Delphi Murderer Richard Allen Appeals Conviction, Cites Psychosis

Delphi double murderer Richard Allen is appealing his 130-year sentence for the 2017 killings of two Indiana middle school girls, Liberty German and Abigail Williams. Allen's defense team is arguing that his repeated confessions, including those made to his wife, were a product of psychosis brought on by solitary confinement.

Allen, 54, was found guilty in 2024 of murdering the 13 and 14-year-old girls, whose bodies were discovered with their throats slit near a Delphi, Indiana hiking trail. He had confessed multiple times to prison guards, psychologists, and his wife, Kathy, through in-person conversations, phone calls, and letters. During his trial, recorded phone calls played for the jury featured Allen stating, "I did it. I killed Abby and Libby."

Allen's appellate attorney, Mark Leeman, argued before the court that the judge should not have admitted the confessions as evidence. Leeman contends that Allen developed severe mental illness while in solitary confinement, leading to self-harming behaviors such as smashing his head against cell walls and consuming paper. He also asserted that Allen, who had no prior criminal history, was unlikely to have committed such a crime and that the verdict was unreliable.

Prosecutor Ellen Meilaender, representing the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, countered that Allen's confessions were voluntary and not coerced during interrogations. Meilaender also noted that Allen was placed in solitary confinement for his own safety. She further pointed out that the conviction did not rest solely on his confessions; Allen had initially admitted to investigators in 2017 that he was on the trail at the time the girls were killed, though he later changed his account.

Prosecutors stated that Allen, a former drugstore clerk, encountered the girls on the Monon High Bridge Trail. He allegedly forced them at gunpoint off the trail, threatening to rape them before changing his plans when a van passed. He then reportedly forced them down a hill and slit their throats, with their bodies found the following day.

Allen was convicted in November 2024 and subsequently sentenced to the maximum 130 years in prison.