Updated October 2023
Background to the Delphi Murders
On Monday, February 13, 2017, at around 1 pm, Abigail Williams and Liberty German were dropped off near the Delphi Historic Trails in Delphi, Indiana, in the United States.
They hiked onto the abandoned and somewhat dangerous Monon High rail Bridge over Deer Creek. They were meant to be picked up later in the afternoon but did not arrive.
On February 14, 2017, the bodies were discovered on the opposite side of Deer Creek, near the cemetery. Two young girls who were having fun in the Indiana wilderness had their lives cut short by a depraved killer.
The murders had received significant media coverage since a photo and audio recording of the suspect believed to be the girls' killer was found on Libby’s smartphone. Despite the picture and audio recording and over 26,000 tips being sent to police, no arrests were made in the case for over five and a half years.
Then, in late October 2022, the authorities finally announced they had charged a local, 50-year-old Delphi man called Richard Allen with the murder of the two girls.
As of October 2023, Allen’s 15-day jury trial was expected to begin on January 8, 2024. However, this will likely be delayed because of issues with his legal defence team and allegations that crucial evidence was leaked to the media. The special judge appointed in the case, Judge Fran Gull of Allen County, issued an order to allow pool media coverage of the pre-trial hearing on October 31, 2023.
Richard Allen in October 2023
Attorneys Robert Scremin and William Lebrato will now represent Allen after it was announced in a hearing on October 19, 2023, that his previous attorneys, Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin, had withdrawn from the case, with no reason given. Scremin is a former deputy prosecutor with the Indianapolis Drugs, Guns & Gangs Unit and a former deputy prosecutor with the Allen County Domestic Violence Unit, whilst Lebrato is the chief public defender of Allen County.
The withdrawals followed rumors of an alleged leak of crime scene photos, and Rozzi claimed in a court filing that his withdrawal was coerced. He alleged Gull gave him and Baldwin two options the day of the hearing: voluntarily withdraw or be removed from the case during the hearing after Judge Gull allegedly told the attorneys they “exercised gross negligence” while representing Allen. Rozzi maintained he did nothing to compromise the case.
Kevin Greenlee and Áine Cain, co-hosts of the Murder Sheet podcast, claimed the alleged leak came from a former professional associate of Baldwin. The hosts said they had no reason to believe the photos were purposefully leaked.
The trip to Delphi Historic Trails and timeline of events
On Monday, February 13, 2017, the two best friends, 13-year-old Abigail J. "Abby" Williams and 14-year-old Liberty Rose Lynn "Libby" German, asked Libby’s grandmother and primary caregiver, Becky, if they could go to Monon Bridge, a popular walking/hiking spot in the small town of Delphi, Indiana (population around 3000.) Their school was closed that day as some snow had fallen over the prior weekend.
The girls were granted permission with the caveat that they secure a ride there and back. Libby’s older sister, Kelsi, agreed to take the girls, and Libby’s father, Derrick, confirmed he would pick them up but told them that they would only have a couple of hours.
Becky Patty and Mike Patty, grandmother and grandfather of Libby German
At 1.35 pm, the girls were dropped off by Kelsi German at a trailhead on County Road 300 North, west of the Hoosier Heartland Highway. The location is only a 5-minute drive from downtown Delphi.
At 2.07 pm, Libby posted a photo on Snapchat of Abby walking the Monon Bridge.
At 3.11 pm, Derrick texted Libby to let her know he was heading out to pick them up, but Libby didn’t respond, which was unusual for her. At 3.14 pm, Derrick was waiting at the designated meeting spot, but there was no sign of the girls. At 3.30 pm, Derrick phoned Becky to say the girls weren’t where they said they’d be and subsequently, Becky and Derrick made several attempts to call Libby. But the phone was off. Becky’s husband Mike went to the trail after around 10 minutes, and he and Derrick started a search for the girls.
Monon High Bridge Delphi
Monon High Bridge Delphi
At that time, the family didn’t suspect foul play and assumed the girls had either walked home or were in the trail area. Perhaps they had gotten lost or had walked too far, or even got injured somehow, and the phone might have run out of battery.
By sunset at around 5 pm, there was no sign of Libby and Abby, and the authorities were contacted to report them missing at 5.30 pm.
Search and discovery of bodies
The families initially searched for the girls themselves before calling the police. After a thorough search using sniffer dogs, the bodies of the girls were found in a wooded area at around 12.15 pm on February 14, 2017, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) east of the abandoned Monon High Bridge. The bodies were about 50 feet (15 m) from the north bank of Deer Creek.
Police have not publicly stated how the girls were murdered, but it was said to be a “disturbing crime scene”. There were two to three specific signatures associated with the crime scene, suggesting a serial killer was involved.
