Here's what happened in the Delphi murders trial

Special Judge Frances Gull read the jury their instructions, and both the prosecution and defense made their opening statements to the jury. 

Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland said the state's case centers on the man on the Monon High bridge, an unspent bullet found at the scene, and the murders of Abby and Libby. 

"The last face the girls saw before their throats were slit was Richard Allen's face," McLeland said.

Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin said the state's case was built on a faulty timeline and evidence that didn't match up. He highlighted witness statements and forensic evidence that cast doubt on the state's case. 

"Please wait," Baldwin said in closing. "Richard Allen is truly innocent."

You can read more details on what happened in court on Day 1 of the trial here.

Former Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullin takes the stand as the state's fourth witness. 

Mullins said he still had hope when the first round of searching ended on Feb. 13, 2017. 

"I still believed at that time they would returns home," Mullin said. 

The next witness was Jake Johns, who helped with the search for the missing girls. He wasn't the one that found them, but he did locate Libby's tie-dyed shirt. 

The third witness of the day was Pat Brown, the man who located Abby and Libby's bodies on Feb. 14. 

During his testimony, Brown told the jury, “First, I thought they were mannequins.” He then began crying as he told jurors he realized, “We found ‘em.” 

You can read more details on what happened in court on Day 2 of the trial here.

We learned that the defense file a motion related to how jurors will hear and see the video and audio recovered from Libby German’s cellphone on Sunday, Oct. 20. 

The motion does not try to prevent jurors from seeing and hearing the recordings, but the defense does want to create guidelines about how the jurors hear the recordings and what questions can be asked of witnesses on that topic. 

In court, jurors were shown sometimes graphic images of the crime scene where the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German were found. 

You can read more details on what happened in court on Day 3 of the trial here. 

13News uncovered a confession letter, allegedly signed by Allen and addressed to the warden of the prison he was held at, in the exhibits for the case. 

In Delphi, jurors were shown the evidence collected from the scene where Abby and Libby's bodies were found in 2017. 

Indiana State Police digital forensic examiner Brian Bunner testified on the cellphone extraction of Libby's cellphone, which was found at the crime scene.

Bunner was asked if it was true that every time data is extracted from a phone, some data is lost.

"We know that now but didn't know that in 2017," Bunner said, noting there is a possibility some data was lost, such as being overridden or had fallen off over time.

You can read our full report on Day 4 of the trial here. 

In a new filing Oct. 23, the defense again asked permission to tell the jury about their Odinism theory.

Wednesday's testimony from witnesses was both graphic, hearing details from the doctor who performed autopsies on Libby German and Abby Williams, and also technical, hearing from the state trooper who analyzed data on Libby's cellphone. Jurors also heard from a witness who says she saw "bridge guy" the day of the murders walking on the side the road.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Christopher Cecil told the jury about the data he got off Libby's cellphone, showing what she posted on Snapchat that day: a picture of the bridge, then a photo of Abby walking on the bridge.

You can read more about his testimony in our full report on Day 5 of the trial here.

On the sixth day of the trial, jurors learned that Richard Allen met with an investigator at a Delphi grocery store after he voluntarily called the Delphi murders tip line to say he had been on the Monon trails — not far from the crime scene — on the afternoon of the murders.

A volunteer file clerk, Kathy Shank, was the first witness to testify on Day 6, telling the jury she found Allen's file in 2022 under an incorrect name and marked "cleared." She brought Allen's name back to the attention of police.

Former Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullin took the stand for the second time in the trial, explaining how the discovery jumpstarted the investigation and led to police zeroing in on Allen. 

You can read more about how investigators focused on Allen by clicking here. 

The seventh day of testimony in the Delphi murders trial Friday centered around guns and ammunition.

Firearm examiner Melissa Oberg testified for seven hours Friday, telling jurors how she compared the unfired bullet cartridge found at the crime scene with four test bullets that she fired through Allen's gun in the lab. Using a powerful microscope to inspect markings on the ammunition, she concluded the bullet at the crime scene did cycle through Allen's gun.

The jury saw a video and photos from under a lab microscope, showing marks on the edges of ammunition lined up to show how they matched.

You can find our full coverage of day seven of the trial by clicking here. 

The eighth day of testimony in the Delphi murders trial Saturday centered around Richard Allen's interview with police prior to his arrest.

Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman said Allen became agitated when Holeman was interviewing him on Oct. 26, 2022. Holeman said he did not plan on arresting Allen that day.

As an interview technique, Holeman said he lied to Allen about experts saying the voice recorded on Libby's cellphone was his.

You can read our full coverage of day eight of the trial by clicking here. 

Two witnesses testified on Day 9 of the Delphi murders trial on Monday, Oct. 28, both focusing on evidence at the crime scene.

First on the stand was Stacy Bozinovski, a DNA expert from the Indiana State Police Crime Lab. She told the jury she tested clothing from Abby Williams and Libby German found at the murder scene, as well as skin cells from under their fingernails and blood found on their bodies, on the ground and from a nearby tree. 

After Bozinovski's testimony, the state called LaPorte County Sheriff's Maj. Pat Cicero, a blood stain pattern expert who focused on the blood found at the murder scene. That meant the jury had to once again look at very graphic photos of the victims.

You can read our full coverage of day nine of the trial by clicking here. 

Richard Allen's own words — and his reported confessions to the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German — took center stage on Day 10 of his murder trial in Delphi.

The day started with hours of video showing Allen as he was being interrogated by police in October 2022, before his arrest. 

Tuesday afternoon, the jury heard about confessions Allen made while in prison. And not just one confession, but many of them.

Corrections officer John Miller testified that Allen told him, "I got what I deserved for what I did and I hope I burn in hell for what I did."

Officer Raymond Smith testified to Allen talking to himself in the middle of the night, saying one time, "Kathy, I did it. I'm guilty. Run, Kathy, run. I did it."

On Day 11 of the Delphi murders trial, a prison psychologist told jurors about alleged confessions made by Richard Allen that the prosecution says provide details only the killer would know.

Dr. Monica Wala, who treated Allen while he was at Westville Correctional Facility, told jurors she met almost daily with Allen and heard him confess to the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German several times. One of the confessions, she said, was very detailed, as she wrote in her clinical notes.

After Wala recounted her notes of the confession to the jury, defense attorneys got her to acknowledge she diagnosed Allen with "serious mental illness" and that he had an abrupt occurrence of psychotic behavior around the time he confessed.

The jury also heard of Wala's longtime fascination with the Delphi murders case and that she talked to Allen about what people had said about him online and in podcasts about the case.

Read more details about Day 11 of the Delphi murders trial here.

The state rested its case against Richard Allen Thursday. Before it did, the jury heard Allen in his own voice, in his own words, confess to his wife and mother on the phone that he killed Abby and Libby.

Thursday morning, the prosecution played seven phone calls Allen made from prison, five of them where he confesses to his wife Kathy that he committed the murders. In one of those calls, from April 2023, Allen tells his wife, “I did it…I killed Abby and Libby.”

The prosecution also replayed the video from Libby’s phone with “Bridge Guy” telling Abby and Libby, “down the hill.” Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland asked Indiana State Police Master Trooper Brian Harshman, who’s listened to all 700 calls Allen made from jail in the past two years, if he recognizes the voice on the video. Harshman looked right at the defendant and said: “It’s the voice of Richard Allen.”

Thursday afternoon, the defense began presenting its case, calling two witnesses. The first said she was on the Monon High Bridge the day of the murders with a friend and saw a man who didn’t respond when they said hi.

The second witness, who lives across the creek from where the girls’ bodies were found, testified she saw a man she didn’t recognize standing near a group of mailboxes near her house that day. She said she didn’t get a good look at the man’s face and has never seen him again.

Read more details about Day 12 of the Delphi murders trial here.

Judge Frances Gull ruled Richard Allen's defense team cannot tell the jury about their alternate theory that the girls were killed in a pagan ritual. That also means the jury will not hear from people the defense was planning to call to testify about other potential suspects in the case.

Friday, the defense also hoped to show the jury videos of Allen in prison around the time of his confessions to illustrate his mental anguish caused by the harsh conditions he was living under.

The judge ruled the jury cannot see those videos until the defense can confirm that the dates of the videos coincide with the time Allen confessed.

Former Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby testified that as late as August 20, 2023, he believed at least two people, maybe more, killed Abby and Libby. That's what he told the defense during a deposition 10 months after Allen had been arrested for the crime.

The defense also attacked investigators for missing videos of people investigators interviewed in the first month-and-a-half after the girls were killed.

Lead investigator Steve Mullin testified there were other videos missing from April 28 through June 2 of that year. When defense attorney Andrew Baldwin asked Mullin why missing evidence was important, Mullin said because of the integrity of the case.

Read more details about Day 13 of the Delphi murders trial here.

Court starts late due to an in-chamber meeting. Gull met with Prosecutor Nick McLeland and Brad Rozzi to discuss presenting videos to the jury. 

The defense shared camcorder video of Richard Allen in prison and a master sheet for the videos.

The video monitor was angled so only the jury can see it. Gull said there were "explicit scenes" in the videos that the jury was about to see.

The 11th witness for the defense is defense intern Max Baker. 

Baker confirmed the videos are from April, May and June 2023. He said he made a new zip drive this morning for the jury with a total of 15 videos. 

The jury saw "movement" videos of Allen being moved through Westville Correctional Facility. 

Libby German's family was visibly upset. Some people in the courtroom questioned why Richard Allen's privacy was respected but the victims' privacy wasn't.

The 12th witness for the defense is Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter.

Dozens of agencies investigated the Delphi murders, and every contiguous police agency to Carroll County was involved. The FBI was no longer used in investigating in August 2021. 

It was Carter's decision to ask the FBI to return, and he asked the FBI to return all of their investigative materials. 

Read more details about Day 14 of the Delphi murders trial here.

We learned more about Richard Allen's mental state while he's been in prison, as well as firsthand accounts from his own family in Delphi.

