DELPHI, Ind. — Newly obtained videos show the police interrogation of Richard Allen before his arrest for the murder of two girls in Delphi eight years ago.
Allen was sentenced in December 2024 to 130 years in prison for killing Abby Williams and Libby German, who were found dead near the Monon High Bridge Trail in February 2017.
But Allen wasn’t taken into custody until 5 1/2 years later, on Oct. 26, 2022.
One of the videos, shared with 13News by Tom Webster, shows Allen being questioned by Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett and Steve Mullin, an investigator for the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office, on Oct. 13, 2022. The other video is of an interrogation by Indiana State Police investigator Jerry Holeman the day Allen was arrested.
Each of the videos is about 1 1/2 hours long.
In the first video, Allen talks with investigators about being on the Monon High Bridge the day the girls disappeared. They showed Allen a photo of a man on the bridge, wearing clothing similar to what Allen said he was wearing that day.
But Allen denied having anything to do with the girls’ deaths.
“Basically, this. Either you were out there to do this to the girls, or you were out there to be able to introduce the girls to somebody else,” Mullin says in the video.
“OK, good luck finding anything that points in that direction. I mean, it’s not me. You’re not going to make me believe it’s me. You’re not going to find anything that ties me to those murders,” Allen replied. “So I’m not really that concerned. You know, you went from trying to, I don’t know what you want to say, get my trust and then slowly lure me into telling you I killed somebody, and I’m not going to do it.”
The focus of the Oct. 26 interrogation included witness testimony and evidence, including an unspent bullet found at the scene that investigators linked to a gun belonging to Allen.
“There is no way that evidence is going to show that I did this,” Allen said.
“It’s right f—ing here, Rick,” Holeman said.
“You got one piece of evidence that I can’t explain,” Allen said.
“I got multiple pieces. Multiple. I’m not showing you my whole f—ing hand here,” Holeman said.
“I don’t care. I’m telling you, I’m done talking,” Allen said.
A little more than an hour into the video of the Oct. 26 interrogation, Allen’s wife, Kathy, enters the room. After an embrace, Allen tries to reassure his wife as her voice cracks with emotion.
“I know you know I didn’t do this,” Allen repeated to his wife.
Later that day, Allen was taken into custody at the Indiana State Police post in West Lafayette.
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includes phone conversations Allen had with his wife and his mother, Janis. The eight phone calls in the video take place between Nov. 14, 2022 and June 11, 2023, with most of them made in April, May and June 2023.
“I killed Abby and Libby,” Allen told Kathy in a phone call on April 3, 2023.
On May 10, 2023, Allen told Kathy, “I need you to know that I did this” and “I hope you still love me.”
In a follow-up phone call on May 10, 2023, Allen told Kathy, “I killed Abby and Libby, dear.”
On June 11, 2023, Allen told Kathy, “I did it. Do you still love me?”
During Allen’s trial, the prosecution played multiple confessions he allegedly made while in state prisons. Allen’s lawyers argued their client did not make the confessions voluntarily.
In March, Allen’s attorneys filed an appeal of his conviction and his sentence.
13News spoke with Brad Banks, a former prosecutor who now works as a defense attorney, about the newly obtained videos.
“As I’ve followed this case, I’ve always thought that that was going to be the most damming piece of evidence for him,” Banks said on Allen’s confessions in the phone calls. “Any time there is any type of confession, that’s very difficult for the defense at that point.”
Banks said without Allen’s phone call confessions, it likely would’ve been a tough case for the prosecution.
“There’s a lot of science out there about false confessions and the psychology behind them, but it’s just a piece of evidence that is extremely difficult for a jury to look past — it just is,” Banks said. “If I had to guess, that’s the piece of evidence that they jury hung their hat on when they found Mr. Allen guilty.”
