CNN
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Jury deliberations continue Friday in the highly publicized double-murder trial of Richard Allen—who is accused of killing two teenage girls and leaving their bodies near a hiking trail in the small town of Delphi, Indiana, more than seven years ago.

Allen has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the 2017 deaths of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German and 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams. Allen could face up to 130 years in prison if convicted. of all charges, Associated Press reported.

The 12-person jury began deliberations Thursday and will return Friday morning. They will deliberate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday until they reach a verdict, according to the CNN affiliate. WHHR. Last month, 16 Allen County residents were selected to serve on the jury, including four people who serve as alternates, per WHHR.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Frances Gull gave the jury his closing instructions Thursday morning and urged them to “consider the facts” before Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland made his closing arguments, walking the jury through the evidence and testimony presented during the trial, WTHR reported.

“I think the evidence is strongly compelling that Richard Allen is the Bridge Guy and killed Abby and Libby,” McLeland told the jury.

McLeland showed jurors graphic photos of the girls’ bodies, a video of the suspect taken from Libby’s smartphone that he said captured the final moments of the girls’ lives, and a recording of Allen allegedly confessing to his wife during a phone call.

“I did it,” Allen could be heard telling his wife. “I killed Abby and Libby.”

Defense attorney Brad Rozzi said in closing arguments that a broken timeline, false confessions and a lack of DNA or gun evidence should lead to an acquittal.

“The defense trusts that what you’ve heard over the last several weeks is more important than what you’re hearing today,” Rozzi told the jury Thursday.

The defense also argued that there was no physical evidence linking Allen to the crimes and said his past confessions were “involuntary” and resulted from his time in solitary confinement. for months.

The Delphi murder case dates back to February 13, 2017, when “Abby” and “Libby” went for a walk on the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. The two girls were reported missing after not meeting Libby’s father that afternoon. The next day, their bodies were found, both dead from cuts to their throats, partially covered by sticks.

The case gained public attention in part because of a photo and audio recording of the suspect taken from Libby’s smartphone. The footage shows a man walking on the bridge with his hands in his pockets, and the audio includes a man’s muffled voice saying: “Guys, up the hill.” Although police released the photo and audio just days after the murders and identified “Bridge Guy” as their prime suspect, the case remained cold for more than five years until Allen was arrested in 2022.

Allen appeared to have evaded police notification by living in the small town of Delphi and working at a local CVS pharmacy until a clerk who digitizes advice related to the September 2022 investigation noted that he had placed himself at the scene of the crime. Just days after the bodies were discovered, Allen told police he had been on that trail around the time the girls were believed to have been killed.

Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett said despite the tip, Allen “got lost in the cracks.” according to CNN affiliate WLFI. About a month after the tip was rediscovered, Allen he was arrested after police matched an unused cartridge found among the girls’ bodies with a gun recovered from the home during a police search.

After Allen was arrested on October 26, 2022, he was charged with two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit a kidnapping five days later. Prosecutors later amended the charges to include two additional counts of murder.

Allen’s mental state and confessions were highlighted

Throughout the trial, which began on October 18, the prosecution singled out Allen’s dozens of confessions while incarcerated: He confessed to the crime more than 60 times, prosecutors say, including to his wife, his mother, the psychologist who treated him, the warden and other prison staff and inmates. They played audio recordings of some of the confessions for the jury.

Monica Wala, the former lead psychologist at the Westville Correctional Facility where Allen was housed, testified that he initially told her he was innocent, but began confessing to the crimes in April 2023, around the time he was placed back under supervision the suicide bomber.

Wala testified that Allen told her, “I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry,” according to CNN affiliate WHHR. He said he initially planned to sexually assault the victims but fled when he saw a van nearby and cut the girls’ throats and covered their bodies with sticks, she testified.

The defense tried to paint a portrait of Allen as a mentally ill man whose fragile mental state was exacerbated by months spent in solitary confinement – including the time he confessed to the murders. He was placed on suicide watch twice while in prison, exhibited bizarre behavior such as eating his own feces and banging his head, and was at one point diagnosed with “a brief psychotic disorder,” according to Wala’s testimony.

Testifying for the defense, Deanna Dwenger, a clinical psychologist who worked for the Indiana Department of Correctional Behavioral Health, testified that Allen was diagnosed with a serious mental illness in April 2023 and that a team of mental health professionals concluded that he had a “serious disability,” according to CNN affiliate WRTV.

The defense originally hoped to introduce the so-called “Odinism” defense: a theory that followers of Odinism, a Nordic pagan religion recently adopted by white supremacists, committed the crimes. But Judge Gull has repeatedly denied motions to introduce that theory.

Audio recordings and bullet evidence became the key points

Despite Allen’s confessions, there is very little physical evidence linking him to the case: a DNA expert testifying for the state found no Allen’s DNA at the crime scene, and none of Libby’s or Abby’s DNA was found on items recovered from his home.

Prosecutors pointed to the unexpended .40-caliber casing found on the girls’ bodies, which a prosecution expert testified matched Allen’s gun. The defense questioned the bullet evidence, questioning why more images of the round weren’t taken and suggesting the bullet could have come from a law enforcement officer’s gun, according to WRTV.

The prosecution also tried to match Allen to the video and audio recording of “Bridge Guy” captured on Libby’s cell phone. Indiana State Police Commander Brian Harshman, who said he listened to more than 700 of Allen’s jailhouse phone calls, testified for the prosecution that, in his opinion, “the voice of ‘Bridge Guy’ is the voice of Richard Allen.” according to WRTV.

“Richard Allen is Bridge Guy,” McLeland told jurors. “He kidnapped them and later killed them.”

In response, Rozzi said Allen was not clearly identified by witnesses as the man on the hiking trail or on the bridge when the teenagers disappeared. He also pointed out that Allen was still living in Delphi more than five years after the girls were killed.

“He had every chance to run, but he didn’t because he didn’t,” Rozzi told jurors.