Richard Allen, the Indiana man convicted of killing two middle school girls in 2017, was sentenced to 130 years in prison on Friday, almost eight years after the children’s bodies were found near a hiking trail.

Allen, 52, was convicted of murder in November after a four-week trial in the deaths of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, in Delphi.

The bodies of the girls, who were close friends, were found near a hiking trail on Feb. 14, 2017, but their killings went unsolved for years.

Allen received the maximum sentence. Judge Frances C. Gull told him it ranks “right up there with the most hideous crimes.”

“These families will deal with your carnage forever,” the judge said.

Indianapolis State Police arrested Allen in October 2022. He was charged with murder after what the state police superintendent called a “long-term and complex investigation.”

Prosecutors said that Allen encountered the girls on the Monon High Bridge Trail and that, armed with a gun, he forced them down a hill and cut their throats.

A jury convicted Allen on Nov. 11 of four counts of murder: one count each of felony murder and murder for each victim.

Allen had faced a potential sentence of 45 to 130 years in prison.

His attorneys say they plan to appeal. “Richard Allen maintains his innocence,” they wrote in a sentencing memo ahead of Friday’s sentencing.

The killings shook the small town of Delphi, a community of around 2,900 about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

Liberty had recorded a man who prosecutors allege was Allen in cellphone video that day. Prosecutors also said that an unspent .40-caliber round that came from Allen’s gun was found at the scene and that a black 2016 Ford Focus was seen on security video nearby — and that Allen owned the only such car registered in Carroll County when the murders took place.

Defense attorneys argued no one identified Allen as the man in the video or seen by witnesses. They also argued no forensic or DNA evidence connected him to the killings.

Prosecutors played an alleged confession made last year in a recorded jail call to his wife. In it, he says: “I did it, I killed Abby. I killed Abby and Libby.”

His wife did not appear to believe him and said his medication must be messing with his mind.

A former prison psychologist also testified that Allen confessed to her that he killed the girls, and prosecutors said he confessed to other prison staff members.

Allen’s defense attorney, Brad Rozzi, has attributed the confessions to a mental health crisis. Allen was being held in a maximum-security prison while he awaited trial. Defense attorneys have also argued he was kept in solitary confinement without due process.

Defense attorneys also wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Allen has a long history of mental health illness and that he had been treated for major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder throughout his life.

Allen, who was a CVS clerk at the time of the killings, was not a suspect until a file clerk organizing thousands of tips discovered a mislabeled “lead sheet” in September 2022.

The document, which had incorrectly been marked “clear,” showed that Allen reached out to investigators days after the killings and said he had been at the same location as the girls on the day they disappeared.

Defense attorneys have said that Allen often walked on that trail and that he voluntarily went to police because he wanted to help in any way he could.

The wait is finally over as Notre Dame Stadium is just hours away from rocking as the Fighting Irish are set to host the Indiana Hoosiers in the College Football Playoff.

It’s the first game in the expanded playoff era and is of course the first playoff game to take place on a college campus at the FBS level.

Suffice to say, Notre Dame and the entire South Bend area is going to be rocking.

But what happens in the game Friday night? Can Notre Dame secure its biggest postseason win in more than a generation and advance to the Sugar Bowl to take on Georgia?

Below is how the Notre Dame on Sports Illustrated staff sees this one shaking out.

Notre Dame vs. Indiana Predictions: Nathan Erbach

The snow has already come down on South Bend and we’re unsure if it’ll be around for kickoff but a little wind almost certainly will. Notre Dame has better talent across the board and is built to better operate in these conditions. On to the Sugar Bowl we go.

Game Prediction: Notre Dame 34, Indiana 17

Bold prediction: Indiana hasn’t allowed a team to rush for more than 4.2 yards per carry on them all season and that was Charlotte in a blowout victory. They also haven’t allowed more than 137 yards on the ground.  Notre Dame blows both of those out of the water.

Notre Dame vs. Indiana Predictions: Jeff Feyerer

First, Indiana. If Notre Dame controls the tempo and can run the ball, the game is theirs. The Hoosiers front seven is tough, but I’m still taking the Notre Dame offensive line. While Jeremiyah Love is the presumptive star, I think Jadarian Price and Mitchell Evans carry the offense in this game as Indiana tries to key on Love.

Game Prediction: Notre Dame 28, Indiana 16

Bold Prediction: Al Golden sends pressure after Kurtis Rourke in a way that hasn’t been done this season and Rourke looks pedestrian at best in the Irish victory.

Notre Dame vs. Indiana Predictions: Mason Plummer

Notre Dame has the better athletes at nearly every position and it shows in front of a raucous Irish crowd. 

Game Prediction: Notre Dame 35, Indiana 17

Bold Prediction: Love and Price combine for 150 yards on the ground as the Irish gash Indiana from start to finish with a late touchdown drive to seal it.

Notre Dame vs. Indiana Predictions: John Kennedy

It wouldn’t surprise me at all early on in this ballgame if there’s a “feeling out” period between these two teams where each sees if they can run the ball north/south on the other. While I predict some frustrating stalemates early on, eventually Jeremiyah Love, JD Price, and Riley Leonard will all break for big plays in the run game as the Irish seize control. Defensively, Notre Dame will take control of the line of scrimmage as the game moves along and the Irish will wear Indiana down and suffocate them. Bring on Georgia.

Game Prediction: Notre Dame 31, Indiana 20

Bold Prediction: Youngster Leonard Moore jumps a flare pass in the flat and takes it home for six

Notre Dame vs. Indiana Predictions: Nick Shepkowski

Notre Dame certainly hasn’t played the run as well as the pass in 2024 but will be on high alert to defend it Friday night. Howard Cross makes a massive impact as Notre Dame controls the defensive line of scrimmage all night long. After a slow start offensively for the Irish, the wheels really get turning in the second half and are primed for a trip to New Orleans.

Game Prediction: Notre Dame 27, Indiana 13

Bold Prediction: Indiana has run for 2,083 yards on the year and averaged 4.8 yards per carry to date. The Hoosiers won’t average 2.5 per attempt on Friday night.

A driver who makes nationwide deliveries and was reported missing last month to Decatur police was found dead inside her vehicle Thursday in Indiana, authorities said.

Foul play is not suspected in the death of Ann Theresa Kipp, a 62-year-old subcontracted driver for RXO who had a Decatur mailing address but did not live in the north Alabama city, Decatur police said Thursday.

Kipp was reported missing to Decatur police on Nov. 3.

She made a delivery in Corinth, Mississippi on Oct. 10 before calling her employer Oct. 16 to request time off because she was not feeling well.

Kipp was in Louisville, Kentucky when she made that call.

On Oct. 20, her employer tried contacting her but the effort was unsuccessful. Her employer told authorities Kipp was in Scottsburg, Indiana at the time.

On Thursday, police officers with the Indianapolis Police Department found Kipp dead inside her vehicle.

Indianapolis police are taking over the investigation into Kipp’s death.