Delphi Murders trial: Day 16 live blog
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Day 16 in the trial of Delphi Murders suspect Richard Allen begins Tuesday at the Carroll County Courthouse in Delphi.
Allen, 52, is charged with murder and murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the deaths of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams and 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German. The girls’ bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge near Delphi on Feb. 14, 2017, a day after they went missing.
Allen was first investigated in 2017 and again in October 2022. After a second police interview, he was taken into custody.
The trial began Oct. 18 and was expected to continue through mid-November. Originally, 16 Allen County residents sat as the jury on the case, but one juror was dismissed on Oct. 25.
Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom.
Tune into News 8 and follow our daily live blogs throughout the trial for the latest developments.
NOTE: The times listed in the blog headers are the times which the entries were added. Specific times for courtroom events will be listed in the entries if available. These notes are compiled from photographs of written notes provided by reporters in courtroom and emailed to the WISH-TV news desk.
For a brief summary of Day 15 in the Delphi Murders trial (Monday), scroll to the bottom of the page.
To view all of our previous trial coverage, click here, and follow News 8’s Kyla Russell on X as she covers the trial live from Delphi.
9:06 a.m.: State motions to prevent testimony
Around 9:06 a.m., state prosecutors filed a motion to limine against defense expert Stuart Grassian.
Grassian was expected to testify about the effects of solitary confinement on an inmate, but the prosecution’s motion is an attempt to limit or prevent evidence, or in this case, a testimony, from the jury.
It wasn’t clear how Judge Gull would rule on the motion.
9 a.m.: Court resumes for Tuesday
Brief summary of Day 15 in the Delphi Murders trial
Monday’s court session featured testimonies from Richard Allen’s sister, daughter, neuropsychologist, and several others. The jury also viewed two video compilations of footage taken from Allen’s security camera inside his cell at Westville Correctional Facility.
The first witness was Dr. Polly Westcott, a neuropsychologist based out of Carmel who performed a psychological evaluation on Allen while in prison. Westcott shared the process of her assessment, which she performed over two days. She came to six conclusions:
- Allen has an extensive history of mental health issues
- Allen was not faking or exaggerating his symptoms
- Allen is slower to understand, process, and respond to things
- Allen experienced a complete mental health decrease in Westville
- Allen has major depressive disorder and slipped into psychosis due to stress
- Allen’s brain chemistry was changed while in prison, due to no contact with wife and family
She also mentioned that Allen has had severe anxiety and depression through his childhood and adulthood, and has struggled with suicidal ideation. She also commented on previous reports from Dr. Monica Wala, Allen’s psychologist in Westville, saying that Wala’s summaries of Allen’s murder confessions were “story-like,” and that videos of Allen around the same time weren’t logical.
Following questions from the prosecution about Allen’s mental health, the jury chimed in with their own questions. One of the questions asked was if Allen was depressed as a child if it would cause him to commit crimes as an adult. Westcott said no and it depended on the personality type.
After a short break, the jury viewed two video compilations of footage taken from the security camera inside Allen’s solitary confinement cell. The courtroom TV was faced away from the gallery, so only the jury, Special Judge Fran Gull, and the witness stand could see. The defense and prosecution had to move closer to see. Richard Allen did not watch the videos.
The videos ended, leaving jurors with raised brows and throwing glances at Allen. State prosecutor Nick McLeland commented that the defense intern Max Baker, who had compiled the footage, showed “what he viewed as his worst condition in Westville” and that Baker “showed the jury (the video) to try to show that Richard Allen is the victim.”
A back-and-forth ensued between Baker, McLeland, and defense attorney Brad Rozzi. Rozzi eventually jumped in to ask: “You picked what you picked to show them the truth?”
Baker said, “Yes.”
After multiple objections and another snippy back-and-forth, court recessed for lunch around 12:22 p.m.
Court’s afternoon session began with testimonies were from Jaime Jones, Allen’s half-sister, and Brittany Zapanta, Allen’s daughter.
Before Jones was called to speak, Judge Gull said the report from Westcott was “totem pole hearsay” and explained that unless the state can cite specific hearsay, she’ll admit the report.
The jury entered the courtroom, and Jones approached the witness stand. Jones said Richard Allen was five years her senior and they lived together through childhood. She told the jury Allen never touched her inappropriately. She told defense attorney Jennifer Auger she loved her brother, but would never lie for him.
