Defense in Delphi murder trial rests its case after testimony from cell phone forensic expert, psychiatrist

The defense for Richard Allen, the man accused of killing two teenagers in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017, rested its case Wednesday after several days of calling witnesses, including a cell phone forensic expert and a psychiatrist, according to CNN affiliate WTHR.

After the prosecution recalled witnesses, the trial now heads to closing arguments, jury instructions and deliberations, WTHR reports.

Allen, 52, is accused of killing Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and Abigail “Abby”Williams, 13, who lived in Delphi – a small town about an hour northwest of Indianapolis.

He has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder, court records show.

The trial began three weeks ago as prosecutors alleged Allen committed the killings, citing ballistics evidence and his own confessions, according to The Associated Press.

“I did it. I killed Abby and Libby,” Allen said in an audio recording played in court.

However, the defense has argued there is no DNA or weapons evidence tying him to the killings and said those “confessions” were “involuntary” and stemmed from being in solitary confinement for months.

On Tuesday, a cell phone forensic expert testified that data from Libby’s cell phone shows someone inserted a headphones cord into the phone on the night the girls went missing and then removed it five hours later, according to WTHR.

In addition, a psychiatrist testified about how people kept in solitary confinement can become confused and delirious, and a forensic scientist took the stand and criticized how state investigators handled the examination of an unspent round found near the girls’ bodies, WTHR reported.

Allen did not testify in his own defense.

The long path to trial

On February 13, 2017, the two eighth-grade girls went hiking on a day off from school near the Monon High Bridge, an abandoned rail bridge along the 10-mile Delphi Historic Trail, but failed to meet Libby’s dad at a prearranged time, Indiana State Police said.

The next day, their bodies were found in a wooded area about a half mile from the bridge, police said. But the case went cold.

Over the years, authorities released sketches and portions of a video recorded on Libby’s cell phone in hopes of finding a suspect. The video shows a man in a dark jacket and jeans walking behind the girls and then telling them, “Guys, down the hill,” according to a probable cause affidavit in Allen’s arrest.

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announces during a news conference in Delphi, Ind., Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, the arrest of Richard Allen, 50, for the murders of two teenage girls killed during a 2017 hiking trip in northern Indiana. Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, were killed in February 2017.

Related article‘I did it’: Jurors in Delphi double-murder trial hear suspect’s alleged prison confessions

A pathologist who performed the girls’ autopsies testified both had wounds on their necks, which seemed to be from a serrated edge, according to CNN affiliate WLFI. Neither of the victims’ bodies showed any signs of sexual assault or defensive wounds, Kohr said, according to CNN affiliate WRTV.

Allen was arrested in 2022 after investigators found that an unspent .40-caliber round located between the two victims matched a pistol he owned, the affidavit said.

When Allen initially spoke to police in 2017, he admitted he was on the trail for roughly two hours on the day the girls were killed, the affidavit said. In a subsequent interview in October 2022, Allen told authorities he had gone out there to “watch fish,” according to the affidavit.

CNN previously reported that Allen, who was employed at the local CVS, helped an aunt of one of the victims print funeral photos at the store.

Once arrested, Allen had been held in solitary confinement for 13 months, and the defense has sought to place the confessions within the context of Allen’s mental health crisis while incarcerated.

He was placed on suicide watch multiple times, exhibited bizarre behavior and was at one time diagnosed with “a brief psychotic disorder,” according to testimony from Monica Wala, the prison psychologist who treated Allen at Westville Correctional Facility.

Allen was placed on suicide watch in November 2022 and in April 2023. He engaged in some strange behaviors in prison, including refusing to wear clothes, banging his head and eating his own feces, Wala said.

CNN’s Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.