Delphi murders - update: Richard Allen arrest makes ‘the world feel safer’, victim’s sister says

A 50-year-old local man has finally been charged with the 2017 Delphi murders – marking the first step towards justice for teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams who were brutally killed more than five years ago.

Indiana State Police announced at a press conference on Monday morning that Richard Matthew Allen, a local Delphi man and married father to an adult daughter, was charged with two counts of murder on Friday.

Mr Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bond. A pre-trial hearing has been preliminarily scheduled for January with a trial date set for March.

“I am proud to say that today – actually last Friday – that today is the day. An arrest has been made,” said Doug Carter, superintendent of Indiana State Police.

However, Supt Carter added that “today is not a day to celebrate” as Libby and Abby’s families are still forced to go on without them.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

In what was one of the biggest updates in the case to date, Indiana State Police announced in December that officials had “uncovered” a fake online profile called @anthony_shots which had been used to communicate with at least one of the victims around the time of their deaths.

The profile was used from 2016 to 2017 on platforms including Snapchat and Instagram and used photos of a known young male model – who has no ties to the account or the case.

Investigators said the person behind the account was Kegan Anthony Kline, 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru, close to Delphi.

Kline admitted to authorities that he used the account to groom underage girls online and get them to send nude photos and their addresses and try to get them to meet him. He allegedly admitted to receiving about 100 sexual photos and about 20 sexually explicit videos from around 15 underage girls.

Kline was arrested on 30 felony charges including child sexual abuse images and child exploitation in 2020.

According to an affidavit, Indiana State Police and the FBI had executed a search warrant at his home in Peru on 25 February 2017 - less than two weeks after Abby and Libby were murdered.

Kline denied any knowledge or involvement in the two teenagers’ deaths and he has not been charged in the case.

However, the account remained of interest to investigators who urged anyone who had communicated with, met, or attempted to meet the individual posing as @anthony_shots to come forward with information.

It is not clear if the account is in any way connected to the arrest and charging of Richard Allen.

The arrest of Richard Allen comes more than five years on from the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams.

Back in December, Libby’s grandmother Becky Patty told The Independent that she was no longer getting her “hopes up” with each development in case after so many leads had gone cold over the years.

“We’ve had so many things that have come up that we don’t get our hopes up,” she said at the time.

“We’re going to wait and let the police do their jobs.”

Read the full interview from December here:

The 50-year-old married man arrested last week in connection with the 2017 Delphi murders has now been charged more than five years on from the double slayings of teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams.

Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. On Friday, he was charged with two counts of murder and was moved to a state facility, reportedly for his own safety.

Indiana State Police announced the charges on Monday – a bombshell development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi and had gone unsolved for more than half a decade.

Mr Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is said to be refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

The sister of one of the Delphi victims has welcomed the news that a suspect has finally been charged with the murders – more than five years after her sister and her best friend were found dead after going on a hike.

Libby German’s sister Kelsi German wrote “we got him” on Twitter on Monday, after police delivered a press conference announing charges had been filed against local man Richard Allen.

“We got him. October 28th was the day,” she tweeted.

Ms German shared Mr Allen’s mugshot and the police press release about the development, adding in a follow-up tweet: “*innocent until proven guilty.*”

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

It’s been more than five years since best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, set off on a walk in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana – never to be seen alive again.

Since then, several local men have fallen under suspicion for their murders.

But no arrests were made, no suspects formally named and one promising lead after the next went cold. Until now.

For the first time, a man has been arrested and charged with the 2017 murders of the teenagers.

Richard Allen, a 50-year-old married Delphi man, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

The family of one of the Delphi victims has revealed that they had a chilling encounter with the man accused of her murder as they learned that he had been “hiding in plain sight” the whole time.

Mike and Becky Patty, the grandparents of victim Libby German, told reporters after Monday’s press conference that they remembered suspected killer Richard Allen serving them one time in the local CVS where he worked.

Mr Allen, a trained pharmaceutical technician who worked in the store in the heart of the small town of Delphi, processed some of the photos for the family and didn’t charge them for the images when they went in to collect them.

Aside from that, the family members said they didn’t know Mr Allen but – in a close-knit town of just 3,000 people – had likely encountered him on other occasions over the last five years.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

The sister of Delphi murder victim Libby German shared an emotional message hours after police formally announced charges against Richard Allen.

Taking to Twitter, Kelsi German wrote: “We have so much more work to do but the world felt a little safer today.”

She included a photo of a fall-foliage covered path.

Earlier in the day, Kelsi tweeted: “We got him. October 28th was the day.”

She shared Mr Allen’s mugshot and the police press release about the development, adding in a follow-up tweet: “*innocent until proven guilty.*”

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has more:

At a press conference announcing the arrest of Richard Allen on Monday, authorities cautioned that the case is far from over.

Mr Allen was taken into custody on 26 October and charged with two counts of murder two days later.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Speaking to reporters, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland emphasised that details made public about the case would remain limited for the foreseeable future.

“Today is about Abby and Libby,” Mr McLeland said, adding that court documents regarding Mr Allen’s arrest would be sealed for at least the next 30 days.

At present, a pretrial conference hearing is scheduled for 13 January 2023.

The murder trial is set to begin in March, although the timeline is subject to change.

Mike and Becky Patty, the grandparents of Libby German, told reporters after Indiana State Police Monday’s press conference that they remembered suspected killer Richard Allen.

They that Mr Allen had served them one time in the local CVS where he worked as a trained pharmaceutical technician.

The family was printing photos of Libby and her friend Abby Williams for their funerals at the store when Mr Allen assisted them in processing the photos.

He didn’t charge them for the images when they went in to collect them.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the story: