FORT WAYNE, Ind. — After more than six years, any answers surrounding what happened to Abigail Williams and Liberty German will have to wait.
On Thursday, the defense team for double-homicide suspect Richard Allen announced they would step down. Attorneys Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin had represented Allen shortly after his arrest in October 2022. Allen County Judge Frances Gull announced she had to cancel a status hearing for Allen due to his lack of defense.
As of Thursday afternoon, Allen is still in need of representation.
It's a major development that means the Delphi community, including families of Williams and German, must wait even longer for answers.
As we await further developments in a case that just got stalled once more, a look back at Allen's charges so far.
Feb. 13, 2017 - Teens dropped off
Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, are dropped off by a relative near the Monon High Bridge. The teens planned to take advantage of a nice day off from Delphi Middle School to go hiking near Monon High Bridge.
Feb. 13, 2017 - Allen is on the bridge, according to later interviews
Richard Allen would eventually tell police he was on the trail from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on this day.
He said he parked at the old Farm Bureau building — which was later confirmed to be the former Child Protective Services building — and saw three girls at the Freedom Bridge.
Allen told investigators he did not speak with the girls as he walked from the Freedom Bridge to the Monon High Bridge.
He also tells police he saw girls on the trails east of Freedom Bridge before going to Monon High Bridge to watch the fish.
Note that Allen told police this information in 2017, but it would not come out that police actually spoke with him until his arresting probable cause was released in November 2023.
Feb. 13, 2017 - Girls reported missing
When the relative returns hours later to pick the girls up, they were nowhere to be found. Family reports Williams and German missing that evening.
Feb. 14, 2017 - Bodies found
By Tuesday that next morning, a massive search led by a coalition of law enforcement and volunteers is underway to search for the girls. Fears already begin to percolate in Delphi’s tight-knit community that something terrible could have happened to the two missing teens.
That afternoon, the bodies of Abigail Williams and Liberty German are found in a wooded area along Deer Creek, northeast of the Monon High Bridge.
At the time, police only confirmed two bodies were found and did not release their identity.
Feb. 15, 2017 - Abby and Libby identified, Snapchat video released
Authorities confirm the bodies were Abby and Libby’s, and that they were investigating their deaths as a homicide. Authorities released few details on what was at the crime scene.
An FBI agent reveals in later documents that pieces of clothing from one victim were missing and that it “appeared the girls’ bodies were moved and staged.” There were no visible signs of a struggle, according to FBI documents.
The agent suspected a souvenir had been taken by the killer and noted that it was common for perpetrators to memorialize the crime scene with pictures.
Police revealed later that same day they had recovered German’s cell phone, which they believed contained video of the suspected killer. A Snapchat video apparently taken by German before her murder appeared to show a man wearing a brown hat and dark blue jacket approaching the girls on the bridge.
Feb. 18, 2017 - Memorial service held for Abby and Libby
The community mourns the loss of Abby and Libby while reiterating their fear that a killer may be living among them.
German was remembered by a friend as being a nice and happy person, who loved to swim. Williams’s mother said her daughter was “very special, very giving” who would have gone on to do big things in life.
Feb. 22, 2017 - “Down the hill…”
One week after the girls’ bodies are identified, police release audio from German’s cell phone.
For the first time, the public hears a man say, “down the hill”, which was made as an apparent command to the girls prior to their murder. Authorities release the audio in a loop in the hopes this mysterious suspect’s voice, by then known as ‘Bridge Guy’ would be identifiable to someone in the community.
In later years, it would become known that the full recording was 43 seconds long.
July 17, 2017 - First suspect photo released
Months after the death of Abby and Libby, authorities release the first suspect sketch related to the Delphi case.
It depicts a seemingly middle-aged man with a goatee and shaggy hair poking out of a hat. The man was drawn wearing a jacket and hoodie similar to what was depicted in the grainy video taken from Libby German’s Snapchat video.
Thousands of tips flood into authorities following the release of that photo, but no arrests are made.
April 22, 2019 - Second suspect photo, more audio released
As the community holds more memorial services and families work to find answers, two years pass without any public update on the Delphi murders case from authorities.
Then comes a passionate press conference in the spring of 2019, which sees investigators release new audio taken from Libby German’s cell phone and cast fresh allegations against the mysterious suspected killer, or killers.
Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announces the release of a second suspect photo, which depicts a younger man with no goatee, and curlier hair.
Audio released by investigators here in April 2019 contains new, muffled sounds and the word “guys”. Investigators indicate the “guys” statement and “down the hill” statements are two distinct clips that have been edited together.