First to take the stand Monday was a neuropsychologist, Dr. Polly Westcott. Westcott said she met with Allen in prison to do a series of psychological exams, and after reviewing those exams, prison videos, phone calls and medical reports, she determined Allen suffered from major depressive disorder and psychosis when he confessed to killing the girls. She also determined he was not faking or exaggerating his mental health. 

Jurors also watched two videos that showed Allen inside his prison cell. A witness said it showed Allen eating his own feces and banging his head against the wall of his cell. The defense is trying to prove Allen's mental health was deteriorating, driving him to make false confessions. The state claims the videos were used to get sympathy from the jury.

Afternoon testimony started with two of Richard Allen's relatives, his sister and his daughter.

Read more details about Day 15 of the Delphi murders trial here.

New digital data was provided Tuesday by Stacy Eldridge, a digital forensic examiner. She claims she used data pulled by Indiana State Police years ago from Libby German's cellphone to determine someone inserted a headphone jack into the phone on the evening the girls went missing. It was then pulled out about five hours later.

That's the first time ever we've heard the possibility of someone else tampering with Libby's phone that night. 

We also heard about two hours of testimony from a forensic scientist about the "cycled, unfired round" found at the crime scene between the girls' bodies. Dr. Eric Warren on Tuesday was critical of how state police handled the examination of the cartridge, essentially saying the findings were inconclusive.

Also on Tuesday, a psychiatrist who specializes in solitary confinement shared what he calls "common symptoms" of people who are confined for too long, including confusion and delirium.

After watching videos and listening to phone calls of Richard Allen in solitary confinement, the doctor concluded he was "absolutely" showing signs of delirium, supporting the defense's argument that Allen's mental health had deteriorated when he confessed to killing Abby Williams and Libby German in February 2017.

Read more details about Day 16 of the Delphi murders trial here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you've now heard all of the evidence in this case."

Judge Frances Gull uttered those words to the jury at 2:20 p.m. Wednesday, after 17 days of testimony in the Delphi murders trial. 

After the defense rested its case, the state brought back two witnesses for more questioning, as well as prison psychiatrist Dr. John Martin, who met with Richard Allen after Allen was diagnosed as psychotic.

Allen did not take the stand in his own defense, and the jury was reminded that he is not required to testify and that cannot be held against him.

Thursday, jurors will hear closing arguments, and they’ll get their jury instructions before deliberating on a verdict.

Click here for more details on the final day of testimony in the trial.

The verdict in the Delphi murders trial is in the hands of the jury. 

Before heading into the jury room to begin deliberations on whether Richard Allen is guilty or not guilty of the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German, both the prosecution and defense had a chance to deliver closing arguments in the case.

Prosecutor Nick McLeland laid out the state's entire case in chronological order, asking the jury to find Allen guilty on all four counts of murder.

"Richard Allen is 'bridge guy,' McLeland told the jury. "He kidnapped them and later murdered them. He stole the youth and life away from Abby and Libby."

Defense attorney Brad Rozzi told jurors the state hid a lot of information it did not want jurors to know about, because of what he called a state investigation that lacked credibility. He also spent a lot of time talking about Allen's treatment while being held in prison.

"Where’s the moral compass? You are the moral compass. We are asking you to set Richard Allen free and a verdict of not guilty," Rozzi told the jury.

The jury deliberated for two hours Thursday before ending for the day. They are expected to resume at 9 a.m. Friday.

Read more about the closing arguments and the beginning of jury deliberations here.

The jury in the Delphi murders trial left the Carroll County Courthouse Friday afternoon after their first full day of deliberations, but with no verdict to hand down.

The fact that no decision was made Friday on whether Richard Allen was guilty or not guilty of the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams in 2017 came as no surprise, given the complex issues and contradictory evidence they have to sort through.

"You really can't make much of it," 13News legal analyst Katie Jackson-Lindsay. "First of all, every jury is different. Every jury is made up of different people, and so it's really hard to make any assumptions one way or the other about how long they're taking. 

"As trial lawyers, we often have superstitions about what a short verdict means or what a long verdict means. But having done this for 16 years, on both sides, having done nearly 100 juries and about half-and-half on each side, I can tell you that there's never any rhyme or reason, and you cannot put any hard and fast rules on how long deliberations are taking."

The jury is scheduled to resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Saturday. If they don't reach a verdict by late afternoon, they will have Sunday off, meaning the earliest a verdict would be returned is Monday.

On its third full day of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in the Delphi murders case. 

Just minutes after entering the courtroom, the 12 men and women announced they had found Richard Allen guilty on all four counts for the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams in February 2017. 

The prosecution embraced as the verdict was read. Allen's lawyers were comforting him, before he was cuffed and led away. During discussion of sentencing, Allen looked at his wife, Kathy, and asked, "Are you OK?"

Outside the courtroom, many in the assembled crowd cheered as word of the verdict was spread outside the Carroll County Courthouse.

Allen is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 20, 2024. Indiana State Police Sgt. John  Perrine says the gag order in the case will stay in place until Allen is sentenced. 

Read more about the final day of the Delphi murders trial here.