Richard Matthew Allen was charged in 2022 for the 2017 murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty Berman, 14.
The man accused of killing two Delphi, Indiana teenage girls in 2017 confessed multiple times to their murder over phone calls while in jail, according to recently unsealed court documents filed by prosecutors.
Richard Matthew Allen, who was charged in 2022, for the 2017 Delphi murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14 admitted on the public jail phone that he killed the girls, a motion filed by Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland alleges.
“Investigators had the phone call transcribed and the transcription confirms that Richard M Allen admits that he committed the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German. He admits several times within the phone call that he committed the offenses as charged. His wife, Kathy Allen, ends the phone call abruptly,” said the motion.
An objection submitted by the prosecutor also stated that Allen had told his mother he committed the charges against him. He is said to have admitted to the allegations no less than five times over the jail's public phones.
German and Williams were walking near the Monon High Bridge on Feb. 13, 2017, when they went missing, Indiana State Police said. After an extensive search, their bodies were found the next day near the Delphi Historic Trail, police said.
One of the key pieces of evidence in the case was captured by German prior to her death. She had taken a video that showed a man on the trail that police believed was a suspect in their murders, according to police.
Allen matched the description of a man that many saw in the park around the time the two girls were also walking in the area and was said to be wearing clothes that appeared “muddy and bloody” like he had just gotten into a fight, according to the motion.
The unsealed documents also included search warrants that had info about the nature of the teens' deaths and their wounds being caused by a sharp object, according to CBS 4.
The motion document stated that knives and firearms, including a gun matching the ballistics of a bullet found between the bodies of the two teens, were found in Allen’s home.
The prosecutor states in the objection that they fear Allen’s attorneys will state that his well-being, both physically and mentally, has suffered due to his conditions in jail and his confession is not reliable due to it.
An emergency motion revealed that Allen’s attorney attempted to have him moved from the current facility due to the conditions he had to endure while in custody that may have impacted his ability to defend himself. The judge denied this request.
“Mr. Allen asserts that said denial is a deliberate attempt to impose conditions upon him that are intended to frustrate his purpose in defending against the charged allegations and create a hardship on him which would drive any human to mental breakdown,” the emergency motion reads.
The information in the documents was recently revealed to the public on Wednesday after Judge Frances Gull removed the gag order that initially kept all documents sealed. Over 100 documents were unsealed and made available to the public, though some documents remained sealed for security purposes, according to court records.
Allen has pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody with no bond and will face a jury trial in January.
