Delphi 'Snapchat' Murders: 5 years and 16,000 tips later killer of Abigail Williams and Liberty German 'found'
DELPHI, INDIANA : Almost a day after he was detained in connection with the horrific killings of two teenage girls in Delphi in 2017, Richard Allen, 50, was taken into custody in Indiana after midnight on Friday, October 29, however it is yet unknown exactly what charges he will face. A 2017 police drawing of the alleged killer, which also showed a bearded, ostensibly middle-aged man, has some resemblance to the photograph of a pale-faced, bearded Allen staring straight ahead with a creepily blank expression on his face.
According to the Daily Mail, the bodies of Abigail Williams and Liberty German were found close to the Monon High Bridge Trail on February 14, 2017, after the young girls had vanished from the same trail the day before. The trail is a part of the Delphi Historic Trails in Delphi, Indiana, in the United States. Due to the discovery of a video and audio recording of the person thought to be the girls' killer on German's smartphone, the murders have gotten extensive media coverage over the years.
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"Abby" Williams, 13, and "Libby" German, 14, were dropped off by German's older sister, Kelsi, on County Road 300 North, east of the Hoosier Heartland Highway, around 1.35 pm on Monday, February 13. In the isolated Deer Creek Township, the girls were trekking on the Monon High Bridge across Deer Creek. Abby was last seen on the bridge at 2.07 pm, when Libby shared a picture of her crossing it. After failing to show up for the meeting with Liberty's father at 3.15 pm, they were reported missing at 5.30 pm. Before contacting the police, the families looked for the girls on their own. Authorities did not at first suspect foul play in the disappearance despite their swift search of the region. This changed though, when the girls' bodies were discovered the following day at noon, roughly 0.5 miles east of the demolished Monon High Bridge, on the north bank of Deer Creek.
The manner of the girls' murders has not been disclosed by the police. A photo of a person reportedly seen on the Monon High Bridge Trail close to where the two friends were killed was first made public by Indiana State Police on February 15, 2017. The grainy image appears to show a Caucasian male walking toward the girls on the rail bridge with his hands in his pockets. The person in the picture was identified as the main suspect in the double homicide a few days later.
The phrase "down the hill" may be heard on an audio recording that was made public on February 22 by police, despite the suspect's voice being muffled. At a press conference, officials claimed that the audio and visual evidence came from German's smartphone and hailed her as a hero for having the foresight and courage to covertly film the conversation. Police claimed to have obtained other evidence from the phone, but they withheld further information so as to "not damage any future trial." By this time, $41,000 had been set as a reward in the case.
Homeowners in central Indiana for long have hung orange lights on their front porches in response to German's mother's request, both to remember the girls and to show that the killer was still at large.
