DELPHI, Ind.–Richard Allen is likely the man seen and heard in the “Down the hill” video taken on Libby German’s phone just before she was murdered in 2017, says the probable cause document released Tuesday. Names of witnesses were redacted.
The document says a .40 caliber bullet, unspent, was found between the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German. It was linked by ballistics tests performed a state police lab, to a pistol that Allen had owned, by his own admission, since 2001.
Allen’s name was brought up in October by a detective who had interviewed him in 2017, when Allen admitted to being on the trails and on the Monon High Bridge Feb. 13, on the afternoon the girls went missing, even stating that he had seen several females, describing some of them.
Witnesses state police interviewed said they saw a man matching Allen’s description, wearing a Carhart jacket and jeans, like the ones seen in the cell phone video. In the video one of the girls is heard to say “gun”.
One witness said the man’s jeans were “muddy and bloody”, and that he looked like he had been in a fight.
Investigators also believe several people who gave general descriptions of a vehicle that was parked near the trails saw Allen’s Ford Focus.
The document states that police believe, based on evidence from the cell phone video, that after Allen ordered the girls down the hill, that he murdered them. The document does not describe a cause or manner of death.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland had tried to keep the document sealed, arguing that the release of the document to the public could jeopardize a case that’s only partially complete. He told Judge Fran Gull last week that he believes someone else is likely involved.
The document released Tuesday was redacted, meaning elements that might hurt the investigation and witness names were blocked out.
Allen denied knowing the girls and having any involvement in their murders. His lawyers have said they don’t believe the state has much of a case.