Carter then makes comments directed to the killer, who he claims is likely in the room or watching the news conference at that very moment.
“I speak now directly to the killer who may be in this room. We believe you are hiding in plain sight” Carter said.
Oct. 26, 2022 - Richard Allen arrested
Richard M. Allen, 50, is arrested in connection with the murder of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, five years after they were killed.
Detectives with the Delphi Double Homicide Task Force take Allen into custody at the Indiana State Police post in West Lafayette. He is taken to the Carroll County Jail.
Oct. 28, 2022 - Formal charges and transfer
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland announces Allen faces two counts of murder for the 2017 murders of Williams and German.
ISP Superintendent Carter also reiterates his belief Allen was the man on the bridge, and the man seen in German’s Snapchat video.
Documents related to Allen’s arrest, including a probable cause affidavit, are ordered to be under seal for 30 days per McLeland.
Allen is transferred to the White County Jail, and McLeland determines Allen will be held without bond. Court records from Oct. 28 show a judge sets Allen’s bond at $20 million, and it is unclear when that is amended.
Allen pleads not guilty to both counts.
Nov. 14, 2022 - The court appoints public defenders Anthony Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin as Allen’s defense team.
Nov. 22, 2022 - Conflict over arresting probable cause
The prosecutor’s decision to not release the probable cause affidavit for Allen’s arrest becomes the center of a special hearing.
Carroll County judge Benjamin Diener had previously granted a motion put through by McLeland to keep all documents related to the Delphi murders case - not just the probable cause affidavit - under seal.
Judge Diener recuses himself from Allen’s case. In an order announcing his recusal, Diener says he determined the particular circumstances within the underlying case warrant a special judge be appointed.
Although he never outlines what specific special circumstances he referred to, previous emails and court documents show Diener’s safety concerns that he, as well as his staff, are overwhelmed by public attention and requests for information.
It’s at this point attorneys for Richard Allen push for the release of the probable cause affidavit to be made public.
Baldwin says he wants the documents publicly released, because his team is "not impressed" with the lack of evidence in the document.
Also during the hearing, McLeland reveals his belief that others may be involved in the murders.
Nov. 28, 2022 - Change of venue request
Allen's attorneys file a motion for a change of venue for his trial, according to court documents obtained by 13News.
In the motion, attorneys Baldwin and Rozzi cite "extensive media attention" of the case and stat that it "could be argued that the amount of publicity that this particular case has received in the past 5 plus years will make it difficult to find a jury that has not heard of this case."
Nov. 29, 2022 - Probable cause affidavit released
Special judge Fran Gull orders redacted court documents to be publicly released.
These twelve pages of court documents include the probable cause affidavit for Richard Allen’s arrest, the decision to release a redacted version, and murder charges.
According to Gull, prosecutors "failed to prove clear and convincing evidence" to prevent the public from reading the court documents.
The redacted version removes witnesses' names and identifying personal information about Allen.
The probable cause affidavit says Allen was on the Monon High Bridge Trail between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, the day the girls disappeared.
The document also says Allen is the man seen on previously released videos of a suspect on the trail, who directed the girls to go "down the hill."
Investigators first interviewed Allen in 2017, and he allegedly confirmed then that he was on the trail the day Abby and Libby disappeared. Allen also tells police he had nothing to do with the murders.
On Oct. 13, 2022, the affidavit shows investigators conducted a search warrant on Allen's residence.
During that search, they found a Sig Sauer Model P226 which the Indiana State Police Laboratory said they performed an analysis on. Investigators alleged in that probable cause an unspent round found within two feet of one of the victim's body was recovered from Allen's home.
The probable cause also outlined Allen’s movements that day, as well as witness allegations that they saw Allen in the area of the Monon High Bridge.
Dec. 2, 2022 - Gag order
Judge Gull issues a gag order that prevents all parties from speaking publicly on the case.
Involved parties, counsel, law enforcement officials, court personnel, the coroner and family members are not allowed to speak publicly on the case.
A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2023 at 10 a.m. in the Carroll County Circuit Court. At that hearing, the judge will review the order to decide if it should remain in place.
Anyone who violates the gag order could be held in contempt of court and is subjected to a fine or incarceration.
Dec. 9, 2022 - Request for privacy
Richard Allen's attorneys say they want their planned defense kept secret from everyone, including the prosecutor in the Delphi murders case.
Dec. 12, 2022 - Private hearings request granted
The special judge approved that request for private hearings.
In a filing to the court, Allen's attorneys ask for funding for the cost of experts. His attorneys point out that Allen does not have the money needed to help in his defense.
