DELPHI, Ind. — 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 sixth 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.
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Follow along with the latest updates from Thursday below:
State's 21st witness: Kathy Shank, volunteer file clerk who found Allen's file
9:57 a.m. - During cross redirect, Baldwin asked Shank, "To your knowledge, Richard Allen came forward to assist with the investigation?"
The state objected that this was speculation, which the judge sustained.
9:43 a.m. - Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin began cross-examination.
Baldwin asked Shank if she knew if the information in the file was accurate. Shank said she did not know.
Baldwin said there is no "Richard Allen Whiteman," which was the name in the file.
Shank said "it wasn't me" who wrote Richard Allen Whiteman.
Baldwin asked Shank if details and accuracy matter to her. Shank said, "Yes."
Baldwin said that many people reported seeing someone who looked like the picture of the "bridge guy." Shank agreed.
Baldwin asked Shank if Liggett was running for sheriff when she made the connection between Allen and the reports of a man on the bridge. An objection from the state was sustained by the judge.
Baldwin asked if Richard Allen self-reported.
Shank said, "Yes, he reported it."
9:06 a.m. - The first witness of the day is Kathy Shank, who volunteered to help with the case.
Shank says she told police, "I would really like to help in any way I can."
Shank was assigned to work as a receptionist at the old RMEC building starting on March 1, 2017. She previously worked for Indiana DCS for 40 years before retiring.
Shank said she would take tips from people who came in and passed the information to detectives upstairs.
Shank said she arranged bankers' boxes of information and tips. She said she would sort reports, label them and put the information into file cabinets.
Shank said she filled five filing cabinets with "person of interest" folders. She said a friend helped as a file clerk.
Shank said they moved from the REMC building to a city building. She said she took file cabinets with her. Shank said she then entered tips into a database.
Shank said Sheriff Tony Liggett was her main "go-to" for the case.
In September 2020, Shank said she was asked to start scanning. Shank said the work took two years to complete.
Shank said she entered more than 14,000 tips on the Delphi murders into the database.
At 9:30 a.m., prosecuting attorney Stacey Diener asked, "Was there something that brought your attention to Richard Allen?"
This was the first time Richard Allen's name had been mentioned since opening statements on Oct. 18.
Shank said she "found a lead sheet in a box." The sheet said that on Feb. 16, 2017, a "Richard Allen Whiteman" had self-reported being on the trails between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on the day Abby and Libby went missing. According to Shank, Allen had reported seeing three girls.
Shank said she remembered seeing another tip that a man had been on the trail. Shank said she compared the tip to the file that had Richard Allen's name in it.
Shank said she didn't know how the tip or lead sheet had gotten into that box.
Shank said the narrative summary in the database said that Allen had been interviewed. The file had the word "cleared" on it. It also had a green mark that indicated it was cleared. Shank said she took the file to Liggett.
6:30 a.m. - The sixth day of the trial is expected to begin at 9 a.m.
State's 22nd witness: Dan Dulin, a DNR officer who interviewed Allen
10:39 a.m. - Brad Rozzi conducted the cross examination on Dan Dulin.
Rozzi said, "He (Allen) came forward, right?"
Dulin said, "Yes."
Rozzi said, "He told you he was on his way to the grocery store?"
Dulin said he didn't remember, but that was possible.
Rozzi asked Dulin to confirm that Allen said he was on the trail between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Dulin said, "Yes."
"Do you know how long he was there?" Rozzi asked.
Dulin said he interpreted Allen's statement to mean he was on the trail the whole time, based on the interview.
Rozzi asked, "There was nothing that struck you as unusual, was there?" about the interview.
Dulin said no, that there was nothing that would lead him to report Allen to law enforcement. Dulin said the part that stood out to him was Allen saying he was on his phone on the trail.
Rozzi said that Dulin said nothing stood out during his deposition. He asked if Dulin was suggesting Allen was using an alias. When he asked again, the prosecution objected.
Rozzi then said that Dulin did not ask Allen what Allen was wearing or what Allen was driving. Dulin said that was correct.
