Defense in Delphi murder case rests its case after testimony from cell phone forensics expert, psychiatrist

CNN
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The defense for Richard Allen, the man accused of killing two teenagers in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017, rested its case Wednesday after days of calling witnesses, including a cellphone coroner and a psychiatrist, according to CNN affiliate WTHR.

After the prosecution recalled witnesses, the trial now moves into closing arguments, jury instructions and deliberations, WTHR reports.

Allen, 52, is accused of killing Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, who lived in Delphi — a small town about an hour northwest of Indianapolis.

He has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated murder, court records show.

The trial began three weeks ago when prosecutors alleged that Allen committed the killings, citing ballistics evidence and his own confessions, according to The Associated Press.

“I did it. I killed Abby and Libby,” Allen said in an audio recording played in court.

However, the defense has argued that there is no DNA or gun evidence linking him to the killings, saying these “confessions” were “involuntary” and stemmed from months in solitary confinement.

On Tuesday, a forensic cell phone expert testified that data from Libby’s cell phone shows someone inserted a headphone cord into the phone the night the girls disappeared, then removed it five hours later. according to WTHR.

Additionally, a psychiatrist testified about how people held in solitary confinement can become confused and wild, and a medical examiner took the stand and criticized how state investigators handled the investigation into an spent round found near the girls’ bodies, WTHR reported.

Allen did not testify in his own defense.

On February 13, 2017, the two eighth-grade girls went hiking on a day off from school near the Monon High Bridge, an abandoned railroad bridge along the 10-mile Delphi Historic Trail, but failed to meet Libby’s father at a prearranged time. Indiana State Police said.

The next day, their bodies were found in a wooded area about half a kilometer from the bridge, police said. But the case went cold.

Over the years, authorities have released sketches and parts of a video recorded on Libby’s cell phone in hopes of finding a suspect. The video shows a man in a dark jacket and jeans walking behind the girls and then telling them, “Boys, down the hill,” according to a probable cause affidavit in Allen’s arrest.

A pathologist who performed the girls’ autopsies testified that both had wounds to their necks that appeared to be from a jagged edge, according to CNN affiliate WLFI. None of the victims’ bodies showed signs of sexual assault or defensive wounds, Kohr said CNN affiliate WRTV.

Allen was arrested in 2022 after investigators found an unused .40-caliber round placed between the two victims matched a gun he owned, the affidavit said.

When Allen initially spoke to police in 2017, he admitted he was on the trail for about two hours the day the girls were killed, the affidavit said. In a subsequent interview in October 2022, Allen told authorities he had gone out there to “see fish,” according to the affidavit.

CNN previously reported that Allen, who was employed at the local CVS, helped an aunt of one of the victims print funeral photos at the store.

When Allen was arrested, he had been held in solitary confinement for 13 months, and the defense has tried to place the confessions in the context of Allen’s mental crisis while incarcerated.

He was put on suicide watch several times, exhibited bizarre behavior and at one point was diagnosed with “a short-term psychotic disorder,” according to testimony from Monica Wala, the prison psychologist who treated Allen at the Westville Correctional Facility.

Allen was placed on suicide watch in November 2022 and in April 2023. He engaged in some strange behavior in prison, including refusing to wear clothes, banging his head and eating his own feces, Wala said.