DELPHI, Ind. — The jury was allowed to hear tapes of the suspect being questioned about the murders of two eighth-grade girls.

Best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were walking on a hiking trail in Delphi when they were killed on the afternoon of February 13, 2017.

Richard Allen, a Delphi resident, was arrested in October 2022 and pleaded not guilty to murder.

Allen’s defense team asked the jury to hear tapes of two interrogations.

He became a suspect five years after the murders when a volunteer clerk entering more than 14,000 tips into a database discovered the wrong type of slip.

The tip came three days after Allen’s murders.

The suspect went to the police self-declaring that he was on the trail on the day of the murders.

The sheriff told the jury Friday that the report “fell through the cracks.” And Allen was “hiding in plain sight.”

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“From the defense’s perspective, the fact that this tip was there and that it was misclassified and not discovered until five years later really strengthens their case because every court that I can find this has not been addressed right always leads to reasonable doubt. for the jury,” said ABC News Legal Contributor Channa Lloyd.

Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman took the stand Saturday. Holeman questioned the suspect during a search of the home.

Holeman told jurors he questioned Allen about an unexpended cartridge found near the girls’ bodies, which was a key piece of evidence in the case.

“There is no way that round went through my gun. I don’t know how it got there,” Allen told Holeman at the time.

Holeman testified that Allen became increasingly agitated, but denied any involvement despite being asked more than 20 times.

Allen’s wife, Kathy, was there for the interview, according to the lieutenant’s testimony. She allegedly told him, “All you have to do is ask for a lawyer and they’ll let you go.”

According to Holeman, Allen replied, “Don’t worry about me.”

The lieutenant said at one point he told Allen and his wife that he “thought he was a good man.”

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Allen allegedly replied, “what kind of good person would kill two girls?”

The defense rebutted Holeman because that conversation was not recorded.

Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin questioned his interrogation methods; why Miranda rights were not recorded and how evidence was collected at the crime scene.

The defense also asked Holeman about several sticks left at the crime scene.

Baldwin pressed whether it was a mistake for them to be behind. Holeman replied, “No,” but acknowledged on the stand that “mistakes were made.”

Allen was interviewed by police on October 13 and 26, 2022.

Baldwin wants the videos of those interviews played in court. The judge decided that will happen next week.

The court was adjourned on Sunday.

The trial will continue on Monday at 9:00 a.m