Dulin said he was confident that Allen parked at the old DCS building.
Rozzi asked if someone can register a fishing license for someone else. Dulin said, "Yes."
Rozzi asked if there were several references on previous licenses to Allen being 5'6". Dulin said, "Yes."
Rozzi said that during deposition, Dulin said he didn't think Allen was trying to be deceptive with license information.
Dulin said that was correct.
Dulin said he went to the crime scene multiple times, including early on. Dulin said his first time was on Feb. 17 when he saw sticks and branches piled up at the crime scene. He said the sticks had blood on them, but the crime scene had been released. That means there was still crime scene tape up, but it was not secured by police.
Dulin said he called the investigative center to report sticks with blood, and someone came to get the sticks.
Rozzi asked if he saw a deer stand in the area. Dulin said he did.
Rozzi asked if it is unusual to find an unspent shell casing in the woods. He asked if Dulin told him it was not unusual during deposition. Dulin said that was correct.
Rozzi asked if the Sig Sauer was a popular gun maker, and if Smith & Wesson ammunition was popular. Dulin said, "Yes."
Rozzi asked if Dulin was able to find the IP address, email and credit card used to purchase Allen's fishing license. Dulin said yes, it was paid for with Allen's credit card, but he didn't know what username was used.
Rozzi asked if Dulin looked at what was on Allen's phone. Dulin said no, he just asked Allen for his phone's ID number.
Rozzi said, "You don't know he was manipulating anything, do you?"
Dulin said, "No."
10:04 a.m. - Indiana Department of Natural Resources Officer Dan Dulin is the next interview.
Dulin said that he began following up on Delphi murders leads on Feb. 18, 2017. That day, he said he received a lead sheet about Richard Allen.
The original lead sheet was shown to the jury, where Allen's name was written "Rick Allen Whiteman."
Dulin said he called Allen by phone.
Dulin said Allen didn't want to meet at his home or a law enforcement agency. Dulin said, instead, Allen wanted to meet at a grocery store parking lot.
Dulin said they met, and Allen said he had been on the trail between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Dulin said Allen reported seeing three girls at the Freedom Bridge at the start of his hike but no one else.
Dulin said Allen said he walked to the Freedom Bridge and then toward the Monon High Bridge. Dulin said Allen told him he was looking at a stock ticker on his phone as he walked.
Dulin said the interview lasted about 10 minutes and was not recorded. Dulin said he just took written notes.
Dulin said he asked for the phone number and driver's license number of Richard Allen.
That would mean the state had Richard Allen's info within four days of the murders.
The jury was shown Dulin's notes and Allen's drivers license picture, along with a lead sheet with Dulin's interview.
Dulin said in September 2022, he received a call from Steve Mullin asking if he remembered talking with Richard Allen.
Dulin said he then did more research and found Richard Allen's fishing license information. He told the jury that on April 1, 2017, Allen changed his height on his fishing license from 5'4" to 5'6" and decreased his weight.
Dulin said that stuck out because "it was an uncommon thing to increase height 2 inches."
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland asked Dulin to identify Allen in the courtroom.
State's 6th witness, Steve Mullin, returns to the stand
1:35 p.m. - Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin started the cross examination.
"You are so desperate to place Richard Allen's car traveling west on 300 N that just before lunch you lied to this jury," Baldwin said.
Baldwin provided a transcript that showed that Allen may have gone west on 300 N on Feb. 17.
Baldwin accused Mullin of presenting his interpretation of Allen's statement as fact.
"We had already surmised it was his vehicle," Mullin said. "Wanted him to confirm it."
Baldwin said that Allen said he drove through town on his regular route, a loop to 300 W eastbound.
Mullin said that Allen said it was his possible route, yes.
Baldwin recounted Mullin's deposition regarding the interview and Allen's route to the trails. According to the deposition, Mullin asked Allen twice if he took a different route to the trails.
Allen ultimately told Mullin if he was going to the park, he'd go through town.
"Words matter," Baldwin said. "Words on the stand matter. Especially when words impact the timeline in a case like this."
Mullin agreed.
"(Allen) also told you could have been driving his other car that day," Baldwin said.
"Yes," Mullin agreed.
"You didn't tell the jury that, did you?" Baldwin asked.
"For your theory to work," Baldwin said. "Richard Allen's car would have to be at the CPS lot between 1:30 and 4:00, right?"
"Yes," Mullin said.
"Is there anything that would contradict that?" Baldwin asked.
"No," Mullin said.
"What about information from Betsy Blair? Does this look like a 1965 Mercury Comet?" Baldwin asked.
The prosecution objected, which was sustained.
"Were you the investigator who lost evidence?" Baldwin asked.
The prosecution again object, and it was again sustained.
Baldwin asked if Mullin was in an interview where Allen said he didn't remember which way he took to the trail.
Mullin said yes.
Baldwin asked if Mullin investigated how many black 2016 Ford Focuses were registered in Carroll County in 2017.
Mullin said no.
Baldwin asked if Mullin looked to see if his (Allen's) other car was on video.
11 a.m. - Former Delphi police chief and current investigator for the Carroll County Prosecutor's Office Steve Mullin returns to the stand.
Mullin said he was called by Sheriff Liggett on Nov. 21, 2022, about Dulin's report on Allen.
Mullin said he found Allen had a 2006 Ford 500 and a 2016 black Ford Focus.
Mullin said he checked video from the Hoosier Harvest store to see if he could find video of Allen's car.
Mullin said he then went to the CVS where Allen worked to take a picture of his license plate.
Mullin said in the review of the video at the Hoosier Harvest store, he saw Allen's car pull in at 1:27 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017. Mullin clarified it was his opinion that it was Allen's car based on "facts of size, color, shape, etc."
The jury was shown frame-by-frame video showing the vehicle that passed by the Hoosier Harvest store. You cannot see the license plate or driver in the video.
Mullin pointed out some features that led him to believe it is Allen's car in the video:
- Hatchback profile of the taillights
- The bumper
- The black sports-type rims with distinctive spokes
Mullin said the arrival matches when Allen told Dulin he arrived.
Mullin said on Oct. 13, 2022, he drove to Allen's home and spoke to him with the sheriff. Mullin said they told Allen he wasn't under arrest.
Mullin said he took Allen to the police station with Allen's consent in an unmarked car. He said he read Allen his Miranda Rights.
According to Mullin, Allen said he went to his mother's house in Peru on Feb. 13, 2017. He said he left his mom's house at 11 a.m. and then got his jacket and went to the trails.
Allen allegedly told Mullin that he passed three girls and was looking at a stock ticker on his phone when walking toward the Monon High Bridge.
Mullin said Allen said he arrived at the trail by noon and left at 1:30 p.m. Mullin said Allen claimed he went to the first platform of the bridge and looked at fish.
Allen allegedly told Mullin that he saw girls near the start of the trail and they passed him going in the opposite direction as he walked toward the Monon High Bridge.
Mullin said Allen told him he was driving his 2016 Ford Focus.
Mullin said Allen told him he was on the trail for about an hour.
Mullin said Allen told him that Allen had told Allen's wife he was on the trails the day of the murders.
Allen allegedly told Mullin he was wearing a black or blue jacket, jeans, a skull cap and military boots.
Mullin said Allen originally agreed to show investigators his phone, and then changed his mind.
Mullin said Allen "got irritated and left the room."
Mullin said he showed Allen a picture of the "bridge guy" and asked if Allen was the man in the picture.
Mullin said Allen's answer was strange. He said Allen said, "If the picture was taken with the girls' camera, there was no way it could be" him.
Mullin said he took Allen home and then applied for a search warrant.
The court broke for lunch at 12:10 p.m. Mullin will be cross-examined when it resumes.
State's 23rd witness, Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett
2:08 p.m. - The state's 23rd witness is Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett. He was serving as a detective at the time of the murders.
Liggett said he wanted to talk to the person who passed Breann Wilbur and Railly Voorhies. He knew they were a male.
"We believed that was bridge guy," Liggett said.
Liggett said he watched the video taken from Libby's phone "hundreds of times."