Allen's attorneys also asked for the judge to order court personnel and court reporters to keep any information in the court hearings confidential.
Jan. 14, 2023 - Jury trial location
Judge Gull decides the jury will come from Allen County, but the trial will be held in Carroll County.
Jan. 23, 2023 - Jury pool county decided
A jury for the Delphi murders case will come from Allen County, Judge Gull says.
According to court documents, Judge Gull determines the jury will be drawn from the northeastern Indiana county, whose county seat is Fort Wayne.
April 5, 2023 - Defense attorneys claim ‘prisoner of war’ conditions
Richard Allen’s attorneys file a motion to have him moved to a new prison, immediately.
By that point, Allen had been held at the Westville Correctional Facility for around six months. His attorneys claimed Allen was being treated worse than inmates, even as he was presumed innocent.
They laid out a list of treatment allegedly experienced by Allen including:
Allen's cell being 6 feet by 10 feet in size
Him sleeping on a pad on a concrete floor
Only allowed to shower one to two times per week
Required to wear the same clothes, including underwear, for days that are soiled, stained, tattered and torn
No opportunity for Allen to visit his wife or family members in the past five months
The electronic tablet he uses to call family members is monitored by prison officials and the cost of the calls are being borne by Allen and his family
Allen is afforded very little recreational time
Information Allen's attorneys provided to him to review as part of his defense on March 24 are yet to be provided to him, as of April 3.
It is difficult for his attorneys to meet with him given his segregation and isolation, which keeps him from being able to assist in his defense.
His attorneys described Allen's conditions as "akin to those of a prisoner of war." At the time, Allen was one of 22 people housed pre-trial with the Indiana Department of Correction.
In a meeting on April 4, his attorneys claim Allen seemed to be suffering from memory loss and an overall inability to communicate rationally with his attorneys and family members.
Allen's attorneys also submitted images meant to show his "condition is deteriorating rapidly."
May 5, 2023 - Subpoenas issued
Prosecutors issue subpoenas for locations with ties to Richard Allen.
CVS, Allen's former employer in Delphi, and Westville Correctional Facility, where Allen had been held since November 2022 were both asked to provide documents and records.
The specifics of which documents and records the prosecutor wants to see were not made public.
The subpoenas were requested by Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland on April 20 and approved by the judge, Frances Gull, on May 3.
Allen was once employed as a licensed pharmacy technician at the CVS in Delphi. He received his Indiana license to be a pharmacist in 2018, and it was still active when he was arrested in October 2022.
June 28, 2023 - Richard Allen ‘confessional’ docs released
Allen County Judge Frances C. Gull releases 118 court documents related to Allen’s case.
The documents are released as part of a motion from Allen's attorneys, who wanted the judge to throw out evidence seized at Allen's house last October.
The court documents, which argue the search warrant was valid and warranted, share the latest information about how investigators believe Libby German and Abby Williams died, and why Allen was charged with their February 2017 murders.
One of those documents examined by 13News reveals prosecutors alleged Allen admitted to his wife over the phone that he killed Libby German and Abby Williams in 2017. He reportedly also confessed killing the girls to his mother.
That alleged confession phone call happened during a recorded call made to Allen's wife from inside Westville Correctional Facility on April 3.
"He admits several times within the phone call that he committed the offenses as charged. His wife ended the call abruptly," according to court documents.
Another document showed investigators believed a knife was used in the murders of German and Williams. An autopsy revealed the girls had been killed by a "sharp object," court documents reveal.
The newly released court documents also demonstrate how prosecutors believe Allen committed the kidnappings which resulted in the death of German and Williams, that he was the man in the video ordering the girls "down the hill," and that they believed they could hear the Sig Sauer Model P226 gun being cycled in audio taken from German's phone.
Investigators also believed German and Williams were removed from the bridge by Allen to the location where their murders occurred, according to the court documents.
Allen’s attorneys cast serious concerns about his health.
Court documents allege Allen began "wetting down paperwork he had gotten from his attorney and eating it."
The documents also show Allen allegedly went from making up to two phone calls day as of April 3, 2023, to not making any phone calls at all. Investigators also said after that day, Allen was refusing to eat and would go days on end refusing to sleep.
"To date, Richard M. Allen still has not made a phone call since April 3, 2023," the documents read.
The documents show that Allen broke the tablet he had been using for text messages and phone calls. According to the documents, in mid-April, two psychiatrists and a psychologist examined Allen to see if he needed to be involuntarily medicated.
