A tip that had seemingly gotten lost in the shuffle was found five years after two girls were killed on an Indiana hiking trail, leading to the arrest of the man now on trial on accusations he murdered them.
Richard Allen was arrested in 2022 and ultimately charged with four counts of murder in connection with the 2017 deaths of Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, who were found dead near a creek in Delphi, Ind.
The brutal Delphi murders have been extensively covered in the media, leading to thousands of tips in the five years during which police tried to crack the case.
During Allen’s trial, which is ongoing, a witness testified that she saw a tip with the suspect’s name on it.
According to reports from WLFI, Fox 59 and the Journal & Courier, Kathy Shank, a volunteer receptionist, testified that she found the tip in September 2022. It came from Allen, who self-reported that he was on the trail at the time of the murders. But when the tip had been reviewed in 2017, Allen had been cleared.
But the tip caught Shank’s attention, she testified: She was aware that three girls had reported seeing a man on the trail, according to Fox 59, and here was a man admitting that he’d been on the trail during that timeframe.
At that point, she took the tip to the case’s lead detective, the outlets reported. The investigation then centered on Allen.
Police arrested Allen after searching his home and said they found several knives and a gun allegedly linked to a bullet found at the scene, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors have claimed that Allen confessed to the murders during a jailhouse call with his wife, the AP, CNN and Fox 59 reported. The defense, however, has tried to have the alleged confession tossed, saying that he was in a declining mental state at the time, according to Fox 59.
Last week, defense attorneys filed a motionasking the judge to allow them to present a theory that Odinists, members of a pagan religion linked with White nationalism, actually committed the murders, the Indianapolis Star, WTHR and Fox 59 all reported.
