Liberty “Libby” German and Abigail “Abby” Williams (FBI), Richard Allen (Indiana State Police), and the area where the victims’ bodies were discovered (WXIN screenshot)
An Indiana man convicted of killing two teen girls who were on a hike in 2017 will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders.
Richard Allen, 52, was sentenced Friday to 130 years in prison in the killings of Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14.
Family members took the defendant to task at his sentencing.
“This man has made my family’s life a living hell,” said Josh Lank, Liberty’s cousin, local Fox affiliate WXIN reported. “Now it’s time for your life to be a living hell.”
The defendant, meanwhile, maintained his innocence and his attorneys said they’d appeal.
As Law&Crime reported in November, a jury convicted Allen on two counts of murder and two additional counts of felony murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the girls’ deaths. The guilty verdict came after 17 days of testimony in one of the most high-profile — and controversial — murder trials in the history of the state.
Williams and German vanished while walking the Moon High Bridge Trail near Delphi, Indiana, on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were discovered with their throats slashed in a wooded area just off the Delphi Historic Trails system the following day.
Prosecutors went into the case without any direct physical evidence implicating Allen — no DNA, fingerprints, or other forensic evidence linking Allen to the killings.
Additionally, since his initial arrest, the case had been plagued with missteps and animus from all sides.
For example, prosecutors accidentally lost 70 days’ worth of police interviews. The state provided Allen’s attorneys with a previously unseen report detailing “how all videos between April 28, 2017 and June 30, 2017” had been lost. Those lost tapes came in addition to two recorded interviews from February 2017 with men that the defense has indicated were “key suspects” in the girls’ murders. Prosecutors maintained the tapes were accidentally erased.
Allen’s attorneys were admonished for accidentally leaking sealed evidence and were even forced off the case by the presiding judge before ultimately being reinstated.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Allen confessed to the murders on multiple occasions and is the “Bridge Guy” captured on cellphone video walking behind the two victims shortly before their deaths. Jurors even heard a recorded phone conversation between Allen and his wife in which he said, “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby,” according to The Associated Press.
“The State has shown that Richard Allen is Bridge Guy,” Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland told jurors in his closing argument, the Indianapolis Star reported, adding, “Five years, he lives in the city. Five years, he lives amongst us.”
Defense attorneys Brad Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin argued that prosecutors tried retrofitting evidence to make Allen look guilty because authorities were under immense pressure to solve the horrific case. They also brought in expert witnesses who testified that Allen’s confessions were false and caused by months of living in solitary confinement, where he was incessantly harassed.
Allen’s defense attorneys had previously put forth a theory that the victims were killed in a ritualistic sacrifice by members of a white nationalist “Odinism” cult. However, Judge Francis C. Gull ruled that the defense could not put forth that theory at trial due to a lack of supporting admissible evidence.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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