An Indiana Man Convicted of Killing Two Teenage Girls Faces Up to 130 Years in Prison
An Indiana man, Richard Allen, 52, is set to be sentenced on Friday for the 2017 murders of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. Allen was convicted of two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping on November 11.
Allen, a former pharmacy technician from Delphi, Indiana, was arrested in October 2022, more than five years after the murders. The case has garnered intense media attention and public interest, with true-crime enthusiasts following the trial and investigation closely.
The girls’ bodies were found the day after they disappeared, with their throats cut in a wooded area near an abandoned railroad trestle. Prosecutors alleged that Allen, armed with a gun, had forced the girls off the hiking trail and planned to rape them before a passing van made him change his plans and he cut their throats.
The prosecution presented a grainy cellphone video showing Allen following the teens across a bridge, as well as an unspent bullet found between their bodies, which was tied to Allen’s .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun. The jury also heard recordings of Allen confessing to the crimes to his wife and others.
Allen’s defense argued that his confessions were unreliable, citing his mental health and the isolation and pressures of being in prison. They also claimed that there was no physical evidence linking Allen to the crime scene.
The judge, Fran Gull, will sentence Allen on Friday, with relatives of the victims expected to address the court. Allen’s lawyers have argued that even if he is sentenced to 45 years on each of two murder counts, his minimum possible 45-year sentence with good time credit would amount to 33.75 actual years in prison. If sentenced to the maximum 130 years, Allen would not be released until he is 85 years old.
