Delphi Murders Trial: State responds to Richard Allen's appeal

DELPHI, Ind. -- It's been nine years since 13-year-old Abby Williams, and 14-year-old Libby German were brutally murdered on a day off from school. But did the prosecution get the right guy? Despite a guilty verdict and a 130-year prison sentence, the man convicted in the Delphi double murders, Richard Allen, appealed his case.

Thursday, ABC57 obtained the Indiana Attorney General's response to Allen's appeal, refuting all the defense team's claims about disputed evidence. That document is posted at the bottom of this article.

The bodies of Williams and German were discovered on Valentine's Day, 2017, in a wooded area of Delphi near the Monroe High Bridge. 

It wasn't until 2022 that a misplaced police report led investigators to Richard Allen, who was found guilty by a jury in November 2024.

In his appeal, Allen's attorneys argue that investigators misconstrued witness testimony to get a warrant to search Allen's home. The state disagrees and says the warrant was obtained properly and did not contain false statements. 

Allen's appellate attorneys also argue his prison confessions are the result of "psychological coercion" because Allen spent 13 months in solitary confinement before he got his day in court. However, the state says his 60-plus confessions were voluntary, unprompted, and unrelated to his psychosis.

Allen argues he wasn't able to present a complete defense.  His alternate explanation was that the murders were actually done by "Odinists" as a ritualistic killing. But the judge prohibited that argument from trial. Allen argues that the ruling violated his 14th Amendment rights.

The state, however, maintains that the trial court properly excluded inadmissible evidence, such as the testimony of the defense's expert witness, Dawn Perlmutter. Her opinion that the murder was ritualistic was reached before she saw any evidence because of statements she made on Court TV. 

The state said, "It was a speculative motive. There is no history of human sacrifice in Odinism." 

It's important to note the police did investigate the Odinism theory in the days after the girls disappeared-- the FBI's behavioral analysis unit even weighed in-- but they never found any evidence to further pursue that theory.

The defense wanted to submit evidence of two third-party suspects but failed to provide evidence that put either at the crime scene. 

Richard Allen, however, did put himself on the Monon High Trail at the same time the girls disappeared. 

The state asks the court to uphold Allen's murder conviction; they are confident that he's "bridge guy," the man seen in a video recorded on German's phone, in the final moments before the girls were killed. 

The State's Brief of Appellee can be viewed in full below: