Delphi Murders Trial: Physical evidence and eyewitnesses

 

CARROL COUNTY, Ind. -- The focus of today's testimony was all about the crime scene, the evidence documented and how it was preserved.

Brian Olehy was called back to the stand today. He was the lead crime scene investigator on February 14th, 2017, the day Abigail Williams and Libby German were found brutally murdered under the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.

On the stand Olehy said "Documentation of the scene and preservation of the scene are most important."

The prosecution brought out physical evidence in two large boxes full of brown evidence bags. The items included inside were pieces of clothing found in Deer Creek, DNA swabs from both girls, dirt samples, rape kits, the clothes Abby died in, and the 40-caliber cartridge found near their bodies.

But in cross-examination, Brad Rozzi presented evidence from the scene that had no link to Richard Allen. The defense arguing that the prosecution cannot place Richard Allen at the crime scene.

Also, in cross the court went over how bizarre this crime scene was, with Libby found naked and her clothes on Abby.

Rozzi grilled Olehy about the sticks on the bodies and why more wasn't done on shoe impressions in the area.

Rozzi questioned if there were 'unique circumstances at the scene' to which Olehy responded.

"Every scene presents with unique circumstances." stated Olehy.

Rozzi referred to the cartridge as a “magic bullet,” to which the prosecution objected, and Judge Gull agreed. Judge Gull stated, “Your characterization is improper.”

He was asked about the red mark found on one of the nearby trees which he said quote "When I looked at it, it looked like a large transfer of blood."

Pertaining to the bullet found at the scene, Allen had stated that he owned firearms, and when police searched, they found a Sig Sauer model P226, 40 caliber pistol. After lab testing, investigators determined that the unspent round had been cycled through Allen’s gun.

He had purchased the gun in 2001 and in an October 26th, 2022, interview, Allen said could not explain how the bullet got to the crime scene but denied involvement in the murders.

The PCA describes Allen owning a Sig Sauer 40 caliber pistol, but in court, we keep hearing about Allen having a Smith and Wesson 40 caliber handgun, so there's some confusion there.

The state's second witness, Brian Bunner, an ISP lieutenant of digital forensics who investigated Libby's Apple iPhone 6-S with an AT&T SIM card.

They discussed the phone's chain of custody and how Bunner extracted Libby's Snapchat data.

On the stand, Bunner said quote, "Time was of the essence, we wanted to get info to the detectives to help further their case as soon as possible, it showed a video was taken."

The prosecution then played that video for the jury, this is the infamous video where we see what the prosecution calls "bridge guy."

It was taken at 2:13 p.m. on February 13th, 2017, and so far, only a few seconds of it have been released to the public. This Tuesday the jury saw it in its entirety.

Libby can be heard saying "There's no path so we have to go down here." end quote.

That's before you can hear the infamous "Down the hill" quote from Bridge Guy.

The phone was examined again in 2019 by Sergeant Chris Cecil.

In cross examination, defense attorney Jennifer Auger attacked the methods to extract the data from the phone.

Auger asked quote "Is it true every time you plug in the phone you lose data?" to which Bunner replied "It is true, we didn't know that then."

Auger claiming, "That's data you can never get back and data the jury will never know."

In redirect, McLeland clarified that photos and videos wouldn't have been lost, following a question from the juror.