An attorney for the Delphi double murder suspect Richard Matthew Allen, 50, called the state’s probable cause affidavit “flimsy.” Lawyer Andrew J. Baldwin told reporters after a hearing Tuesday that they want the affidavit unsealed so they can better get the public’s help in establishing his innocence.
“You’re going to read that probable cause affidavit online or wherever they get it, and hopefully that’s going to ring a bell for somebody to help us out because he is innocent; he has told us that very emotionally,” he said. “He has thanked us for our help.” Baldwin told reporters they did not have discovery yet, just the affidavit, but they are “not impressed.”
Allen is the man charged with murdering Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and her best friend Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13. The girls vanished while walking the Monon High Bridge Trail near Delphi, Indiana, on Feb. 13, 2017. Their tragic deaths rocked the small community. Delphi is the seat of Carroll County, which had about 20,444 people, according to a U.S. Census estimate from 2021.
Previously reported search warrants showed that the girls lost a considerable amount of blood when they died, with blood likely ending up on their killer’s clothes and hands. It appeared that German and Williams’ remains “were moved and staged.” The killer is believed to have taken a “souvenir from the crime scene.”
And yet the case went unsolved for years, with investigators only releasing a recording that German secretly took of the suspected killer.
“Guys . . . down the hill,” said a man captured in a clip that the authorities say was recorded by the victim.
As far as Baldwin is concerned, however, Allen is “the wrong guy.”
“It may be weird for defense lawyers I suppose to be arguing that we want things unsealed, but that’s how confident we are in our client,” said Baldwin, who also represents Allen with co-counsel Brad Rozzi. “That’s how confident we are that the evidence contained, at least what’s written in the probable cause affidavit, is nothing for us to worry about. We don’t know what other evidence is out there, but we’re confident that whatever is out there is not going to be enough to show that our client did anything here. He’s confused. He’s bewildered.”
Liberty “Libby” German, Richard Allen, and Abigail “Abby” Williams.
Allen’s wife continues to fully support him, but this has upended their lives, the lawyer said. Prosecutors said in court that they believe another person was involved in killing German and Williams. Rozzi declined to comment on that, citing the early stages of the case. Baldwin said that allegation was news to him.
“We’ll see what the evidence looks like,” Baldwin said. “But the PCA, the probable cause affidavit, we are not impressed.”
[Images of the victims via the FBI. Image of the suspect via the Indiana State Police.]