Delphi murders trial, Day 13: First full day for the defense

Attorneys for Richard Allen, accused of murdering Abby Williams and Libby German, confront investigators on lost evidence, changed theories. Judge tosses Odin theory, again. Plus, early voting update

• Sponsorship help for this edition comes from Purdue Musical Organizations. The 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show is the must-see event of the year! Gather your family and friends, and create lasting memories as you sing along to your favorite songs and marvel at the extraordinary Purdue student talent on display. Get tickets here.

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DELPHI MURDERS TRIAL, DAY 13: FIRST FULL DAY FOR THE DEFENSE

Day 13 in the Delphi murders trial included the first full day of testimony for the defense Friday in Carroll Circuit Court, a day after the state rested its case against Richard Allen in the Feb. 13, 2017, murders of Delphi eighth-graders Abby Williams and Libby German.

The day included Allen’s attorneys looking to pick apart how the investigation was conducted and looking to add context to phone call confessions played in court Thursday that they contend were made by a 52-year-old Delphi man who was in such bad mental health that what he said couldn’t be taken at face value.

Defense attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, along with Judge Fran Gull. (Courtroom sketch: Li Buszka)

These were among the highlights from Carroll Circuit Court Friday, based on media pool reports:

• Darrell Sterrett, former Delphi fire chief, described his role in the search of the Monon High Bridge Trail, Deer Creek and woods nearby on Feb. 13, 2017, the day Abby Williams and Libby German went on a hike and didn’t return to meet their ride. Sterrett said that as he and others searched past 2 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2017, "My thought was they were hunkered down, cold and scared ... waiting for us to find them." Answering questions from Allen’s attorneys, Sterrett testified that firefighters searched Deer Creek and did not see any clothes, which were found by volunteer in a search party the following afternoon. Abby and Libby’s bodies were found just north of the creek, in the woods near Monon High Bridge Trail.

  

  Libby German, left, and Abby Williams (Photos provided)

• Steve Mullin, former Delphi police chief, testified several times for the prosecution in the past two weeks. On Friday, he was pressed by defense about missing evidence from the earliest days in the case, including videotaped interviews with witnesses and potential suspects that were erased. Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin asked Mullin why Allen’s defense team had to be the one to point out to Mullin that the interview recordings had been lost. Mullin testified that he called Brad Weber, a Delphi resident who lives on a lane at the end of County Road 625 West, in August 2024 to asked him whether he’d driven van on the road near the southwest end of the Monon High Bridge. (Weber’s van was introduced as a key piece to the prosecution’s case, after Allen recounted to his prison psychologist that he was scared when he saw a van, thwarted what he said was a plan to rape Abby and Libby. Instead, his doctor wrote in a report, Allen said got the girls across Deer Creek and killed them by cutting their necks.) Weber testified that he did, after making a 20- to 25-minute drive home from a Subaru of Indiana Automotive shift that ended at 2:02 p.m. in Lafayette. The defense challenged that timeline, issuing Weber a subpoena on the stand earlier this week. Baldwin asked Mullin whether he’d recorded Weber’s statement. Mullin said: “I did not.” Baldwin said: “So, we will never really know.” Baldwin added that he’d worried about what information investigators might have planted in Weber’s head, noting that Weber had changed his story since the murders. “Yes,” Mullin said, “there is some conflict about it.” Asked later by Prosecutor Nick McLeland to expand, Mullin said: “I did not tell him what to say.” Baldwin also asked Mullin about how long he believed that only one person was involved in the murders of Abby and Libby. Mullin said: “Since the arrest of Richard Allen.” Asked whether he’d ever thought there were more the one person involved, Mullin said: “It doesn’t really matter what I believe.” Mullin also testified that a Sig Sauer handgun – the same brand as the one Allen owned that is tied to his charges – owned by Weber was tested but didn’t match the unspent Winchester .40-caliber Smith and Wesson round found at the crime scene.

• Tobe Leazenby was Carroll County sheriff when Abby and Libby were murdered in 2017. He’s chief deputy with the sheriff’s office now. Leazenby testified that “based upon the totality of the information provided to investigators at that time period,” they believed in 2017 that more than one person was responsible for the crime. He testified that his mind changed with new evidence and police arrested Allen.

  

  Richard Allen (Courthouse sketch: Li Buszka)

• Delphi resident David McCain testified that he was on the Monon High Bridge Trail on Feb. 13, 2017. McCain was a project manager for development of Delphi’s trails and frequently hiked the Monon High Bridge Trail and the bridge, itself, which stood more than 60 feet over Deer Creek and surrounding woods. McCain testified that he was on the trail for about an hour, enjoying a warm winter day, sometime between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. (Earlier testimony put Abby and Libby at the Mears entrance when they were dropped off around 1:30 p.m. that day. Libby later posted a photo of Abby on the Monon High Bridge at 2:07 p.m. Libby German shot a final video – the one capturing the image and voice of a suspect known as Bridge Guy – at the southwest end of the Monon High Bridge at 2:13 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017.) His hike included about 30 minutes at the bridge, spent taking pictures. McCain testified that as he returned to the Mears entrance to the trail, just off County Road 300 North, he found the small parking lot crowded. He said he ran into people who asked him whether he’d seen two girls. McCain said he didn’t hear unusual noises or screams while at the bridge. McCain testified that he’d called police that night when he heard that the girls were missing to tell them he’d been on the trail that day. He also testified that he’d spoken to investigators several times in the years that followed.

• Dr. Deanna Dwenger, director of behavioral health for the Indiana Department of Corrections, testified that Dr. Monica Wala – who treated Allen during his time at Westville Correctional Facility – let her supervisors know that she had a personal interest in the Delphi murders case after she’d been assigned the case. Earlier this week, Wala testified that she was a true crime fan and had followed Allen’s case through various podcasts and social media feeds. Dwenger testified that she knew Wala had made a side trip from Interstate 65 to visit the Monon High Bridge before Allen arrived at the state prison. (Wala testified this week that she’d been pulled from her position in Westville after she was confronted during a July hearing in Carroll Circuit Court about her potential conflict of interest in treating Allen.) Dwenger testified that she’d had concerns about the cameras placed in Allen’s solitary cell in Westville and that she’d recommended removing them to help Allen’s mental health. They weren’t. She testified that a Department of Corrections mental health policy was that someone with a serious mental illness shouldn’t be held in solitary confinement for more than 30 days. Allen was in a solitary cell in Westville for 13 months. She testified that Allen was diagnosed as gravely disabled. Dwenger testified that Allen’s condition was bad enough, even amid suggestions that he was feigning signs of mental illness, that he was given involuntary doses of Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug.

• Judge Fran Gull on Friday denied a pair of motions filed this week by Allen’s defense team, looking to reintroduce a third-party theory that Abby and Libby were murdered as part of an old Norse paganism/Odinist ritualistic killing. This summer, Gull ruled that the Odinist angle was based on speculation and didn’t belong in the trial, saying that the burden was on Allen’s attorneys “to show a nexus between Odinism, cult or ritualistic killing” or any of the names of the men attached to the third-party theory. She left the door open, though, if Allen’s attorneys had evidence to support an offer of proof at the trial. They’d two motions since the trial started Oct. 18, suggesting that testimony given so far had given them the opening they were looking for. On Friday, Gull said she didn’t agree, again blocking that angle during the defense’s case.

Here’s coverage from inside the courtroom Friday:

• Journal & Courier/Indianapolis Star: “Delphi investigators grilled by Richard Allen's defense team.”

• WTHR: “Former fire chief says he saw no clothes in creek the night Abby and Libby went missing.”

• Fox59: “Defense grills former police chief; witness recalls hasty nighttime search for missing girls.”

• WISH: “Delphi Murders trial: Day 13 live blog.”

• WRTV: “Judge denies motions related to Odinism, ritualistic killing. Richard Allen's mental health diagnosis, solitary confinement, and missing videotapes were discussed at length.”

Day-by-day from the courtroom:

• Day 12: The state rests. The prosecution’s case against Richard Allen ends with his own words, with calls from a prison cell telling family he killed Abby Williams and Libby German. 

