An Indiana man, 52-year-old Richard Allen, was sentenced to a maximum of 130 years in prison for the 2017 killings of two teenage girls, Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, who vanished while hiking and were later found dead with their throats cut.
Allen was convicted of two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in November. The special judge in the case, Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull, sentenced Allen to 65 years on each of the two murder counts to be served consecutively.
The sentencing hearing, which included victim impact statements from six relatives of the teens, lasted less than two hours. Allen’s defense team plans to appeal and seek a new trial.
The case has been the subject of outsized attention due to its shocking and disturbing nature, and has drawn the interest of true-crime enthusiasts. The case has also drawn the attention of local law enforcement, who have praised the efforts of investigators and those who have worked to bring Allen to justice.
A key piece of evidence in the case was a discovery made by a retired state government worker who found a misplaced “lead sheet” that included information about a man who had contacted authorities after the girls’ bodies were found. This information led investigators to Allen, who was arrested in October 2022.
In his closing arguments at Allen’s trial, Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said that Allen, armed with a gun, forced the youths off the hiking trail and planned to rape them before changing his plans and cutting their throats. McLeland also emphasized that Allen’s voice could be heard on a grainy cellphone video showing the teens being followed by a man, identifying him as “Bridge Guy.”
