Richard Allen: Delphi murders suspect faces new murder and kidnapping charges in slaying of Indiana girls

INDIANA: Richard Allen, the murder suspect in the 2017 deaths of Libby German and Abby Williams, has been charged with additional counts of murder and kidnapping.

Following his arrest in October 2022, the 51-year-old Indiana man was only charged with two counts of murder while committing a felony. However, Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland filed additional murder and kidnapping charges on Thursday.

Delphi murder suspect Richard faces new charges

In the filing, McLeland contended that the previously made public investigative results included evidence that Allen had forcibly abducted 14-year-old Libby and 13-year-old Abby before killing them close to the Monon High Bridge, killing the girls in the process.

Prosecutors wouldn't necessarily need to show that Allen killed the girls to prove their guilt with that charge, though. Prosecutors therefore added two counts of murder to the kidnapping charges.

According to Indiana law, murder is defined as the knowing or deliberate killing of another person. With the newly amended charges, prosecutors say that Allen, 51, "more accurately aligns the charging information with the cause’s discovery and in the probable cause affidavit."

He now faces four counts of murder and two felonies of kidnapping.

The filing coincides with arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court to permit the reinstatement of Allen's initial court-appointed attorneys, Brad Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin, following his petition for their reinstatement, CBS4indy reported.

In October 2023, the lawyers abruptly left the case due to a scandal involving the release of explicit photos from the crime scene.

In a shocking turn of events, it was revealed that a man close to the defense team was the source of the leak.

However, he left the firm years ago and had never worked on the Delphi case. Following the start of a police investigation into the leak, the person committed suicide.

The two lawyers left the case voluntarily, but they later demanded the judge's removal, claiming that Judge Fran Gull "coerced" them to leave in what they called a "pre-meditated ambush."

Delphi murders trial rescheduled 

The defense's requests for the trial to start within 70 days were rejected by the Supreme Court. The trial has been rescheduled for October 15, 2024, from its original date of January 24, 2024.

The Indiana town has been plagued by the Delphi murders for many years. It all started on February 13, 2017, when Libby and Abby left their hometown of Delphi and went for a stroll along the Monon High Bridge.

Libby shared a picture of her best friend on Snapchat while strolling across the Monon High Bridge. Shortly after, Libby managed to record a video of a man, identified as "bridge guy," who was strolling along the deserted railroad bridge.

He was clad in blue jeans, a blue jacket, and a cap. The man can be heard telling the two girls, "Guys, down the hill," in the video that was discovered on Libby's phone after they were killed, as reported by the Independent.

The teenagers were reported missing later that day after they did not show up at the location where a family member was supposed to pick them up.

Their bodies were found in a wooded area less than half a mile off the trail along the side of Deer Creek the following day, Valentine's Day 2017.

More than five years later, in October 2022, Allen was taken into custody and accused of their killings.

His arrest hasn't stopped the controversy surrounding the case.

His defense team dropped a shocking accusation in September, saying that Libby and Abby were killed as a "ritualistic sacrifice" by a white nationalist cult known as the Odinists, not by the suspect.