July 19, 2023 - Allen ordered to remain in state prison
Judge Gull orders Richard Allen to remain in state prison ahead of his trial.
In a decision filed July 19, the judge said "the evidence presented demonstrated that the defendant is treated more favorably than other inmates housed at the Westville Correctional Facility."
Sept. 20, 2023 - Odinism ritual sacrifice accusations
Allen’s attorneys submit a filing outlining why they believe the girls were "ritualistically sacrificed" and leveled accusations against lead detectives of ignoring, or intentionally suppressing that evidence for years.
The filing was made as part of efforts to suppress evidence about a gun found inside Allen's home that formed a key piece of the charges against Allen.
Baldwin and Rozzi claim three members of law enforcement looked into a possible connection to Odinists, which they described as members of a pagan Norse religion which has been hijacked by white nationalists, as being involved in the murders.
They also claimed investigators became familiar with the names of those that might be behind the killings by at least February 2018.
Court documents claimed the crime scene where Williams and German's bodies were found had pagan symbols formed with sticks, tree branches and markings on a tree. His attorneys also claimed Allen had zero connection to any pagan cult, and no forensic or electronic evidence connected Allen to the girls or crime scene.
In laying out the crime scene and a timeline for the killings, the defense also cast serious doubt that one man could have acted alone.
They argued that the timeline laid out by the prosecution only allows for an hour and 17 minutes for the murders to have happened, according to Allen's attorneys. The time it would take to get the girls to the crime scene, kill them, position their bodies — including dressing Williams in her clothes and some of German's — place the alleged pagan symbols, and leave the scene was impossible for one man to do alone in the proposed time frame.
Sept. 27, 2023 - “Highly unprofessional”: McLleland hits back
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland defends an October 2022 search warrant served by investigators at the home of Richard Allen. McLeland also strongly argues against cameras in the courtroom during proceedings in the case.
He similarly hit back against claims of Odinism on the part of Allen’s defense, saying they "are not supported by evidence that they have collected," describing the 136-page memorandum as "colorful, dramatic and highly unprofessional."
Oct. 2, 2023 - Defense motion for more evidence
Allen’s lawyers file a motion requesting that prosecutor Nick McLeland and the state of Indiana “produce all evidence in its possession immediately and also that the Court set a Nov. 1, 2023, deadline to do so.”
“The Defense is concerned that there will be a continual drip, drip, drip of evidence (much which could be exculpatory in nature) unless a discovery deadline is set by the Court,” the defense attorneys write in their seven-page motion.’
They claim between December 2022 and June 2023, the state turned over 16 hard drives, four flash drives and one disc of information related to the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German.
But they also argued in just the past three weeks, the prosecutor sent the defense team an additional 14 hard drives, five more flash drives and three more discs — a vast amount of new material that greatly increases the information defense attorneys must review prior to the upcoming trial.
Oct. 12, 2023 - Officers deny Odinism ties
According to court documents filed Oct. 10, the prosecutor spoke with two correctional officers at the Westville Correctional Facility who the defense team claims have ties to Odinism.
Court documents say both correctional officers denied practicing Odinism, but admitted to wearing patches on their uniforms that can be — but they said are not — associated with Odinism.
The correctional officers said they stopped wearing the patches on their uniforms in September 2023 when they were asked to remove them. The correctional officers also claimed they were not part of a cult or a radical hate group.
One of the correctional officers said Norse Paganism Heathenry is his practicing religion.
In regard to their interactions with Allen, the correctional officers both said they've never threatened Allen and never had a one-on-one conversation with Allen about Odinism.
One of the correctional officers told prosecutors he went "above and beyond to not use any kind of force on (Allen), even though there have been times when use of force was justified by standard operating procedures." That correctional officer said Allen was tased twice between May 9 and May 25 because he did not comply with the officers' orders.
That same day, Allen’s defense team submits two motions asking the judge to deny the state’s request for the Department of Correction to turn over Allen’s medical and mental health records.
Oct. 17, 2023 - Judge Gull approves an order for cameras to be allowed in court
Oct. 19, 2020 - Richard Allen loses legal representation
Judge Frances Gull announces public defenders Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi have withdrawn from defending Richard Allen.
A long-anticipated hearing lasted about three minutes as Judge Gull announced attorney Baldwin had withdrawn his representation as Allen's attorney. Attorney Bradley Rozzi was expected to give an oral withdrawal shortly after.
Gull told the court and Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLleland that she would reach out to see about counsel for Allen.
Allen is still in need of a defense team and could not appear at the Fort Wayne court because he does not have representation. He has been transported back to the Indiana Department of Correction.