Delphi murders trial: Man found guilty in gruesome deaths of girls on Indiana trail

DELPHI, Ind. -- Delphi, Indiana, resident Richard Allen was found guilty on all charges on Monday in the double murders of best friends Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14.

The jury's verdict came on the fourth day of deliberations in the high-profile case that shocked the nation.

Cheers erupted in the tiny town square.

"It's eerie. It's uncomfortable. It's a scary feeling to be so close to something so horrible," Delphi resident Kaitlyn Cotner said. "Over the years, we have not gotten much news on the real details of what happened. It finally coming out, and finding out how horrid it was for them."

Allen, a husband and father, was stoic in court and did not react to the verdict, but his mother and wife sobbed, ABC News reported.

Allen was convicted of felony murder for the killing of Abigail Williams while attempting to commit kidnapping; felony murder for the killing of Liberty German while attempting to commit kidnapping; murder for knowingly killing Abigail Williams; and murder for knowingly killing Liberty German.

Relief has settled over the small Indiana town.

It's been more than seven and a half years of grieving, anxiety and uncertainty.

"Today is the day. It's been a long time coming," Delphi resident Sarah Ausbrook told ABC News. "Always believe in prayer. I just had a positive feeling that God was going to guide, guide them in what direction they needed to go in."

She praised the prosecutors, saying they "did an outstanding job at presenting the evidence they had."

"Today for me means some major healing for this community," Ausbrook said. "I'm sure the families are reliving that pain, but also rejoicing that they did get an answer."

But, it was no easy endeavor: the two-and-a-half-year investigation or the four-week trial.

A gag order is in place preventing the girls' families from commenting until sentencing is over.

German's sister only posted a photo of the girls, which said "Nearly 8 years today was the day."

Allen's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20.

Williams and German were killed on a local abandoned railroad hiking trail on Feb. 13, 2017. The girls' throats were slit and they were dumped in a wooded area near the trail. Their bodies were found the next day.

"In this community, as you notice, many of them had signs on their door. They supported these families for all these years. We did so much fundraising. They were part of the community," Ausbrook said.

On the day of the murders, German posted a photo of Williams on Snapchat as they walked over the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, and German started a recording on her phone, according to prosecutor Nick McLeland.

As police hunted for a culprit, they released a clip of the unknown suspect's voice -- a recording of him saying "down the hill" -- which was recovered from German's phone. Police also released a grainy image of the suspect on the trail: a man who became known as "bridge guy."

The jury of eight women and four men considered that evidence, among other testimony, over a span of four days at the Carroll County Courthouse.

Allen, who was arrested for murder in 2022, admitted to police he was on the trail that day, but he denied any involvement in the crime.

Allen's many confessions while in jail and his mental health at the time became a major focus of the trial.

The defense argued Allen was in a psychotic state when he made numerous confessions to corrections officers, his wife and a psychologist.

"I hope they got the right guy? I can't be sure. Honestly, I think he's innocent," Devin Chapin said. "I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's not somebody out here running around."

The prosecution's key evidence was police analysis of Allen's gun, which determined that a .40-caliber unspent round discovered by the girls' bodies was cycled through Allen's Sig Sauer Model P226. But the defense rejected the accuracy of that testing, calling it an "apples to oranges" comparison, because the technician compared the initial round -- which had been cycled, not fired -- to a bullet fired from Allen's gun.

No DNA was found at the site to tie Allen or anyone else to the crime scene, a forensic scientist testified.

"The absence of DNA here was clearly a hurdle that the prosecution had to clear, and it was clearly front and center in the defense's argument. And for good reason, jurors do expect it. But this case teaches us that you can win the case as the state, as the government, without DNA evidence, if you have another kind of evidence that they have enough and in this case, again, confessions, they go a long way," ABC7 Chicago political analyst Gil Soffer said.

With Allen locked up, as he has been the last two years, and convicted, Delphi can really begin to heal.

"Tonight, we'll be able to go to sleep knowing that we're all safe again, knowing that we can ask and look at one another again in the hands of love and help. The man is now going to be put behind bars for what he has done," resident Timothy Harper said. "I believe that this town had a lot of love that was waiting for this day, and we are one again."

Symbols of hope around Delphi will become signs of healing and lasting memories of the slain girls.

Allen will likely be locked up for the rest of his life.

"It's a permanent scar that's going to be here. It's not going to leave anybody in this town," Cotner said. "I think that a lot of people are happy to get justice, but I don't think this is something that is ever going to go away from Delphi."

ABC News' Alex Perez and ABC7 Chicago's Liz Nagy contributed to this report.