The Delphi trial they didn't want you to see: The outrageous railroading of Richard Allen
There's no DNA evidence tying him to the crime scene, and no witnesses place him there. Why was he arrested and kept in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison?
An attorney who is in Indiana for the trial of Richard Allen, the man charged with the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German in the town of Delphi, says she and other observers were in “disbelief” on Saturday as the lead investigator in the case testified that he:
Neglected to advise Allen of his rights by reading him the Miranda warning before beginning to interrogate him.
Said he thought Allen touching his face was a sign that he was guilty.
Said he thought Allen breaking eye contact was also a sign that he was guilty.
Said he thought Allen getting upset when he was accused by investigators of killing the two girls was a sign that he was guilty.
Lied and told Allen during the interrogation that there were witnesses who could identify him.
Lied and told Allen during the interrogation that experts said the video of a man walking on the bridge and the voice that was recorded saying “down the hill” were both Allen. [Both of these were pieces of evidence released to the public to elicit help identifying a suspect.]
Admitted he initially believed that the ballistics testing on the unspent shell casing found between the bodies of the girls that was cycled three times was as accurate as a paternity test because all law enforcement believed this [it’s not true].
Used the Reid technique in interrogating Richard Allen — For years the Reid technique was the premier method for extracting a confession from an unwilling subject, but it has fallen out of favor nationally because it has resulted in so many false confessions. “It is a guilt-presumptive model, meaning, it is a technique you use when you already think this guy is guilty and you treat him as though he is already guilty,” said defense attorney Andrea Burkhart in a YouTube video she posted recounting the investigator’s testimony in court.
The lead investigator on the case who was interrogating Richard Allen was Jerry Holeman of the Indiana State Police, who has since been promoted to Lieutenant.
Saturday was Holeman’s second time testifying in the high-profile murder trial of the two girls, ages 14 and 13, who were found dead the day after being dropped off on Feb. 13, 2017 to go on a hike on the Monon High Trail in Delphi.
Their throats had been slashed. One was undressed, the other was dressed in the other girl’s clothes. Police have said there is no evidence they were sexually assaulted.
Richard Allen had called police and told them he was in the area that day, walking the trails. He gave an interview to an officer with the Department of Natural Resources. But he was not arrested until 2022, with police saying an unspent casing from his handgun had been found between the bodies of the two girls.
In the 2022 interrogation, Holeman accused Allen 25 times of killing the girls and 25 times Allen denied it, saying at one point, “I don’t care what you do to me. I’m not going to ever confess to something I didn’t do.”
He became agitated at one point, saying, “I didn’t fucking do it!”
Allen also said he never met the two girls and that he didn’t have his gun with him when he went for a walk on the Monon High Bridge Trail on Feb. 13, 2017. He said the only people he saw on the trail were three girls.
He was arrested by police following the interrogation, and spent the last two years in prison, 13 months of it in solitary confinement.
The video of the 2022 interrogation of Allen by Jerry Holeman was played in the courtroom on Tuesday.
Richard Allen is 5 feet 4 inches tall, about the same height as Abby and Libby. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Kathy. They live in Delphi and have one grown daughter. Allen was working at CVS in Delphi at the time of the murders.
In the YouTube video in which she recounted Holeman’s testimony in great detail, defense attorney Andrea Burkhart expressed concern that Holeman was allowed to testify as an expert in body language, such as saying that Allen touching his face meant he was being deceptive.
“I am beyond shocked that this is allowed in the state of Indiana,” she said, adding it would be considered “prosecutorial misconduct” in most states.
She also expressed concern that Holeman said he thought a comment of Allen’s also indicated guilt. That comment was asking: “What kind of a good guy would murder two girls?” after Holeman had said he believed Allen was a good guy.
“Is that not a fair question?” asked Burkhart. “You’re sitting here telling me at least 25 times that I murdered two girls, but you’re trying to tell me I’m a good guy? How does that compute? Is that not a fair question? What a set-up. What an absolute set-up. There was no way Mr. Allen could do anything right in this interview. Pardon me, in this interrogation. He was never going to be able to do anything right. It didn’t matter what he did.”
The judge in the case, Fran Gull, has not allowed cameras in the courtroom and everyone attending the trial has been forced to leave their cell phones and in their cars. For this reason, there are no recordings or photographs of the trial.
On Monday, the court heard testimony from Stacy Bozinovski, a forensic scientist and DNA analyst with the Indiana State Police Lab.
Bozinovski said she found no DNA belonging to Richard Allen on any of the items taken from the crime scene, and found nothing with Libby or Abby’s DNA on it on the items taken in a search of Richard Allen’s home.
She said that hair belonging to Libby’s older sister, Kelsi German, was found twisted around Libby’s fingers.
So why did they arrest Richard Allen?
That isn’t yet clear.
But on Tuesday, several prison guards gave testimony saying that Allen had confessed to the murders while at the maximum security prison, with one saying Allen said he used a box cutter to slit their throats, and that he had afterwards put it in the dumpster and CVS, where he worked.
None of these confessions, however, are on video.
This case has made me want to begin pushing for livestreaming or video recording of all Indiana courts. I'm not sure how to go about it, but it's overdue.
The police didn't want the bodycams, but they've been a great benefit. It is time for the courts to catch up.
I live in Delphi. Thank you for writing this.