By: James Howell Jr.
DELPHI, Ind. (Scripps News Indianapolis) — Special Judge Fran Gull, who is overseeing the Delphi Murders trial of Richard Allen, unsealed more than 100 documents related to the case.
Allen, who has been incarcerated since Nov. 2022, is currently charged with murder in the February 2017 deaths of Libby German and Abby Williams near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.
This image provided by Indiana State Police shows Richard Matthew Allen. (Indiana State Police via AP)
During Allen’s most recent hearing, Gull explained she would be unsealing documents to the public that were previously sealed. However, she did not explicitly say which documents and what for.
MORE: Delphi Murders: Everything you want to know
On Wednesday, Gull issued an order unsealing 118 documents. 19 documents remain under seal.
Below is a summary of the findings in those documents.
Allen’s “admission of guilt”
One of the documents contained a motion to subpoena third-party records, which they claim contain a possible admission from Allen to his wife during a phone call he made while in jail.
MORE: Testimony: Richard Allen made incriminating statements in jail
The motion states:
“On April 3, 2023, Richard M Allen made a phone call to his wife Kathy Allen. In that phone call, Richard M Allen admits several times that he killed Abby and Libby. 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 (sic) as charged. His wife, Kathy Allen, ends the phone call abruptly.”
L too R: Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German (Family Photos)
The documents also contains multiple mentions of instances where Allen was acting different while being locked up, including times where he was eating paper from his attorneys.
“Richard M Allen was wetting down and paperwork he had gotten from his attorneys and eating it, he was refusing to eat and refusing to sleep. He would go days of refusing to sleep. He further broke the tablet that he used for text messages and phone calls. He went from making up to two phone calls a day as of April 3, 2023 to not making any phone calls at all.”
According to documents, Allen has admitted to the crime at least five times on phone calls to his wife, Kathy Allen, and his mother.
Motion to move Allen to new facility
Among the vast number of documents are also multiple references from Allen’s attorneys on why he should be moved from the Westville Correctional Facility.
They also include a letter written by a fellow inmate of Allen’s at Westville who claimed Allen was being “abused and mis-treated” by the staff.
In the letter, which was filed as evidence in the defense’s motion to move Allen to a new facility for safekeeping, the inmate says Allen is often called “kid killer” by jail staff and told to “kill himself” by other inmates. The court documents allege jail staff also teasing Allen that his family is there to visit when they are in fact not there.
Other findings
Documents also share for the first time that Abby and Libby died by homicide by “sharp object”.
There were also multiple pieces of clothing missing from the scene, including underwear and a sock. There is no mention of those items being recovered in any searches of property.
During searches of Allen’s property, numerous firearms, electronic devices and knives were seized as evidence.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF THE NEWLY-RELEASED DOCUMENTS
This story was originally published by WRTV, an E.W. Scripps Company.
