Delphi murders: Richard Allen sentenced for killing 2 teen girls on hiking trail

An Indiana judge on Friday sentenced Richard Allen, who was recently convicted for the February 2017 killings of two teen girls who had been walking on a hiking trail in Delphi, known as the Delphi murders, to a maximum of 130 years behind bars.

The sentence includes 65 years for the felony murder of Abigal “Abby” Williams and 65 years for the felony murder of Liberty “Libby” German to be served consecutively.

Allen’s attorneys plan to appeal, saying in a memo filed earlier this week that Allen “maintains his innocence and his hopeful that the appellate process will provide him with an opportunity to present a full defense at a second trial.”

An Allen County jury in November found Allen guilty of murdering Abby, 13, and Libby, 14, who disappeared during their walk along the High Monon Trail on Feb. 13, 2017. Investigators found them both brutally murdered the next day with sticks covering their bodies in a wooded area near the trail.

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Allen was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder and faced up to 130 years in prison.

During his trial earlier this year, prosecutors placed Allen at the crime scene with evidence including an unspent bullet at the scene matching a firearm recovered from Allen’s home in 2022, as well as the dozens of confessions he made in prison, according to FOX 59 Indianapolis.

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Allen’s defense leaned largely on expert analysis showing Allen’s unhealthy mental state after his 2022 arrest, which took the Delphi community by surprise at the time. Allen had been a longtime CVS employee in the small Indiana town when police took him into custody five years after the murders.

Carroll County prosecutor Nick McLeland told jurors in his opening statement that when searchers found the two girls in a wooded area near the Monon High Bridge, Libby was naked and covered in blood. Both girls had their throats cut several times, FOX 59 reported.

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One key piece of evidence presented during the trial was a video Libby recorded on her phone at some point before she and Abby were killed.