Delphi murders trial, Day 16: Digital analyst says someone put headphones into Libby’s phone
New revelation on Day 16 in the trial of Richard Allen, accused of 2017 murders of Delphi teens Abby Williams, Libby German. Also, defense witnesses on bullet matching, solitary confinement effects
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DELPHI MURDERS TRIAL, DAY 16: DIGITAL ANALYST SAYS SOMEONE PUT HEADPHONES IN LIBBY’S PHONE
A former FBI digital analyst testified Tuesday that an examination of Libby German’s phone, found under her friend Abby Williams’ body in the woods near Monon High Bridge, indicates that someone plugged headphones in and then back out of the phone hours after the girls went unaccounted for on Feb. 13, 2017.
Stacy Eldridge, a digital forensics consultant for Richard Allen’s defense team, testified that Libby’s iPhone 6S logged an audio output deep in the phone’s software, suggesting that headphones or a car aux cable was put into the phone’s jack port at 5:44 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017.
Eldridge testified that a headphone jack was inserted into Libby’s phone “milliseconds” after a phone call came through – a move she said would have silenced the phone. She testified that the iPhone’s extraction indicated that someone removed the headphone jack at 10:33 p.m. that same night.
Eldridge testified that Libby's phone lost contact with cell towers in the area of the Monon High Bridge from 5:45 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017, until 4:33 a.m. Feb. 14, 2017.
Tuesday afternoon’s testimony on Day 16 of the trial had the defense for Richard Allen – a 52-year-old former CVS pharmacy clerk charged murdering Abby and Libby – looking to upend a timeline prosecutors laid out during the past three weeks about the murders.
According to the state’s account, Libby German shot a final video on the phone – 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. Earlier in the trial, an Indiana State Police examination of the phone was offered as evidence, indicating the iPhone’s last logged movement was at 2:32 p.m. on Feb. 13. The girls were found the following afternoon during a large-scale community search of the Monon High Bridge Trail and the woods and Deer Creek nearby.
The new bit of evidence had the prosecution scrambling for a response Tuesday afternoon.
1st Sgt. Chris Cecil followed Eldridge on the stand after a short break in the court’s session. Cecil had done the most recent examination of the data extraction from Libby’s phone, testifying earlier in the trial that after the last movement registered on an Apple Health app, the phone received an SMS message at 4:06 p.m. from her grandma, Becky Patty. Cecil had testified that the last signal from the phone was 10:32 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017. Cecil testified two weeks ago that phone records had a gap until 4:33 a.m. Feb. 14, 2017, which it received 15 to 20 message all at once. He testified that he didn’t have an explanation for that.
On the stand Tuesday, Cecil said that during a break after Eldridge’s testimony, he’d Googled other possible reasons why the phone might have logged activity with the audio jack input. Among the possible reasons he found on Apple troubleshooting sites, he testified, were moisture and dirt.
Jennifer Auger, one of Allen’s attorneys, confronted Cecil, mentioning that investigators had had 7½ years to trace similar data from the phone.
“And you’re coming here after doing a Google search?” Auger asked.
Eldridge, who spent nearly 10 years with the FBI as a forensic digital examiner and digital evidence trainer, said she didn’t have an explanation for how a headphone jack was inserted into the phone “that doesn’t involve human interaction.”
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland led a skeptical cross-examination.
McLeland asked Eldridge whether the iPhone would have registered movements if someone picked up the phone to insert the headphone jack. Eldridge said that might not have been enough to log a movement. McLeland asked her whether weak cell coverage might account for connections to go in and out for the phone. Eldridge testified that the lost contact could have been caused by it being in some sort of metal structure, the phone was block in some way or it was gone from the area.
McLeland asked Eldridge whether she’d been to the crime scene and checked the topography. She said she hadn’t. And McLeland asked whether getting into a car would have bumped the phone enough to log some movement. Eldridge testified that the Apple Health app stopped tracking movement when moving at higher speeds in a vehicle.
During his line of questioning, McLeland called it unrealistic that the girls could have been moved to the crime scene without the Apple Health app logging some sort of movement.
Here are some of other highlights from Day 16 of the trial in Carroll Circuit Court.
PSYCHIATRIST CALLS EFFECTS OF ALLEN’S SOLITARY CONFINEMENT ‘ABSOLUTELY CLASSIC:’ Dr. Stuart Grassian, a Boston-based psychiatrist who specializes in effects of solitary confinement, testified for the defense about the toll it can that, including the onset of confusion, delirium and false memories.
The defense has mounted an effort to undermine dozens of confessions Allen made in phone calls to his family and to various prison staff, saying solitary conditions in a segregated unit in Westville Correctional Facility led to a psychotic state.
Grassian testified that the conditions Allen were under in a safekeeping order issued shortly after his arrest in October 2022 were “absolutely classic” for the strain of living more than 15 days in solitary confinement. Allen was in some sort of solitary cell in state prisons until Aug. 1, 2024, when he was transferred to the Cass County Jail.
Tension greeted Grassian on the stand. The prosecution attempted to limit defense attorneys from getting Grassian to offer opinions about Allen’s self-incriminating statements. Several times, when Grassian started to weave an answer into what he knew specifically about Allen and his situation, the prosecution objected.
THE DEFENSE OFFERS FORENSIC FIREARMS EXPERT: Eric Warren, a Memphis-based forensic firearms consultant, testified that, based on photos and documents, tool markings on an unspent Winchester .40-caliber Smith and Wesson round found at crime scene had “insufficient agreement” to match with Sig Sauer P226 handgun found at Allen’s home in October 2022.
Warren testified for the defense that he disagreed with an Indiana State Police lab analysis that showed the cartridge had been cycled and ejected from Allen’s gun.
Melissa Oberg, who spent 17 years at the ISP police lab in Indianapolis, testified two weeks ago that she found three marks on the round that would have come from the pistols’ ejector, which throws a spent cartridge out of the gun. She testified she found three other tool marks from the extractor, which remove spent casings from the chamber. Her analysis included comparing the markings to a fired round when tool markings on an unspent round she tested didn’t show as well.
Prosecutors challenged Warren, asking why he hadn’t tried to verify ISP conclusions that it was a match by doing physical testing with the gun rather than through photos and testing documents. Warren said defense hadn’t asked him for that but that he stood by his analysis.
Of note: Jurors – who have been active and attentive when getting a chance to ask questions of witnesses – appeared to have detailed handgun knowledge. The questions for Warren were very technical and specific to the very technical testimony two weeks ago by ISP firearms forensic examiner.
MORE COVERAGE
Day 14: Jurors see conditions defense says played a role in Allen’s confessions
Day 13: First full day for the defense
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 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 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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