Delphi murders: Richard Allen tied to bullet found at crime scene and is ‘bridge guy’, affidavit reveals

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

The man charged with the 2017 Delphi murders has been tied to a bullet found at the bloody crime scene and is believed to be the so-called “bridge guy” captured on camera by his victims, according to a newly-released affidavit.

A redacted version of the probable cause affidavit was released on Tuesday, finally revealing what led to the arrest and charging of local man Richard Allen almost five years on from the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams.

The bombshell document states that ballistics confirmed an unspent .40 caliber round found close to the bodies of the teenage victims came from Mr Allen’s gun.

“An unspent .40 caliber round between the bodies of Victim 1 and Victim 2 was forensically identified to have been cycled through Richard Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226,” the documents read.

The Sig Sauer Model P226, which the suspect owned since 2001, was found during a search of Mr Allen’s home last month.

Both the 50-year-old local man and his wife Kathy allegedly confirmed that he was the only person with access to the firearm.

In a police interview on 13 October, Mr Allen had “no explanation” as to how the spent bullet ended up in between the bodies of the two teenage victims, the document states.

The accused killer said he had “not been on the property where the unspent round was found, that he did not know the property owner, and that he had no explanation as to why a round cycled through his firearm would be at that location,” it says. The property owner – Ron Logan – was also previously tied to the case. He died in 2020.

The affidavit revealed for the first time that one of the victims mentions the word “gun” in chilling footage captured on Libby’s cellphone before she died – suggesting that their attacker was armed with a firearm and was using it to coerce the victims.

Detectives working on the case now believe that Mr Allen is the man captured in that video, the affidavit says.

Investigators had long been searching for the man – known as “bridge guy” – seen in a grainy video dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge. In the footage, the man tells the two girls: “Guys, down the hill.”

The audio and a still image of the “bridge guy” was released to the public during the hunt for the killer but the full footage has never been shared.

“Detective [redacted], along with other investigators, believe the evidence gathered shows that Richard Allen is the male subject seen on the video from Victim 2’s phone who forced the victims down the hill,” the affidavit states.

“Further, that the victims were forced down the hill by Richard Allen and led to the location where they were murdered.”

The video was taken just 24 minutes after the victims had been dropped off by a family member at the start of the trail.

A vehicle matching the description of one belonging to Mr Allen at the time of the killings was also spotted by several witnesses parked close to the trail, the documents state.

Several witnesses reported seeing a “creepy” man matching the description of “bridge guy” around the time of the murders while one person said they saw a “muddy and bloody” man leaving the trail around two hours after Libby and Abby were last seen alive.

And – in a revelation that will likely raise questions about why the investigation rumbled on for almost five years before any arrest was made – the affidavit also confirms that Mr Allen was on the police radar at the time of the murders.

Mr Allen was interviewed by police back in 2017 and had confessed to being on the Monon High Bridge Trail on the afternoon of 13 February 2017 – placing him on the scene at the same day and time that the victims went on their fateful walk.

At the time, he denied any involvement in the murders and insisted he had never seen the two girls that day.

The affidavit reveals that he is accused of killing the two victims in the midst of a kidnapping.

Last month, the CVS worker and married father to a daughter was arrested and charged with their murders.

The affidavit had been under lock and key ever since as prosecutors asked a judge to keep it sealed.

Prosecutors said that sealing the affidavit was important to protecting the investigation as they believe that the suspect may not be the sole person involved in the killings.

Following a court hearing last week, a judge on Tuesday ordered a partially-redacted version to be released to the public.

On 13 February 2017, best friends Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in their hometown of Delphi.

During the walk, Libby posted a photo of her best friend walking along the Monon High Bridge. It was the last known photo of Abby before she was killed.

Later that day, the teenagers were reported missing when they failed to return to a spot where a family member was picking them up.

The next day – Valentine’s Day 2017 – their bodies were discovered in a wooded area less than half a mile off the trail along the side of Deer Creek. Their cause of death has never been released with a previously-released search warrant application only detailing that they were killed with some type of weapon and lost a lot of blood.

The probable cause affidavit does not provide any further details about how the two victims died, but it does reveal that their clothes were found in a creek south of where their bodies were found.

A search of Mr Allen’s home in October uncovered “jackets, boots, knives and firearms” and the suspect’s wife told police that her husband kept guns and knives at their home, the document states.

