Prosecutors Reveal Disturbing Crime Scene 7 Years After Killings Of 2 Girls In Delphi, Indiana

People in the packed courtroom reportedly gasped aloud when a close-up photograph of the young victims bloody face was displayed on a large monitor for the jury.

This week, prosecutors in the double murder trial of Indiana man Richard Allen, 52, publicly shared for the first time how Libby German, 14, and her best friend, Abby Williams, 13, were killed and the chilling scene that awaited searchers who found their bodies a day after they disappeared from a hiking trail in the small town of Delphi on Feb. 13, 2017. 

For years, the public had almost no information on the circumstances of the killings, even as true crime obsessives shared theories online and the girls families spoke out regularly for anyone with information to come forward. Ultimately, it was those details of the crime which only the girls killer could know that prosecutors said Allen himself revealed when he confessed to the killings in recorded calls he made from prison to his wife and mother .

Allen, a Delphi resident who was arrested years after the killings in October 2022, pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges. His defense attorneys have argued that his more than 60 alleged confessions were coerced and unreliable because his mental health had deteriorated while incarcerated.

As the long-awaited trial got underway, the judge warned jurors that the crime scene photos they would see would be harrowing and, according to reporters in the courtroom, they were visibly distressed when the dozens of graphic photographs were displayed during the testimony of three crime scene investigators.

Jurors covered their mouths, held their heads, exhaled audibly and their faces reddened, WRTV and WTHR reported, when the first series of photos was shown on Monday.

Allen, who is allowed to wear street clothes and remain unshackled during the trial, had been taking notes and did not visibly react when looking at the photos, reporters said.

The photographs reveal the grotesque wounds suffered by the girls, the Journal and Courier reported, who were last seen on a local hiking trail where prosecutors said they filmed their alleged attacker approaching them with a gun.

Both Libby and Abbys necks were slit, investigators testified according to multiple media outlets . Their bodies lay in a wooded area by a creek, about half a mile from the spot on a bridge where the man later dubbed Bridge Guy by online sleuths ordered them to go down the hill, according to a video that investigators said they retrieved from Libbys cellphone. The video, which had only been shared in snippets by police over the years, was played in its entirety for jurors Tuesday. It captures footage of the girls descending toward a creek, Fox 59 reported , where a number of their items of clothing would be discovered in the water, according to the Carroll County Comet . Their bodies were found on the opposite bank of the creek the next day.

The phone was found under Abbys body, investigators said, and near Libbys ankle they found an unspent bullet that prosecutors said they had linked to a pistol owned by Allen .

Additional details about the scene, shown in photos and described by the crime scene investigators, were bizarre.

The girls bodies lay several feet apart. The ground beneath them was saturated with blood, the crime scene investigators testified, according to WRTV and other outlets.

They said they also noticed blood in an unusual spot: a tree close to Abbys body, with bloodstains on its trunk that were clearly visible in crime scene photos shown in court, the Kokomo Tribune reported .

Allens defense attorneys had alleged in a bombshell court filing last September that a tree near the girls bodies had been painted in blood with a rune associated with the pagan deity known as Odin evidence, they claimed, that Odinists had killed the girls in a ritual sacrifice.

Last month, the judge dealt a blow to Allens defense team when she ruled that they could not present the Odinism theory to the jury.

Another finding at the crime scene confirmed a peculiar detail in the defenses filing last year: that sticks and branches had been arranged on the girls bodies.

Three large branches formed a triangle on Libbys body, more than twice the girls size, WISH News 8 reported . At least two large sticks covered Abbys body.

Another crime scene investigator, Duane Datzman, told the jurors Monday afternoon that the sticks and branches were not immediately collected from the crime scene, WTHR reported.

Datzman also reportedly said he spotted a glitter in the leaves at the crime scene. It turned out to be an unspent bullet cartridge, which prosecutors said was linked to a gun owned by Allen. No other cartridges were found at the scene, he said.

Allens attorneys questioned why no video or photos were taken of the cartridge being removed from the ground, Fox 59 reported. In opening statements, defense attorneys had claimed that Allen is a victim of a bungled investigation, that evidence was mishandled and that the ballistics evidence was unreliable .

Prosecutor Nick McLeland said in his opening statement last week that witnesses would testify to seeing a man resembling Allen on the trail the afternoon the girls disappeared. In court documents released in December 2022, investigators said one woman reported seeing a muddy and bloody man later that afternoon. McLeland said she told investigators that he looked like he had just slaughtered a pig, according to reporters in the courtroom .

Still, investigators testified this week that they had found no evidence linking Allens DNA to the bloody crime scene, the Indy Star and other outlets reported.

Despite the massive interest in the case and the secrecy that surrounded the investigation, very few people have been able to see the court proceedings.

The judge refused to allow the case to be livestreamed, filmed or audio recorded. She banned photography and video cameras from the courtroom and even areas outside it. Last week, she announced that police had confiscated the video and still cameras from several news outlets, including NBC and The Associated Press, and destroyed their memory cards. The journalists had allegedly been filming and photographing when the jurys charter bus arrived, which the judge said violated her order.

The jury of eight women and four men (plus four alternates) are being sequestered for the entirety of the trial, which is being held six days a week and is expected to last a month. They are staying at a hotel in Lexington, about 20 minutes away from Delphi.

According to WTHR reporter Bob Segall , jurors can only access their phones, which are being held by court staff, to call loved ones in the presence of a bailiff.

Journalists too are prohibited from bringing their phones or other electronic devices inside the courthouse. News outlets have been relying on updates from reporters who dash outside the courtroom to share their scribbled notes during breaks or at the end of the day. Even credentialed members of the media are lining up outside the courthouse overnight, alongside true crime content creators and members of the public vying for a seat in the tiny courtroom.

The trial has also provided the girls families the first opportunity to speak about them since a gag order went into effect in December 2022. On the stand, relatives described them as bright, adventurous and always smiling.

Abby was a very kind little girl, helpful, smart, funny, her mother, Anna Williams, said through tears when she testified Friday afternoon, the Indy Star reported .

Almost every day since the trial began, Libbys grandmother, Becky Patty, has posted different pictures of her granddaughter grinning playfully for the camera.

And though the trial is a milestone in the families long search for justice, Patty posted a poignant reflection in a Facebook post on whether it could bring closure to the grieving family. 

In the end you are never coming back to us - nothing changes - the missing you will never stop, the pain of losing you will never stop, loving you will never stop, there will never be real healing, Patty wrote. Maybe when this is over we will learn to move forward maybe not. One thing is for certain though we will live our lives loving and honoring you. Love you and miss you so much Libby.