Testimony continues in the murder trial of accused Delphi killer Richard Allen, with additional information about the circumstances surrounding his arrest.
As CrineOnline previously reported, Allen stands accused of the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German, who disappeared on February 13, 2017.
Police discovered the girls deceased the following day, near the Monon High bridge in Carroll County, Indiana.
Police eventually took Allen into custody and charged him with two counts of murder and two counts of murder during the commission of a kidnapping.
On Thursday, Kathy Shank, a former public servant who volunteered with the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office, testified about how Allen became the leading suspect in 2022, Indy Star reports.
In 2017, Allen told police that he had been on the trails on the afternoon of February 13, but an investigator claimed that Allen “fell through the cracks.”
It wasn’t until five years later that police arrested Allen, a local Delphi resident.
On September 21, 2022. Shank found a box of tip sheets in a desk drawer. She opened it to review the documents for database entry and discovered the tip sheet related to Allen.
“I thought there could be a correlation,” Shank said Thursday.
Shank brought the document to Tony Liggett, the chief deputy at the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and the lead investigator on the case. He then informed Steve Mullin, who was the Delphi Police Department chief at the time of the girls’ murders.
Investigators identified Allen as the owner of a 2006 Ford 500 and a 2016 black Ford Focus. Surveillance footage showed a black Ford Focus passing a store toward the trail just before 1:30 p.m. on February 13.
Mullin and Liggett went to Allen’s home for an interview on October 13, 2022.
Mullin testified that Allen described spending the morning of February 13 in Miami County with his mother. He then returned home to retrieve a jacket before going to the trail.
While walking, he noticed three girls near the Freedom Bridge, he told investigators. Upon reaching the bridge, he looked down at Deer Creek to watch the fish.
Mullin told jurors that Allen reported wearing a blue or black Carhartt jacket, jeans, and a beanie.
Allen then became frustrated and left the interview, according to Mullin.
Allen’s statements, however, were allegedly inconsistent.
In 2017, Allen said he arrived at the trail at 1:30 p.m. and left around 3:30 p.m., but in 2022, he said he arrived at noon and left by 2 p.m.
After the interview with Mullin and Liggett, investigators searched Allen’s home and arrested him less than two weeks later.
The trial continues. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo:Abby and Libby/Handout]
