023 call from Richard Allen to his mother, Janis
In the call, Allen asked his mother if his wife, Kathy, told her that he did it. His mother said, "We're not going to discuss this."
Allen later said to his mother, "I'm just worried you guys aren't going to love me because I said I did it."
Allen's mother told him he wasn't in a good place then, and "we'll always love you, no matter what."
Allen then confessed to the crime again.
Allen's mom said, "Rick, don't talk like this. I think they're messing with you ... I just know you don't have it in you to do something like that."
Allen then said, "Mom, why would I tell you I did it if I didn't?"
During redirect, McLeland asked Harshman if he had ever seen Allen violent.
Harshman said video from the Cass County Jail shows Allen screaming loudly, irately, pounding on the doors of the cell and telling the guards he's going to f****** kill them.
The defense objected to mentioning this video because they said it was not revealed in discovery or shared with them.
Gull issued a break to allow the defense to watch the video.
4:55 p.m. - The prosecution rested its case after testimony from the 40th witness. The defense has started its case in Richard Allen's trial.
Defense's 1st witness Cheyenne Mill, who went to the trail the day the girls went missing
Thursday afternoon, the defense began presenting its case, calling two witnesses. The first, Cheyenne Mill, said she was on the Monon High Bridge the day of the murders with a friend and saw a man who didn’t respond when they said hi.
Defense's 2nd witness Teresa Liebert, who lives near the crime scene
The second witness, Terea Liebert, who lives across the creek from where the girls’ bodies were found, testified she saw a man she didn’t recognize standing near a group of mailboxes near her house that day. She said she didn’t get a good look at the man’s face and has never seen him again.