The bodies were found on the opposite side of Deer Creek. Did the girls try to wade across to run away from the murderer, or were they lured there under threat of violence?
The investigation into the Delphi murders
On February 15, 2017, the police released a photo of a man they wanted to speak to about the murders but did not officially identify him as a suspect until February 19. The photograph of “Bridge Guy” shows a white male wearing blue jeans, a blue coat/jacket, and a hoodie.
Police later released an audio recording, also retrieved from Libby’s cellphone, of the suspect saying, “Down the hill”. The authorities indicated that more evidence relating to the suspect was found on the phone, but it was not released so as not to compromise any future trial.
While hiking, the girls were actively posting to Snapchat and recording videos on Libby’s phone. Police said Libby’s phone recorded the entirety of the girl’s last moments. It seems the man's approach on the bridge had unsettled the girls, and Libby appears to have concealed her phone in a successful attempt to capture the perpetrator on film. The man approached them from the north while they were on the south end of the bridge.
Close to the end of the Monon bridge is a walkable but steep path, twisting down a hill. This path is likely where the girls were told, “down the hill”.
The suspect was described as a white male between 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) and 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) tall, weighing between 180 (82 kg) and 220 pounds (100 kg) with reddish-brown hair.
On March 17, police served a search warrant on the owner of the property where Abby’s and Libby’s bodies were found and searched the home and vehicle of Ron Logan.
The warrant application cited multiple complaints that Logan was violent towards women and that he owned numerous weapons, including handguns and knives. He also allegedly lied about where he was at the time that the girls disappeared, saying he was out of the area with a friend that afternoon when cellphone location data placed him in the area around the trail.
The document also said that his voice was “not inconsistent” with the man captured in the video by Libby.
On March 20, Ron Logan was released, with no evidence linking him to the double murder case, and he died in 2020.
Composite sketch Delphi Murders suspect, July 17, 2019
On July 17, a composite sketch of someone who, at that time in the investigation, was sought as a person of prime interest in the murders. It had been drawn by police from eyewitnesses to a particular hiker of the Delphi Historic Trails on the day that the girls vanished.
On April 19, 2019, Indiana State Police announced a "new direction" in the case. Superintendent Doug Carter released more materials a few days later in a press conference held on April 22. The new materials included a short video recording in which the suspect is seen walking along the rail bridge.
An updated sketch of the suspect was also released, as well as an extended version of the audio recording, in which a slight rise in the suspect's voice can be detected as he says the word "Guys..." before the phrase "Down the hill." It was further explained that the previously released sketch, showing an older man with a goatee and cap, is now considered secondary; by contrast, the clean-shaven individual of the newly revised composite is the primary sketch of the prime suspect. Police say this person may range from age 18 to 40 but caution that his "youthful appearance" could make him look younger than his actual age.
What was strange is that the new primary suspect looked completely different from the original sketch released close to the time of the murders and also to the video clip released from the cellphone.
Updated composite sketch Delphi Murders suspect, April 2019
Investigators also revealed they have reason to believe that the suspect might be hiding in plain sight and that the person is almost certainly familiar with the area of Delphi, whether it be from living or working there or for another reason. An additional plea was made for help in identifying the driver of a vehicle left abandoned off the Hoosier Heartland Highway in Delphi at the former Child Services office between noon and 5 pm on the day of the murders.
Were the Delphi Murders committed by a serial killer?
The question remained for authorities at the time - was this a serial killer or just a random, unplanned attack on the two girls? There was evidence of signature behavior at the crime scene, over and above what was required to kill the girls. These signature behaviors are unnecessary at the crime scene, either before or after the crime, e.g. post-mortem mutilation, dismemberment, insertion of foreign objects, posing of the bodies, etc. The authorities have not released further information. There was a lot of physical evidence at the crime scene, including DNA.
Possible leads and suspects
In September 2017, a suspect identified as Daniel J. Nations was arrested. Nations was stopped for driving a car with expired license plates in Colorado. He was also wanted in connection with complaints of a man threatening hikers with a hatchet in Woodland Park. A mountain biker, Timothy Watkins, was fatally shot on the trail around the same time Nations was allegedly threatening people. At the traffic stop, police found a hatchet and a .22-calibre rifle in Nations’ car.
Daniel J. Nations
Nations had a lengthy criminal record, including petty offenses and domestic violence, as well as being a registered sex offender after being charged with indecent exposure. He had masturbated in front of a young girl in South Carolina. He had connections to Indiana, claiming to be homeless and “living under an Indiana 67 bridge” in Morgan County since January 31, 2017. Nations was questioned by Indiana State Police, who obtained his DNA.
