Indiana man, 50, arrested on murder charges in 2017 Delphi killings of 2 teenage girls

DELPHI, Ind. — Police on Monday announced the arrest of a suspect in the 2017 killings of two teenage girls, in a case that had puzzled the community and online crime sleuths for years.

Richard M. Allen, 50, of Delphi, was arrested on two counts of murder in the February 2017 deaths of Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announced Monday.

"Today is not a day to celebrate," Carter said, noting the arrest is "a major step in leading to a conclusion in this long term and complex investigation."

Williams and German vanished while hiking in their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

They were dropped off at an abandoned rail bridge on Feb. 13, 2017, to walk around and hang out, according to police. But when it was time to be picked up from the area, they never showed.

Their bodies were found Feb. 14, 2017, in a wooded area near the Delphi Historic Trail, a half mile upstream from the bridge.

Then on Wednesday of last week, detectives with the Delphi Double Homicide Task Force took Allen into custody and he was formally charged with two counts of murder on Friday, Indiana State Police said in a statement.

He is currently being held without bond at White County Jail.

Reached by phone on Monday afternoon and asked if Allen's arrest brought any joy or relief, Abby's mother, Anna Williams, said: "Not really."

"It doesn't feel the way we thought it was going to," she grieving mother told NBC News. "I didn't really know how we would feel. But it just didn't feel the way that I thought we thought it would."

Charging documents sealed

Carter said limited details will be released on the arrest to protect the integrity of the case and investigation. Officials did not explain what evidence led them to arrest Allen.

He explained the probable cause affidavit and charging documents have been temporarily sealed as “this investigation is far from complete.”

"Since the murders of Abby and Libby 2,086 days ago, the daily investigative team has worked tirelessly and is certainly worthy of mention today," Carter said Monday.

Officials said in the news conference that Allen had his initial hearing and entered a preliminary not guilty plea. A pre-trial date is set for Jan. 13, 2023, and a trial date is slated for March 20, 2023.

“Per the court order we cannot talk about the evidence in the probable cause or the charging information,” Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said. “Right now is not that day. Today is about Abby and Libby, focusing on them.”

McLeland did not answer questions about how long Allen has been a suspect.

Carter said "nothing will happen between now and the second or third week of November. And then the judge will have to decide in the coming weeks and months what and when he decides to unseal those."

Allen was CVS employee who didn't charge Libby's family for photo processing

Following the news conference, the grandparents of Libby German revealed to reporters that Allen worked at a local CVS where he processed photos for Libby's family.

Becky Patty, Libby's grandmother, nodded when asked about reports that Allen had processed photos for the family at the store and didn’t charge them for it. She said, "That is accurate," without going into further detail.

CVS acknowledged Allen was an employee in a statement Monday saying: "We are shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can."

"As members of the Carroll County community, we remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families."

Libby's grandfather Mike Patty said when the family heard the charges read out, “it was kind of bittersweet.”

"I just know that there’s another job, another hill for us to climb ahead of us, But we’re up for the challenge, and we’re gonna keep after it. We’re not gonna stop," he said.

When asked if he had any words for the suspect, Patty said: “No, I’ll save that for when I see him face to face.”

Carter said in an interview with NBC News it was “emotional” to break the news of the arrest to the victims' families.

“They’re wonderful people that are credibly stoic. I’m not going to pretend to understand what it’s like to lose a child because I don’t,” he said. “They know there’s a long way to go and this just turns the page. So there’s more to do. There’s more for them to process, more for them to endure.”

When asked if he believes there may be another suspect out there, he said, “We’re going to work until there’s nothing left for us to do.”

Yearslong investigation

For years police worked to find the girls’ killer and previously said the assailant may have had close connections to Delphi, a city of about 3,000 people.

Carter said back in 2019 he believed the suspect was "hiding in plain sight."

Police previously released two sketches of a suspect.

They also released grainy photos of a person walking on an old railroad bridge the girls visited on their hiking trip with audio of a male saying, “Down the hill” taken from Liberty’s cellphone.

The photo appeared to depict a white male wearing blue jeans, a blue coat/jacket, and a hoodie, who police said was believed to be a suspect in the homicides.

Police on Monday stopped short of identifying that man on the cellphone footage as Allen.

"It's part of the investigative process that we can't go into and confirm or deny that that's actually the case," state police Sgt. Jeremy Piers said.

Kathy Park reported from Delphi, Indiana; and Marlene Lenthang and David K. Li from New York City.