State rests its case in Delphi murder trial, but is it enough to convict Richard Allen?

DELPHI, Ind. ― Prosecutors in the double-murder trial of Richard Allen rested their case Thursday after presenting the final pieces of evidence they hope will convict the Delphi man of murder in the 2017 abduction and deaths of teens Abigail "Abby" Williams and Liberty "Libby" German.

With all of the prosecution's cards now on the table, one key question emerges as the defense begins its effort to discredit or raise doubts about the state's case: Was the evidence strong enough to convince the 12 jurors, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Allen was the killer?

Legal experts and trial observers have mixed opinions and, ultimately, they don't matter. The question won't be answered until after Allen's attorneys make their case and the jury votes on his innocence or guilt. But from this point on during the small-town trial garnering international attention, most of the evidence jurors hear and see will come from witnesses called by Allen's attorneys — testimony challenging the state's theory and likely far more favorable to Allen.

The burden of justice: Delphi murder case jurors will face unimaginable pressure, life-changing decision

John Tompkins, an Indianapolis defense attorney who's been following the trial, said the case boils down to the confessions that prosecutors presented to jurors and whether they're "credible enough to be believed beyond a reasonable doubt."

The case against Allen rested largely on the incriminating statements he made while he was incarcerated at the Indiana Department of Correction and on a forensic examiner's finding that an unspent round found between the girls' bodies had been cycled through Allen's Sig Sauer, Model P226, .40-caliber handgun.

Prosecutors allege that the 52-year-old followed the teens on the Monon High Bridge on Feb. 13, 2017, threatened them with a gun and forced them into the woods, where he killed them. Allen's defense team has maintained that he's an innocent man caught in the middle of a bungled investigation that's been marred by a turf war between federal and local law enforcement officials.

Over the past two weeks, prosecutors presented jurors with a chronological telling of the case, starting from the morning of Feb. 13, 2017 to the years following Allen's arrest on Oct. 26, 2022. Jurors have heard from the girls' family members, the first responders who found their bodies, several law enforcement officers who were part of the investigation, eyewitnesses who reported seeing "Bridge Guy" on the trail that day, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsies, the firearms expert who tied the unspent round to Allen's gun, the volunteer clerk who unearthed the years-old self-reported tip about Allen, and prison officials to whom Allen confessed to the killings.

Jurors have watched videos of two police interrogations in which he forcefully denied killing Abby and Libby. But jurors have also heard audios of Allen's prison calls in which he told his wife and mother the exact opposite.

Dueling images: Delphi jurors saw opposing versions of Richard Allen: one who claimed innocence, one who confessed

"The context of most, if not all, of the confessions are during a mental health crisis. I don't think that's disputed ... He strongly denied any involvement at a time when he was not in a mental health crisis," Tompkins said. "There's just a stark split in Mr. Allen's statements."

The jury of five men and seven women must decide which they believe.

"If they can't tell," Tompkins said, "that's not guilty."

For Lee Wallace, an attorney from Atlanta who's been watching the trial, the gap to reasonable doubt narrowed on Thursday morning, when the state presented an August 2023 report from Dr. Monica Wala, Allen's therapist when he was at Westville Correctional Facility.

Allen told Wala that after he ordered Abby and Libby off the south side of the bridge, they walked along an obscure county road and were passed by a van, according to the report. According to testimonies this week, the vehicle belonged to Brad Weber, who lives near the Monon High Bridge trail and who would've been coming home from work in his white van around the same time the girls were forced to get off the bridge.

“They had a strong morning," Wallace said Thursday afternoon, referring to prosecutors, "... I thought the van was a central fact."

Only the killer would know about the van on that remote county road, Wallace said.

Wallace's friend, Andrea Burkhart, an attorney from Kennewick, Washington, saw the morning’s testimony a little differently.

How Richard Allen became a suspect: He was not on Delphi investigators' radar. Then a volunteer found a box of tips.

"I think (the prosecutors) shot themselves in the foot with the confessions," Burkhart said of the recorded phone calls between Allen and his wife that the state played for jurors. "They really overstated how incriminating they were. And they minimized the extent to which he sounds extremely disturbed."

"When you do something like that," Burkhart said, "you lose trust with the jurors."

For example, the state claimed Allen said he told his wife to call detectives if the stress became too much for her and he would tell them whatever they want to know. But in reality, he said he’d say whatever they wanted him to say, Burkhart pointed out.

Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor who's been following the trial, believes the state presented a "very convincing case." She cited the testimonies from Melissa Oberg, the Indiana State Police firearms expert who tied the unspent round to Allen's pistol, and Wala, the former psychologist at Westville.

State's final witness ties Richard Allen to 'Bridge Guy'

Prosecutors ended their presentation with testimony from Brian Harshman, an Indiana State Police master patrolman who monitored Allen's calls while he was in the custody of the Indiana Department of Correction. After countless hours of listening to Allen's call ― all 700 of them ― Harshman told jurors he's become familiar with Allen's voice.

