CNN
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Defense for Richard Allen, the man accused the killing of two teenagers in Delphi, Indianain 2017 rested its case Wednesday after several days of calling witnesses, including a cell phone forensics expert and a psychiatrist, according to CNN affiliate WHHR.

After the prosecution called witnesses, the trial now heads into closing arguments, jury instructions and deliberations, WTHR reports.

Allen, 52, is accused of murdering 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, who lived in Delphi – a small town about an hour northwest of Indianapolis.

He pleaded not guilty to four charges, including two counts of murder and two counts of murder, court records show.

The trial began three weeks ago as prosecutors assumed Allen committed the murders, citing ballistics evidence and his own confessions, according to The Associated Press.

“I did. I killed Abby and Libby,” Allen said in an audio recording played in court.

However, the defense argued there was no DNA or weapons evidence to link him to the murders and said those “confessions” were “involuntary” and resulted from months of solitary confinement.

On Tuesday, a cell phone forensics expert testified that data on Libby’s cell phone showed someone inserted a headphone cable into the phone the night the girls disappeared and then removed it five hours later. according to WHHR.

In addition, a psychiatrist testified about how people held in solitary confinement can become confused and delusional, and a forensic pathologist took the stand and criticized the way state investigators handled the examination of an unexpended round found near the girls’ bodies , WHHR reported.

Allen did not testify in his own defense.

On February 13, 2017, the two eighth-grade girls walked on a day off from school near the Monon High Bridge, an abandoned railroad bridge along the 10-mile Delphi Historic Trail, but did not meet the father to Libby at a prearranged time, Indiana State Police said.

The next day, their bodies were found in a wooded area about a half-mile from the bridge, police said. But the case went cold.

Over the years, authorities have released sketches and portions of a video recorded on Libby’s cell phone in hopes of finding a suspect. The video shows a man in a dark jacket and jeans walking behind the girls and then telling them, “Guys, on the hill,” according to an affidavit of probable cause in Allen’s arrest.

A pathologist who performed the girls’ autopsies testified that both had wounds to their necks that appeared to be from a jagged edge, according to CNN affiliate WLFI. None of the victims’ bodies showed signs of sexual assault or defensive injuries, Kohr said, according to CNN affiliate WRTV.

Allen was arrested in 2022 after investigators found an unexpended .40-caliber shell casing found between the two victims matched a handgun he owned, the affidavit said.

When Allen initially spoke to police in 2017, he admitted to being on the trail for about two hours the day the girls were killed, the affidavit said. In a subsequent interview in October 2022, Allen told authorities he went out there to “watch the fish,” according to the affidavit.

CNN previously reported that Allen, who was employed at the local CVS, an aunt of one of the victims helped print funeral photos at the store.

Once arrested, Allen was held in solitary confinement for 13 months, and the defense tried to place the confessions in the context of Allen’s mental health crisis while incarcerated.

He was placed on suicide watch several times, exhibited bizarre behavior and was at one point diagnosed with “a brief psychotic disorder,” according to testimony from Monica Wala, the prison psychologist who treated Allen at the Westville Correctional Center. .

Allen was placed on suicide watch in November 2022 and in April 2023. He engaged in some strange behavior in prison, including refusing to wear clothes, hitting his head and eating his own feces, Wala said.