According to Liggett, people said the vehicle on video at the Hoosier Harvest Store was backed in. Liggett said when they went to CVS to look for Allen's car, it was backed in.
Allen had a lifetime handgun permit.
Liggett said Allen admitted to being on the trails on Feb. 13 but changed his story. Allen initially said he was on the trail between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Then, Liggett said Allen changed the time frame to noon to 1:30 p.m.
"He was kind of wishy-washy about where he parked," Liggett said of Allen.
Liggett said they found Allen's .40 Sig Sauer handgun in a bedroom nightstand. Liggett said that was the same caliber of bullet found between the bodies of Abby and Libby.
Liggett said they found another .40 Winchester round in a keepsake box in a bedroom dresser. They found more .40-caliber Blazer ammunition.
Liggett said they also found a blue Carhart jacket in the main entry closet.
Liggett said the guns found during the search were sent to a lab. The ATF traced the guns and found they belonged to Allen and no one else.
During cross-examination, Brad Rozzi noted that Liggett was the chief deputy when Allen was arrested.
Rozzi said Liggett was running for sheriff in the 2022 election.
Liggett noted there was a $50,000 raise that came with moving from chief deputy to sheriff.
Rozzi asked Liggett if he ever thought how an arrest would benefit him.
Liggett said it had "nothing to do with" him. He said it was about two little girls who were murdered.
Rozzi questioned the integrity of the crime scene, saying pictures of the scene were leaked.
Liggett said he thought the sticks on the bodies were for concealment. He said, "Nobody saw them."
Rozzi asked about witnesses who saw the "bridge guy."
Rozzi said the search warrant was based on a timeline of seeing a man on the trail. Rozzi noted one witness described the "bridge guy" as tall and muscular.
Liggett said that he understood why witness Sarah Carbaugh said she was "panicked."
"Two girls were killed," Liggett said. "I can understand that panic."
Rozzi and Liggett discussed there were many dark Ford Focuses. Liggett did not know how many had the kind of rim seen on the video. Rozzi asked if Liggett would be surprised to learn Ford mass produced them. Liggett said no.
Rozzi asked if Liggett was aware that in 2019, Indiana State Police Supt. Doug Carter relieved the FBI of duties with the case.
Liggett said no, and that he would be surprised.
"Richard Allen was never a suspect from 2017 to 2022," Rozzi said.
Liggett said Allen "got lost" and "fell in the cracks."
Rozzi said that a five-year delay would impact the memory of Allen, witnesses and Allen's wife.
"Do you believe Richard Allen acted alone in this case?" Rozzi asked.
"Yes," Liggett said.
Rozzi asked if Liggett always believed Allen acted alone. Liggett said, "Yes."
Rozzi asked, "There has never been any DNA of Richard Allen collected at the crime scene?"
"None," Liggett said.
Rozzi asked if there was any digital evidence linking Allen to the scene.
Liggett said, "No."
"That man held himself out for law enforcement three days after the murders," Rozzi said.
Liggett said, "Yes."
Rozzi said that Allen didn't flee the community.
Liggett said he was "hiding in plain sight."
Rozzi said it was the bullet that led to the arrest of Allen.
Liggett said, "That's what put us over the hump."
Rozzi said that witness Betsy Blair told police she saw a man who was boyish and beautiful with brown poofy hair. She described the man as in his 20s or 30s.
"Her description does not match the description of Richard Allen," Rozzi said.
"But neither do the three girls who saw him on the trail," Liggett said.
"Exactly," Rozzi said. "Right."
During a heated exchange over the timeline, Rozzi accused Liggett of "making up" details of the story.
Liggett said a lab told him that if they had a Sig Sauer or Smith & Wesson, they could match the bullet to a gun.
During redirect, Carroll County prosecutor Nick McLeland asked Liggett if Allen's memory in 2017 about the timeline likely the most accurate.
Liggett agreed.
During cross-redirect, Rozzi asked if it was likely Besty Blair's 2017 memory of a man in his early 20s was the most accurate.
Liggett said, "Yes."