• Day 11: ‘I killed Abby and Libby:’ Reports of confessions kept rolling, these from prison psychologist

• Day 10: Interrogation denials and confessions in a state prison

• Day 9: DNA doesn’t come back to Richard Allen, state witness says

• Day 8: The interview that led to Richard Allen’s arrest

• Day 7:  How investigation tied a bullet found at scene to Richard Allen’s gun

• Day 6: How attention turned to a tip Richard Allen gave in the days after the murders

• Day 5: Autopsy photos, another ‘Bridge Guy’ witness and new info from Libby’s phone

• Day 4: Witnesses say they saw ‘Bridge Guy,’ but descriptions vary. Plus more video from Libby’s phone and an inventory of the crime scene

• Day 3: Delphi murder trial: A brutal Day 3, by all accounts

• Day 2: Delphi murder trial: Family friend who found Abby, Libby tells about that day

• Day 1: Families testify about Abby, Libby’s last day as Delphi murder trial opens

• Final day, pretrial: Composite sketches, other unresolved issues before opening statements Friday

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EARLY VOTING WINDING DOWN

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

Voters faced waits of between one and two hours at early voting sites Friday.

“It took a while,” Jessie Smith, a Lafayette resident, said after voting at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds Friday afternoon. “I’m just glad to see so many people out here. That’s the important part.”

As Friday evening, 38,522 people had voted in Tippecanoe County ahead of the Nov. 5 Election Day, according to Mike Smith, with the Tippecanoe County election office. That works out to a 32% turnout of the registered voters in the county, so far.

That number is trailing the 50,121 who had voted by this point in 2020, during a presidential election conducted during the pandemic.

But it’s up 32% from the 29,108 who had voted by this point in the 2016 presidential election, according to election office figures.

Five early vote centers will be open Saturday, Nov. 2.

• Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road, Lafayette, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South, Lafayette, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South, Lafayette, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road, West Lafayette, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

A final chance for early voting will be 8 a.m.-noon Monday at the Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette,

For more about finding what races are on your ballot, candidate Q&As and a complete list of where to vote on or before Tuesday, Nov. 5, check this voter guide.

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THIS AND THAT …

BURN BAN LIFTED FOR TIPPECANOE COUNTY: The rain Thursday morning seemed to do enough to the persistent dry conditions by Friday that Tippecanoe County commissioners lifted a burn ban issued on Oct. 24. That includes campfires, bonfires and outdoor cooking. “The lifting of this ban allows residents to enjoy outdoor activities while still prioritizing safety,” Jeff Houston, Tippecanoe County Emergency Management director, said Friday. The seven surrounding counties still had burn bans, as of Friday afternoon, according to a map maintained by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

YWCA ‘ROCKSTAR BRUNCH’ AUCTION – RE-UP BASED IN LAFAYETTE: YWCA Greater Lafayette’s annual Rockstar Brunch fundraiser and auction is set for 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, at Lafayette Theater, 600 Main St. If you’re looking to subscribe to Based in Lafayette or add a year to your subscription, one is part of a silent auction, live now. Check here for the auction items, including that BiL subscription. To get tickets for the brunch, here’s your link. Straight to the BiL subscription, here’s the way.

SULLY AT PURDUE MONDAY: Capt. Sully Sullenberger, the Purdue alumnus whose actions landing an airliner on the Hudson River in 2009 after losing power due to a bird strike turned into movie starring Tom Hanks, will be on campus Nov. 4 as part of the Purdue Presidential Lecture Series. Sullenberger will join Purdue President Mung Chiang of a take titled “How a Life’s Commitment to Excellence Saved 155 People Aboard US Airways Flight 1549,” at 4 p.m. Nov. 4 in Elliott Hall of Music. Admission is free, but general admission tickets are required. Tickets are available here.

(Photo: Unsplash)

FALL BACK SUNDAY MORNING: Remember to set your clocks back this weekend. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday for lighter mornings and darker afternoons. As always, feel free to add your own commentary.

Thanks for support from Purdue Musical Organizations, presenting the 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show, Dec. 7-8. Get tickets here.

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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.