‘I did it’: Jurors in Delphi double-murder trial hear suspect’s alleged prison confessions
By Zoe Sottile and Jean Casarez, CNN
(CNN) — “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.”
This is what members of the jury heard Richard Allen say in an audio recording of a phone call he made to his wife from prison.
The call from Allen, an Indiana man on trial for the murder of two teenagers in 2017, is just one of five to his wife in which he apparently confessed to the killings from prison, according to CNN affiliate WTHR.
Prosecutors say Allen actually confessed over 60 times to the killings while in prison, to his wife, his mother, family members, the prison warden, the psychologist who treated him in prison, other prison employees and other inmates. Jurors have spent over two full weeks at trial. The prosecution rested its case on Thursday after presenting 40 witnesses.
Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, disappeared on February 13, 2017, after going for a hike on the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana. Their bodies were discovered with both of their throats cut near the trail the next day.
Despite the confessions, many questions about the case remain, including about Allen’s mental state and lack of DNA evidence linking him to the crimes. Allen was arrested in October 2022 after a long-ignored tip was uncovered that placed him at the scene of the crime.
The jury on Thursday heard recordings of seven prison phone calls Allen made to his wife and mother, according to WTHR.
In an April 3, 2023, call to his wife, he said, “Honey, I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.” His wife told him not to say that, but he continued to repeat the claim, WTHR reported. Then, in a May 10, 2023, call, according to the affiliate, he said to his wife, “I need you to know that I did this.” He also told his wife, “I think I’ve lost my mind.”
Here’s what we’ve learned about the murders in the second full week of the trial.
‘I just want to sign my confession’
The confessions comprise one part of the evidence presented by the state in its case against Allen, who worked at a CVS pharmacy in the small town of Delphi. The prosecution has built its case without DNA evidence or a weapon tying Allen to the crimes.
Jurors did hear testimony that an unspent bullet was found at the crime scene. A firearms examiner testified that she test-fired the same type of bullet with Allen’s gun and results showed the bullet found at the scene came from Allen’s gun. Defense attorneys questioned the science of trying to match an unfired round with one that was fired.
Monica Wala, the prison psychologist who treated Allen at Westville Correctional Facility, testified for the prosecution that he confessed to the crimes multiple times, once in great detail, according to WTHR.
“I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry,” he told her during an April 5, 2023, session, WTHR reported.
“I just want to sign my confession,” he said, according to Wala, during a May 9, 2023, session. He also spoke about wanting to go back and change his actions and apologize to the families, Wala testified.
On May 2, 2023, he confessed again, telling Wala, “I killed Abby and Libby. I will kill everyone,” she testified, according to WTHR.
Allen told Wala he cut the girls’ necks and covered their bodies with branches, she said. She diagnosed him after the May 3 meeting with a brief psychotic disorder with disorganized speech and behaviors but no delusions or catatonic behavior, according to WTHR.
Additionally, Wala testified that at times she thought Allen was faking some of the mental health behaviors he presented in prison, describing his behaviors as sometimes “defiant” rather than “psychotic,” according to CNN affiliate WRTV. Some of his symptoms seemed to increase – and he began confessing – after he received information about the evidence the prosecution would present against him at trial, Wala testified.
The prosecution also called former Westville Correctional Facility Warden John Galipeau, who testified that Allen sent him a request to speak with him to confess, according to WTHR. Galipeau testified that Allen said he killed the girls with a box cutter and tossed it in a dumpster at CVS.
Several prison guards also testified for the state about confessions of murder made by Allen during his incarceration. One correctional officer, Michael Clemons, who served as a suicide watch companion to Allen, showed logs in which he noted that Allen said, “I, Richard Matthew Allen, killed Abby & Libby by myself. No one helped me.”
Defense highlights Allen’s ‘grave’ mental health
While the prosecution has highlighted Allen’s repeated confessions, the defense has drawn attention during cross-examination to his fragile mental health during the time he confessed to the killings.
Allen had been held in solitary confinement for a total of 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 Wala, the psychologist who treated Allen.
On Friday, the defense called Deanna Dwenger, a clinical psychologist who worked for the Indiana Department of Corrections Behavioral Health, according to CNN affiliate WRTV. She testified that he was diagnosed with a serious mental illness in April 2023 and that a team of mental health professionals concluded he had a “grave disability.”
Defense attorney Brad Rozzi repeatedly asked Wala about the difficult conditions Allen endured during solitary confinement and his mental health diagnoses, according to WTHR. He had a serious mental health history and had experienced both major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder, Wala testified during cross-examination.
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.
The same day Allen made one of his confessions, he also made nonsensical statements, including telling Wala he “killed myself and my family and best friend,” WTHR reported.
In a major blow to the defense, Judge Frances Gull ruled Friday that Allen’s defense team cannot present its Odinism theory, according to WTHR, that followers of Odinism, a pagan Norse religion with links to white supremacist groups, committed the killings. Gull ruled the defense team had not shown enough of a connection between other potential suspects and the slayings.
The defense had hoped to use both a bloody mark on a tree near where the bodies were found and the sticks placed over the girls’ bodies as evidence that followers of Odinism were responsible.
The defense also called witnesses whose testimonies opposed elements of the state’s narrative of the killings. On Friday, former Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby testified he believed up until August 2023 that at least two people had killed the girls, WTHR reported. And the former Delphi fire chief Darrell Sterrett testified for the defense that he did not see any clothes in the creek during an initial search, according to WTHR. Abby’s jeans and jacket and Libby’s T-shirt were later discovered in the nearby river, according to WRTV.
None of Allen’s DNA found at the crime scene
A DNA expert for the state testified on October 28 that there was no DNA from Allen found at the crime scene, according to WTHR.
Stacy Bozinovski told the jury she tested items from the crime scene, including clothing from Abby and Libby, skin cells from under their fingernails, blood from the crime scene and the unspent bullet found between the victims’ bodies. While she found DNA from both girls on most of the crime scene samples, there was no DNA from Allen.
There was DNA from an unknown male found at the crime scene – but Bozinovski testified this was not unusual and could have come from the girls’ environment. There was no DNA evidence of sexual assault, she testified, according to WTHR.
She also tested items from Allen’s home and vehicle, including a blue Carhartt jacket, carpet from his car and knives. No DNA from Abby or Libby was found on any of the items taken from Allen’s home, WTHR reported.
Asked about hair samples found at the crime scene, Bozinovski said the state was not testing them now.
“But this is the time,” replied defense attorney Jennifer Auger. “Richard Allen is on trial now!”
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