Richard Allen sentenced to 130 years for 2017 deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Richard Allen, the man convicted of murder in the 2017 Delphi Murders case, has been sentenced to 130 years in prison.
Allen, 52, was found guilty of two counts of murder and two counts for felony murder for the deaths of . The girls’ bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge near Delphi on Feb. 14, 2017, a day after they went missing.
Allen’s trial started Oct. 18 and spanned through mid-November, almost eight years the girls’ deaths. The 12-person jury deliberated for four days before delivering the guilty verdict on Nov. 11.
Friday’s sentencing hearing started at 9 a.m. and last just over an hour.
News 8’s Kyla Russell reports from the courtroom that he received the maximum sentence of 65 years for each murder charge.
Special Judge Fran Gull gave Allen a 786-day credit for his time already served in prison. Russell says when handing down the sentencing, Gull called Allen’s crimes are up there with the “most heinous she’s encountered in her career.”
Prosecutors did not speak the death penalty.
Close friends and family of Libby German and Abby Williams took the stand and spoke directly to Allen for the first time since his 2022 arrest.
Russell says many of the impact statements focused heavily on leaked crime scene photos that circulated the internet.
Libby German’s grandmother Becky Patty said these photos impacted them greatly. Patty said to the court, “What happens when Libby’s nieces and nephews, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, want to learn about Libby and that’s what they were met with?”
German’s family also said this is not a day of celebration of them. “‘It will never be enough,’” Russell repeated.
Richard Allen declined to speak after the impact statements were read.
Allen’s attorneys recently filed a motion to get two of his murder convictions scrapped, claiming he cannot “constitutionally be convicted twice for the same crime.” Russell says Gull responded to the filing in court by vacating the two federal murder charges.
The defense has 30 days to file an appeal. If they are unsuccessful, then Allen’s 130-year sentence will constitute as a life sentence.
When speaking with I-Team 8’s Kody Fisher after the hearing, Aine Cain and Kevin Greenlee from “The Murder Sheet” podcast said they weren’t surprised by the length of the sentence.
“This is what we expected from Judge Gull,” Cain said. “There are certain parameters she has to follow, but this is such a horrific case. Two girls out for a walk brutally murdered by a stranger, so it’s not surprising she ended up essentially throwing the book at him.”
The families and state and local law enforcement spoke in a post-sentencing conference.
Libby’s grandfather Mike Patty said “justice has been served for the girls” with this sentencing.
“If I live to be 80, it’ll be 10% of my life working to this moment,” he said.
News 8’s Colin Baillie, Kyla Russell, and Kody Fisher were live in Delphi to cover Friday’s sentencing and the following press conferences.
To see watch the full post-sentencing press conference, watch the video below.