Nations was then sentenced to three years probation on January 5, 2018, for the charge of threatening hikers in Colorado. Because he had an active warrant from another county, Nations was still in police custody as of January 24, 2018, when he was transferred to Indiana custody on an unrelated charge. In early February 2018, police announced that Nations was no longer considered an active person of interest in the Delphi murders.
In December 2021, Indiana State Police announced that officials had “uncovered” a fake online profile called anthony_shots.
The profile was used from 2016 to 2017 on Snapchat and Instagram. It used photos of a known male model, portraying him as being enormously wealthy and owning numerous sports cars.
The account was owned by Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru, close to Delphi.
Kline posed as the model to groom underage girls and get them to send nude photos and their addresses and try to get them to meet him. The male model whose photos were used had no connection to the case. Kline was arrested on charges of child sexual abuse images and child exploitation tied to the account in 2020.
He allegedly admitted to investigators that he groomed underage girls online.
The affidavit said that Indiana State Police and the FBI carried out a search warrant on 25 February 2017 at Kline’s home, and Ron Logan lied to investigators about where he was the day Libby and Abby went missing.
Kline was charged with 30 felonies in 2020 over the case, but he denied any knowledge or involvement in the Delphi Murders.
The documents, filed in 2020 and heavily redacted, do not mention the murders of Libby and Abby, and he was not accused of involvement in their deaths.
Libby’s grandmother, Becky Patty, said that her granddaughter had never mentioned speaking to anyone online before her death and that there had never been any indication that the two girls had arranged to meet anyone online the day they were killed.
The arrest of Richard Matthew Allen in October 2022
Richard Allen
Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, and booked into Carroll County Jail. Two days later, on October 28, he was charged with two counts of murder, to which he pled not guilty and was moved to a state facility for his safety. On Monday, October 31, Indiana State Police publicly announced Allen’s arrest.
The probable cause affidavit was under seal as of early November 2022, and officials declined to provide additional details about the investigation. They would also not rule out the possibility that other individuals were also involved.
In August 2022, State Police searched the Wabash River in Peru, around 40 minutes east of Delphi.
Allen is married to his wife Kathy with an adult daughter, and he was a trained pharmacy technician working at a local CVS store. Libby’s grandparents, Mike and Becky Patty, recalled Allen processing photos for them at the store.
Allen’s home in Delphi is less than a five-minute drive away from where the bodies were found, in a neighborhood southwest of the Monon High Bridge. He had lived in Delphi since at least 2006 and in Indiana his whole adult life and appears to have no prior criminal record.
Libby’s grandfather told reporters after the press conference that his granddaughter’s accused killer had been “hiding in plain sight” the whole time.“As [Indiana State Police Supt] Doug Carter said earlier, if you recall. He said he’s hiding in plain sight. And that’s the case. Didn’t know. I don’t know the gentleman personally at all. I’ve probably seen him. It’s a small county. But definitely, I don’t know him.”
In a photo posted by Allen’s wife on Facebook in December 2021, he was seen alongside his wife in a local bar in Delphi. On the wall behind him is the 2019 police sketch, and he looks very similar to the drawing.
Following Allen’s arrest, a pretrial hearing was set on 13 January 2023, and a trial date was scheduled for 20 March 2023.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said, “Per the court order, we cannot discuss the evidence in the probable cause or the charging information”. He did not answer questions about how long Allen has been a suspect. The judge will have to decide when to unseal various documents relating to the case.
Delphi Murders Crime Scene Leaks
In early October 2023, some alleged crime scene photos were leaked to the media.
Delphi Crime Scene photo tree
Delphi Crime Scene photo Black Nike shoe, underwear and T shirt (https://gavinfish.com/cases/abby-williams-and-libby-german/)
Delphi murders crime scene photo pink sock
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Gary Michael Hilton - The disturbing case of the National Forest Serial Killer
Sources
Down the hill audio https://www.in.gov/isp/files/Delphi_male_voice_loop.mp3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Abigail_Williams_and_Liberty_German
http://www.abbyandlibby.org/
Down the hill podcast episodes https://www.downthehillpodcast.com/
https://heresthefuckingtwist.com/2018/02/20/true-crime-tuesday-the-snapchat-murders/
http://truecrimeguy.com/twisted-tracks-murders-liberty-german-abigail-williams/
Delphi Murders - off the beaten track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4x531x5qLw
BrainScratch: The Delphi Murders - Abigail Williams & Liberty German https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeFv52r-0Eg&t=1514s
https://www.reddit.com/r/DelphiMurders/comments/df9p3x/the_scene_of_the_crime/
Gray Hughes Investigates Libby and Abby Delphi Murders crime scene flow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3twaMV9Fg
Gray Hughes Investigates Abby And Libby Delphi 3d Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21KWPDhrpc4
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/richard-allen-delphi-murders-b2215710.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/delphi-murders-update-richard-allen-indiana-b2215707.html