As Harshman testified, the prosecution played audios of several calls that Allen made to his wife and mother. They later replayed the enhanced audio from the infamous "Bridge Guy" video, in which a man prosecutors allege to be Allen was seen following Abby on the high bridge. The girls, with hesitance, greeted the man. One said "hi," and the other said "hello." A man's voice was heard saying "Go down the hill."

Thursday, Oct. 31: State rests its case in Delphi murders trial; jurors hear from final witness

Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland asked Harshman if he recognized the man's voice.

"The voice is Richard Allen," Harshman said.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Bradley Rozzi noted that Allen was on several different drugs given to him by prison officials around the time he began confessing to the crimes. Harshman acknowledged that being medicated might alter the way Allen's voice sounds.

Harshman testified he received an alert every time Allen communicated to his family, either through his tablet or by phone. Harshman also acknowledged that in his 30 years in law enforcement, he has never been asked to surveil somebody the way he surveilled Allen.

Jurors were also presented with evidence showing that Allen searched Google for "insidious" and "deeply disturbing and terrifying" movies to watch on Netflix months before his arrest on Oct. 26, 2022. He searched "Delphi murders" several times in August 2022 and again just weeks before he was arrested.

Allen's attorneys called their first two witnesses Thursday afternoon, although they're handicapped by Special Judge Frances Gull's decision to prevent them from presenting their theory that the girls were killed by Odinists ― members of a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists ― during a sacrificial ritual in the woods. This theory is a key part of Allen's defense.

The attorneys have made multiple requests to Gull to allow them to present testimony related to Odinism, but Gull said she has not found time to issue rulings.

'I did it': What Richard Allen said in calls to his family

As Harshman testified, the prosecution played audios of calls between Allen and his family. The calls spanned several months, from fall of 2022, shortly after Allen was taken to Westville Correctional Facility, to summer of 2023.

In one of his earlier calls, on Nov. 14, 2022, Allen told his wife he would tell detectives "whatever they want me to say" to save her from further anguish.

"I love you too much," Allen told his wife. "I can't explain what's been going on."

Later in the call, Allen apologized and, again, told his wife that he loved her. "You take care of the family for me. Love you all."

That spring, Allen's behavior seemed to change. He told his family he'd found God and later began telling them he killed Abby and Libby. Kathy Allen, his wife, and Janis Allen, his mother, both seemed to refuse to believe that the man they knew was capable of murder. As Allen confessed in many of the calls, he also seemed confused and believed he was losing his mind.

On April 3, 2023 ― around the same time Allen began confessing to his therapist and prison guards ― he called his wife.

"I want to apologize to you," he told her. "I did it. I killed Abby and Libby."

"No, you didn't," Kathy Allen said, as she cried.

A call, Snapchat photos, the video: Delphi trial offers timeline of girls' activities

"Yes, I did," Richard Allen said. "I don't know why."

"They've messed you up," Kathy Allen said. "Why would you say that?"

"Because," Richard Allen said, "maybe I did it."

"There's something wrong," Kathy Allen told her husband. "They're screwing with you there."

In a call to his mother, the following month, Allen seemed to be anxious that his family would no longer love him because he'd confessed to killing Abby and Libby. Janis Allen sought to reassure her son, telling him she didn't believe he was a killer.

"You don't have it in you to do something like that," Janis Allen said.

"Mom," Richard Allen told his mother, "I wouldn't say I did it if I didn't."

'It matters what those 12 people ... think'

The jurors have been under strict orders not to discuss the hearings or look up anything about the case in their free time. Gull reminds them of that fact every evening before they’re dismissed and issues a stern order that while they can access phones to reply to work emails and check on family, they will be watched by court bailiffs.

It's impossible to know exactly what the jurors are thinking, but their reactions to the evidence thus far provide the only glimpse.

Photographs from the crime scene showing the teens' bodies have by far evoked the strongest response. As prosecutors flipped through slides of the graphic pictures on a screen, a few put their hands over their mouths. One buried their head in their hands.

Once the jury hears all of the evidence and begins deliberations, there are at least three potential outcomes: a conviction, an acquittal or a hung jury. A conviction or a hung jury would likely land the case back in court for an appeal or a second trial.

"It looks really good for the prosecution right now, but it should. It’s their case. That could change when the defense starts to put on their case. It all depends on what they have," said Aspen Conner while taking a smoke break outside the courthouse.

He said he's attending the trial to support the victims' families.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some tricks up their sleeves, but until I see them, I have not been overly impressed with their performance so far," Conner said of the defense.

Then Conner stated the one truism of every jury trial.

"Ultimately, it does not matter what any of us thinks," he said. "It just matters what those 12 people in the jury box think."

Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or at kphillips@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Delphi murders: Was state's evidence enough to convict Richard Allen?