INDIANAPOLIS — Like many others across the country and even the world, Katie Jackson-Lindsay has followed the investigation into the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German for almost six years.
"I have from the first day," said Jackson-Lindsay, sitting in her Indianapolis office.
And like others, the longtime criminal defense lawyer and former Marion County prosecutor wondered when an arrest of a suspect would finally come.
When that finally happened in late October, Jackson-Lindsay was anxious to read the charging documents outlining why investigators believed Richard Allen was their guy.
When the release of those documents came this week, Jackson-Lindsay, who is not involved in the case, said what she read in them wasn't what she expected in a case that has garnered so much interest and attention.
"You just expected when the time came and today was the day that there would be solid critical evidence, especially considering how much restraint they used in releasing evidence to the public, and that's just not what we have," she said, calling the evidence listed in the affidavit of probable cause circumstantial at best.
"In any criminal case, there's direct evidence of the crime and there's circumstantial evidence of the crime, and from my perspective, I don't think there's a lot of direct evidence tying Richard Allen to this crime," Jackson-Lindsay explained.
When it comes to the unspent bullet casing investigators say they found between the girls' bodies that they linked to one of Allen's guns, Jackson-Lindsay said, as it stands now, that's not enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Allen is the killer.
"We don't know their cause of death, so we don't know how relevant that actually is, because if we find out sometime later their cause of death has nothing to do with a firearm, then you wonder why that casing is important to begin with," she said.
Jackson-Lindsay also said she expected to read more about how investigators determined why they definitively believed Allen was the man seen in video on the bridge. That recording was taken by Libby German on her cell phone. In it, a voice could be heard saying, "Guys, down the hill."
"What I expected was someone that could conclusively say he was the man on the bridge, or some sort of voice analysis that could conclusively tie Allen's voice to the voice we've heard on the audio recording," said Jackson-Lindsay.
According to the charging documents, investigators said at least four women who had been on the trail that day described seeing only one man, a person who looked like the man on the bridge around the same time Allen told investigators he was there.
The documents also show investigators believe the clothing those witnesses described the man wearing, a blue or black jacket and blue jeans, match clothing Allen said he was wearing that day on the trail.
Jackson-Lindsay still has questions.
"No one has, at least according to the affidavit, no one has sat down with a photo array and indicated that that person was Allen," she said, adding there could be more evidence that's not included in the charging documents.
"They could be using a lot of restraint to protect the integrity of the investigation or the integrity of the trial," she explained.
Even so, Jackson-Lindsay believes if what was in those charging documents is the only evidence the prosecution has against Allen, they're going to have an uphill battle proving to a jury, beyond reasonable doubt, he's guilty of killing Abby and Libby.
"There are just some critical pieces missing that we normally see in a murder case," said Jackson-Lindsay.