True Crime Sundays: Delphi Murders Suspect Allegedly Confessed on Jailhouse Call with Wife: ‘Admits Several Times’

Richard Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the 2017 murders of Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams in Delphi, Ind.

by Nicole Acosta

The Indiana man accused of killing two teenage girls in 2017 allegedly confessed to the killings during a jailhouse phone call with his wife earlier this year, according to newly unsealed court documents obtained by multiple news outlets.

Richard Allen, 50, was arrested in Oct. 2022 and faces two counts of murder in connection with the 2017 deaths of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German and her best friend, 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams in Delphi, Ind., officials with Indiana State Police previously said. He has pleaded not guilty.

According to court documents unsealed Wednesday by Allen Superior Judge Frances C. Gull, Allen was on an April 3 jailhouse phone call with his wife, Kathy Allen, when he allegedly “admits several times that he killed Abby and Libby,” per the Associated Press, CNN, and ABC News. His wife ended the phone call abruptly, the documents reportedly state.

The documents are part of a motion filed on April 20 by Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland in an effort to obtain Allen’s mental health records while in custody, ABC News reports.

At a June 15 court hearing, Allen’s defense attorney Brad Rozzi said that any allegedly “incriminating” statements that his client makes should be deemed unreliable due to his declining mental health since being incarcerated in the Westville Correctional Facility, the AP reports. Allen’s lawyers also requested he be transferred to another facility.

On Feb. 13, 2017, the two teens, who were best friends, were reported missing by family after they were dropped off to go hiking near the “Monon High Bridge,” an abandoned railroad, PEOPLE previously reported.

During the hike, Liberty posted a photo to Snapchat of Abigail walking on the bridge alone. The girls were supposed to be picked up by family later that afternoon, but they never showed up to the pickup location.

The girls’ bodies were found nearly 60 feet from the edge of a creek on private property — less than a mile from where they were last seen alive. Police declared they were investigating their deaths as a double homicide.

Days after the girls’ deaths, Indiana State Police released two photos taken from Liberty’s cell phone that showed a man on the trail at around the same time the pair were there.

They also released a brief audio clip of his voice — also pulled from Liberty’s phone — as well as a police sketch of the unknown man, who was later named as the main suspect in the girls’ murders.

Allen was allegedly linked to the crime five years later. Authorities said in a redacted probable cause affidavit released in November 2022 that an unspent bullet found at the crime scene was linked to a .40-caliber pistol that Allen owned, and was later recovered during a search of his Delphi home in October 2022, according to the AP. It was also reportedly revealed that the girls’ clothes were found separate from their bodies.

As outlined in another document unsealed this week, investigators claim the girls’ injuries were “caused by a sharp object,” the AP reports. About a dozen knives, some of which were characterized as double-edged or folding knives, were reportedly seized by police after serving a search warrant at Allen’s home.

Authorities believe Allen – who allegedly previously told police he was in the area watching fish the afternoon the girls were killed – ordered Liberty and Abigail “down the hill,” before removing them from the bridge to the area where they were killed, according to the newly unsealed documents, which were also obtained by local station WTHR.

Following the release of the documents, Liberty’s sister, Kelsi German, released a statement on Twitter.

“Remember as these documents are being released, that family members and friends of Abby and Libby can see your posts,” the tweet reads.

“Justice for Abigail Williams and Liberty German is what this is about at the end of the day. Don’t let his name be heard more than theirs today or ever.”

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