New details were also released about the timeline of the murders, revealing that Libby and Abby were dropped off at the entrance to the trail by Mears Farm at 1.49pm.

Just over 20 minutes later at 2.13pm, the victims encountered “bridge guy” and filmed the incident on Libby’s phone.

The video ends with the victims following the man’s instructions and heading down the hill.

That appears to be the last proof of life of the victims.

The teenagers were never seen alive again by witnesses on the bridge and no other outgoing communications were found on Libby’s phone after that time.

According to Mr Allen, he was on the trail between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, placing him at the scene at the time of the murders.

One witness who had gone for a walk on the trail said that she saw a man matching “bridge guy” on the Monon High Bridge that afternoon. She turned around at the bridge and headed back, passing Libby and Abby as they headed in the direction of the bridge, she told investigators, per the affidavit.

The witness did not pass anyone else on the trail aside from the two victims and “bridge guy”.

Surveillance footage revealed the witness driving her car to the trail entrance at 1.46pm and driving away after her walk at 2.14pm.

Three juveniles told police that they were walking on the trail that afternoon and as they headed to go home in the direction of Freedom Bridge they passed a a “kind of creepy” man wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket and something “covering his mouth”.

One of the young people told investigators that they said “hi” to the man and that he glared at them.

The witness timeline matches that of the “bridge guy”. Photos taken by one of the witnesses placed them on the Monon High Bridge at 12.43pm and show that they passed Freedom Bridge by 1.26pm.

Both this witness and the three juveniles “walked the entirety of the trail” around the time that Libby and Abby were last seen alive “and observed only one person – an adult male,” the affidavit states.

In a police interview in October 2022, Mr Allen once again admitted to being on the trail at the time of the murders – saying he had gone to the Monon High Bridge to watch the fish but saw no one except for three girls on the Freedom Bridge.

He also told investigators that he was wearing blue jeans, a blue or black hooded Carhartt jacket and a head covering at the time – clothing that matches that of “bridge guy”.

According to the affidavit, several other people visited the trail after 2.13pm but did not see Mr Allen there.

“Investigators believe Richard Allen was not seen on the trail after 2:13 p.m. because he was in the woods with Victim I and Victim 2,” it reads.

Then, around two hours after Libby and Abby were last seen alive, a woman driving past the area said she saw a “muddy and bloody” man dressed in a blue jacket and blue jeans walking away from the Monon High Bridge, the affidavit says.

“She further stated that it appeared he had gotten into a fight,” it reads, adding that surveillance footage placed the woman’s car at the scene at 3.57pm.

The affidavit revealed that two separate spotted a “small” vehicle parked in “an odd manner” as if to “conceal the license plate” near the entrance of the trail that afternoon.

Mr Allen owned two cars in 2017 – a 2016 black Ford Focus and a 2006 gray Ford 500 – with his Ford Focus captured on surveillance driving towards the trail at 1.27pm.

The shock arrest of the 50-year-old local man comes after almost five years with no arrests in the case.

It also comes at a time when there have been significant developments in a child porn case previously linked to the murders.

Earlier this month, prosecutors dropped some charges against the man behind the catfishing account which was in contact with Libby on the day of the murders and a judge agreed to push back his trial, with court records showing he had been “negotiating” with the state.

Kegan Anthony Kline was tied to the 2017 murders last December when investigators urged the public to come forward with information about a bogus online profile named @anthony_shots.

Kline, 28, allegedly confessed to using the fake profile to groom underage girls, get them to send him nude photos and their addresses, and try to get them to meet him in person.

In a 2020 police interview, a transcript of which has been seen by The Independent, Kline admitted that he had communicated with 14-year-old Libby on Instagram and Snapchat through the catfishing profile before she died.

The transcript revealed that he had exchanged photos with the teenage girl and that Libby had communicated with the fake profile on the very day that she and Abby were murdered.

On 25 February 2017 - less than two weeks after the two girls were brutally killed – police carried out a search of Kline’s home in Peru.

Kline has never been charged in connection to the murders.

In 2020, he was arrested and charged with 30 child sexual abuse and child exploitation felonies over the @anthony_shots account. He has been held behind bars ever since.

While the affidavit released on Tuesday made no mention of the catfishing account, investigators urged the public to continue submitting tips about the case following his arrest and have said that they are not ruling out the possibility that other individuals may also have been involved in the teenagers’ brutal murders.