The Indiana man charged in the 2017 killing of two middle school girls was convicted of murder Monday, NBC affiliate WTHR of Indianapolis reports.
The jury’s decision came after a four-week trial in which Richard Allen, 52, pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the Feb. 13, 2017 slayings of close friends Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14.
The pair had been hanging out at Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, north of Indianapolis, when prosecutors said Allen used “power and fear” to force them down a hill and cut their throats.
During his closing argument Thursday, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland identified Allen as “the bridge guy” — a man seen in a Snapchat video walking on a then-abandoned bridge along the trail.
The video was captured on Liberty’s cellphone the day of her death and later released by authorities in an effort to identify the man.
“Now all the pieces are clear,” McLeland said, according to WTHR. “Richard Allen is the ‘bridge guy.’ He kidnapped them and later murdered them. He slit their throats. He stole the youth and life away from Abby and Libby.”
Defense attorney Brad Rozzi challenged that conclusion, saying witnesses who testified that they saw “the bridge guy” gave physical descriptions that did not match Allen, the station reported.
Rozzi also described Allen’s repeated confessions to the murder as “false,” according to the station.
During an interview with authorities before his 2022 arrest, Allen acknowledged that he had been at the trail the day of the girls’ deaths, but he repeatedly denied killing them.
After his arrest, Allen was held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison while awaiting trial. Rozzi attributed the confessions to a mental health crisis.
“When the dust settled, he was there for 13 months,” Rozzi said, according to WTHR. “How much can one human endure?”
In addition to the Snapchat video and witness accounts, prosecutors pointed to an unspent .40 cartridge that was found near the girls’ bodies and which authorities said came from Allen’s gun.
The defense called the markings on the cartridge “insufficient” to link the bullet to Allen’s gun. During his closing argument, Rozzi referred to the cartridge as “a magic bullet,” WTHR reported.
Allen, a former CVS clerk, wasn’t a suspect in the case until a file clerk organizing thousands of tips in the case 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’d been at the same location as the girls on the day they disappeared.
Authorities announced Allen’s arrest on Oct. 31, 2022, weeks after the discovery.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
