Delphi suspect's trial postponed until October 2024
DELPHI, Ind. — The families of Libby German and Abby Williams and the suspect in their killings, Richard Allen, have another year to wait for justice.
Allen's already been incarcerated a year, and will now have to wait another year for his trial, which had been scheduled for Jan. 8.
Allen's newly appointed public defenders, Robert Scremin and William Labrato, filed their appearance on Monday, and on Tuesday, they filed a motion requesting that Allen's scheduled trial be postponed, indicating that it is impossible for them, as Allen's new counsel, to be ready in two months.
Special Judge Frances Gull agreed during Tuesday's hearing in Delphi, and Allen's trial now is scheduled to begin Oct. 15, 2024. It is scheduled to run through Oct. 31.
Jury selection will be in Allen County in an effort to select an impartial panel. Once the jury is picked, the trial moves to Carroll County, where the local interest in the Delphi killings is intense.
More: Accused Delphi killer gets new attorneys; motions to block removal pending
News coverage of the Feb. 13, 2017, killings of the two teenage girls in this small city northeast of Lafayette, Indiana, continues to garner national news coverage.
The two girls went for a hike on the Delphi trails east of town that afternoon during an unseasonable warm winter day.
Someone forced the girls from the trail near the Monon High Bridge, walked them about a quarter-of-mile east of the bridge to a spot on the north banks of the Deer Creek. The girls were killed there.
A nearly six-year investigation ended on Oct. 26, 2022, when police received lab tests that indicated an unfired bullet found at the scene had tool markings indicating it was ejected from a pistol owned by Richard Allen.
Allen was arrested that day, then charged Oct. 28, 2022.
Since early November 2022, Allen has been housed in a solidary confinement cell at Westville Correctional Facility.
More: What the new Delphi murder documents say about the crime scene, other suspects
More: Allen's defense: Libby and Abby killed in Odinism ritual sacrifice
Allen's involvement in the girls' killings was questioned in September when his first set of public defenders published a 136-page memorandum, detailing the crime scene and suggesting that a group of Odinist, an ancient Nordic pagan religion, sacrificed the girls in a ritual killing.
The public defenders who suggested the Odinist connection were dismissed from the case during Tuesday's hearing for "gross negligence," according to Gull's ruling.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Delphi suspect's trial postponed until October 2024
