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Delphi Murders Suspect Made Multiple “Admissions of Guilt” to Killing Two Teens in 2017, Prosecutors Say
Prosectors said in court Thursday that Allen “confessed five or six times to killing the girls,” but the suspect's attorneys argued the statements are inconsistent with his previous denial of the crimes.
Prosecutors claimed in court Thursday that Richard Allen, who was arrested last October for allegedly killing two Indiana teens in 2017 in a case known as the Delphi murders, made multiple incriminating statements while in prison.
The prosecution said Allen “confessed five or six times to killing the girls,” according to NBC affiliate WTHR. Allen’s attorneys argued the statements are inconsistent with the suspect's previous denial of the crimes, adding that the statements shouldn’t be trusted based on their client’s mental state.
Allen was arrested in October of 2022 and charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Abigail "Abby" Williams, 13, and Liberty "Libby" German, 14, whose bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge trail in Delphi, Indiana on Feb. 14, 2017, a day after they disappeared.
The defense team argued in court Thursday that Allen’s mental and physical health is being affected by his holding at a state maximum security prison, where he was transferred to due to concerns that Allen could not be held safely at Carrol County Jail, WTHR reported.
Max Baker, an intern for the defense counsel, said that Allen is being treated like a “dog,” being transported through the Westville Correctional Facility in shackles on his arms and legs, with a metal chain around his neck, per WTHR.
Captain Gary Lewis, who oversees the maximum security unit at Westfield Correctional, testified that Allen is the only pre-trial inmate in that unit that he has known of in his five years in the facility, WTHR reported. He added that Allen is not being treated any differently than every other maximum security inmate.
Allen’s attorneys filed a motion in April to have him moved to Cass County Jail due to his alleged poor holding conditions at Westfield Correctional, claiming the conditions were affecting his mental and physical wellbeing, Oxygen.com previously reported.
The Cass County sheriff said in court Thursday that he doesn’t want to keep Allen at Cass County Jail due to security issues when housing a high-profile inmate, WTHR reported. But the sheriff added that he would be willing to accept Allen if ordered by the court, saying his facility is well equipped to house him.
“We’re asking for basic human rights, we’re not asking to put him in the Holiday Inn,” Allen's lawyer Brad Rozzi said, according to WRTV.
At Thursday’s hearing, there was also a brief discussion on an earlier motion filed to dismiss ballistic evidence. It was ultimately decided this would be reviewed at a later date.
A probable cause affidavit reviewed by WTHR detailed how Indiana State Police analyzed a gun belonging to Allen, which after testing, was linked to an unspent round that investigators found at the crime scene, lying in between the bodies of the two teenage victims.
Allen’s attorneys had previously questioned the analysis that was done on the bullet that connected Allen to the crime, according to Fox 59.
The judge also announced that several documents that have been kept sealed for the duration of Allen’s hearings would be unsealed and available next week, WTHR reported.
Allen’s trial is set to begin in January of 2024.
