An Indiana man convicted of killing two teenage girls during a hike in 2017 will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Richard Allen, a 52-year-old from Delphi, Indiana, was sentenced on Friday to 130 years in prison for the murders of Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14. The sentencing came after a trial that gripped the state and drew national attention.
At the hearing, family members of the victims spoke out, expressing their pain and anger. Liberty’s cousin, Josh Lank, said the tragedy had turned their lives upside down. “This man has made my family’s life a living hell,” Lank told the court. “Now it’s time for your life to be a living hell.”
Despite the verdict, Allen insisted he was innocent, and his lawyers announced they plan to appeal the decision.
The case, which has been one of the most closely watched murder trials in Indiana, concluded after 17 days of testimony. The jury convicted Allen on two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder tied to kidnapping. However, the trial was not without controversy.
Abby and Libby went missing on February 13, 2017, while walking the Moon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, a small town about 70 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The next day, their bodies were found in a wooded area near the Delphi Historic Trails system. Both girls had been brutally murdered, and their deaths left the community shaken.
Prosecutors didn’t have direct physical evidence, like DNA or fingerprints, linking Allen to the crime. Instead, they relied heavily on circumstantial evidence and statements Allen allegedly made. The case was further complicated by mistakes during the investigation.
For example, prosecutors revealed that 70 days of police interview recordings, from April 28 to June 30, 2017, had been lost. These tapes reportedly included interviews with individuals the defense described as key suspects. Additionally, recorded interviews from February 2017 with two other men were also missing. Prosecutors claimed the losses were accidental, but the mishaps created significant tension during the trial.
Allen’s defense attorneys also faced setbacks. At one point, they accidentally leaked sealed evidence, leading the judge to remove them from the case. Although they were eventually reinstated, the trial’s proceedings remained rocky.
Prosecutors argued that Allen had confessed multiple times to killing Abby and Libby. They said Allen admitted to the murders during phone calls with his wife and during other conversations. In one recorded call, Allen reportedly said, “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.” They also pointed to video evidence from Libby’s cellphone, which captured a man walking behind the girls shortly before their deaths. Prosecutors claimed this “Bridge Guy,” as he became known, was Allen.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland told the jury, “The State has shown that Richard Allen is Bridge Guy. Five years, he lives in the city. Five years, he lives amongst us.”
Allen’s lawyers, Brad Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin, argued that the evidence against their client was weak. They suggested that authorities, under immense public pressure, had tried to make Allen fit the narrative. They also brought in experts who testified that Allen’s confessions were coerced after months of harsh treatment in solitary confinement.
The defense even presented a theory that the murders were part of a ritualistic sacrifice by members of a white nationalist group tied to “Odinism.” However, the judge did not allow this argument to be presented to the jury, citing a lack of credible evidence.
As the trial ends, questions linger about the investigation’s handling and whether justice has truly been served. For the families of Abby and Libby, however, the focus is now on healing and remembering the girls whose lives were tragically cut short.
