Indiana Killer Sentenced to 130 Years for the Delphi Murders

Richard Allen, convicted of killing two teenage girls in the woods near Delphi, Ind., in 2017, was sentenced to 130 years in prison on Friday, Dec. 20.

Allen received the maximum sentence possible from Judge Frances Gull of Allen Superior Court in Fort Wayne, Ind., according to the New York Times.

“I’ve spent 27 years as a judge, and you rank right up there with the most heinous crimes in the state of Indiana,” Gull told Allen, per the Times.

Allen was credited by the judge for 786 days of time served, reported Fox 59.

He was found guilty last month of the murder of Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, near a hiking trail in Delphi.

German and Williams were dropped off for a day of hiking near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi on Feb. 13, 2017. The next day, the two were found dead, with their throats slit, near the banks of a creek. An unspent 40 caliber bullet was found between them.

Video taken on one of the girls’ phones showed a shadowy man following them on the bridge. Audio also captured a man saying “down the hill” to the two teens.

The case went unsolved for five years, and the man on the bridge was known only as “Bridge Guy,” until Allen’s arrest in 2022, after authorities matched a gun in his possession with the bullet found on the scene.

At trial, a state trooper testified that after having listened to 700 of Allen’s prison calls, he could attest that the voice of “Bridge Guy” belonged to Allen, CNN reports. Meanwhile, those calls included what prosecutors called a confession from Allen to his wife.

“I did it,” he reportedly said, per WTHR. “I killed Abby and Libby.”

In his defense, Allen’s attorneys sought to argue that the two girls were actually murdered by “Odinists,” members of a pagan Norse religion linked with white nationalism, as part of a ritualistic sacrifice. The judge forbade the defense from making the argument, per IndyStar.

Allen’s defense team plans to appeal the verdict, the Times reported.