State's 24th witness, Indiana State Police Detective Dave Vido
3:50 p.m. - The state's 24th witness is Indiana State Police Detective Dave Vido, who helped search Allen's home.
Vido showed 28 photos he took during the search of Allen's property, with a focus on where weapons and ammunition were found. More than 25 knives and box cutters were taken, along with several phones and pagers.
Defense attorney Jennifer Auger said, "It's important to conduct the search in a professional way, especially when it deals with the deaths of two young girls."
Vido agreed, "Yes."
Auger referenced a photo of someone handling a bullet found at the scene asked, "Wouldn't that be unprofessional?"
Auger then referenced photos found at Allen's home that show Allen near the Monon High Bridge.
Auger asked if Allen's hair was curly. Vido said he did not recall.
Auger asked if it was "unusual for hunters or fishermen to have a lot of knives?"
Vido said he wasn't sure.
Auger said it was "not uncommon for people to carry box cutters."
Vido said, "Sure."
Auger then said, of the phones, "All of these go back years and years."
Vido said that was correct.
Vido was unsure, when asked, if having a Sig Sauer gun was unusual.
Vido said he believed the blue jacket, taken from Allen's home, was tested. He was not aware of anything from the coat linked to Abby or Libby.
Vido also said they found no connection in Allen's car or on any of the knives or box cutters. Vido said they also did not find anything missing from the crime scene at Allen's house either.
Auger said that if someone is covered in blood when they get in a car, "You can test for that, can't you?"
Vido said it depends on if the blood is dried.
"Are you saying dry blood can't transfer?" Auger asked.
State's 25th witness, Indiana State Police Lieutenant Jerry Holeman
The state's 25th witness is Lt. Jerry Holeman, who supervised the search warrant on Allen's home.
Holeman said he performed the initial walkthrough of the home and then waited outside while police performed the search. He said he sat outside with Allen.
Holeman said Allen said "It doesn't matter, it's over" while waiting in the car. Holeman said Allen said that when asked if he wanted to fill out a form for damaged items during the search.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Andrew Baldwin asked, "(Allen) was a suspect at that time?"
Holeman said, "Yes."
Baldwin asked if photography can damage a bullet.
Holeman said it can, depending on how it's handled.
Thursday summary
On Day 6, Richard Allen took center stage as the state tried to tie him to the murders. Jurors heard from six witnesses and learned how police pinpointed Allen as a suspect more than five years after the murders.
The jury learned that Allen voluntarily called a tip line and was interviewed by a DNR officer three days after Abby and Libby's bodies were found. DNR officer Dan Dulin told the jury nothing in Allen's interview stuck out. Dulin testified Allen said he'd been on the trail that day from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and saw three girls walking there.
Allen's file was marked cleared until five years later when a file clerk came across it again and remembered a tip about a man on the trail that day.
Former Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullin explained how investigators found video of what they say is Allen's car near the trails on the day of the murders. The defense got Mullin to admit Allen told police he drove to the trail a different way that day than the route Mullin claimed Allen did.
The jury also saw video Libby took on the bridge of Abby with "bridge guy" behind her that afternoon.
Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett testified to what he heard after watching and listening to that video hundreds of times. Liggett said that on the video, you can hear Abby say, "Is he right there? Don't leave me up here." Then Libby talks about the path, and one of them whispers, "That be a gun." Then Libby says, "No path here. Go down this way."
Right after that, Liggett said you hear the man from the video say, "Guys?" One of the girls replies, "Hi." And then, the man says, "Down the hill."
The jury also heard from lead investigator Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman, who helped serve a search warrant in October 2022 on Allen's house two hours after police interviewed Allen, letting him know he was a suspect.
Holeman said twice during the search of his home, Allen said, "It doesn't matter. It's over."
The jury also saw photos of more than 25 knives and box cutters they took from Allen's home, along with several phones and pagers. They also saw the gun police believe Allen had that day.
The jury also saw a photo of a wooden keepsake box, where police say they found a bullet that's the same kind as the one found at the crime scene. The defense argued nothing connected to Abby or Libby was ever found at Allen's home.