Prosecutor James Luttrell started his cross examination, asking Jones if “the name Chris rang a bell?” Auger objected as they were discussing other neighborhood kids while Allen and Jones were growing up. The objection was sustained, and Luttrell moved on.
Jones left the stand and was replaced by Brittany Zapanta. Allen was reportedly nodding his head as she took the stand.
Zapanta said she moved out of the family home in 2015 for a job. She attended Ball State then went to Indianapolis. She currently works in urgent care. The defense asked her the same question they asked Jones: “Did your father molest you?” and “Would you lie for him?”
Zapanta said “no” to both questions.
Luttrell stepped in for his cross, asking if she and her father went to the Monon Trail and the High Bridge often. Auger objected to both questions.
The first was sustained, the second overruled. Zapanta then said she went to the bridge with her dad but only crossed it once or twice. He asked if Allen changed his appearance after she left for Ball State, and she said no. Luttrell asked about Allen’s height and weight, and Auger objected.
He then showed Zapanta photos of her father. Auger approached the bench, and after the sidebar ends, Luttrell showed Zapanta more photos and asked if specific ones looked like her dad in February 2017. Zapanta said yes.
The gallery did not see the pictures.
Auger objected to the photos, saying they were outside the scope of questioning and there was another sidebar. Gull sustained the objections.
The jury asked Zapanta about her visits to the bridge, and she confirms she only visited it and crossed the bridge with her dad a few times in her teens.
The reporter noted Allen was seen smiling as Zapanta left the stand.
The next set of witnesses were Shelby Hicks, a realtor who was on the trail on the day of the murders, and Steve Mullin, the former Delphi police chief.
Hicks said she took her car for repairs and went for a hike with her boyfriend. They arrived there at 2:30 p.m. and parked in the connector lot. She told attorney Andrew Baldwin that there were other cars parked there, as well.
Hicks said while they were walking, they saw an “older gentleman,” two girls from school, and a few other kids. She also saw an older man with a camera, and she said hi to the girls from high school.
They were there for around 15 – 20 minutes before they returned to her car. The next day, Hicks said her boyfriend wanted to tell law enforcement what they saw, but when they went to police, they were asked to come back at another time. Hicks said she met with law enforcement twice, in February and March 2017. Her cell phone data was never extracted.
She later said during her cross examination that she never walked across the high bridge and left the platform before her friends returned.
Steve Mullin was then called to the stand. The defense showed him a list of white Ford Focus SEs registered in Cass, Carroll, and Tippecanoe counties between 2011 and 2017. Baldwin said these were cars similar to Allen’s. Prosecutor McLeland objected, but Baldwin continued.
Baldwin asked if he knew how many people owned cars similar to Allen’s in Carroll County and the surrounding area. Mullin said no. Baldwin commented that Mullin created a log of missing interviews, but said Mullin didn’t say that at the hearings in March. Mullin admitted there was no log at that time, but he has since found it.
Baldwin asked if Mullin had investigated if there were any mentions of a van on social media. Mullin said no, which Baldwin remarks there were “many mentions of a van.”
The final testimony from Brad Weber, a Delphi resident who owned the property where Libby German and Abby Williams were killed. He had testified earlier in the trial and became frustrated with the court after questioning what he did after work on Feb. 13, 2017. The reporter noted Weber seemed “extremely disheveled” on Monday.
Defense’s Andrew Baldwin handed Weber a transcript of an interview he did with the FBI in February 2017. Baldwin then asked Weber about his ATM machine business, which Weber said he made money off of them through surcharges. He couldn’t remember how many ATMs he had during 2017.
Weber said he attended to his ATMs daily, checking how much money they have and gets the money from the bank. He said his ATMs were in gas stations, bars, restaurants, etc. He said he used a black Subaru to drive around and service his ATMs.
He added that on the day of the murders, he went straight home from his other job at the Subaru plant near Lafayette, and the “only time I used my van was when I was pulling a trailer.” Weber’s white Ford Econoline van was brought to question during his previous testimony, as News 8’s Kyla Russell has mentioned that Richard Allen kidnapped the girls and became scared after seeing a van, which pushed him to kill them. The van has not been directly connected to Weber.
Baldwin asked Weber if trespassers ever when onto his party, to which he said yes. He also said he didn’t hear any screaming on that day. Weber added he gave law enforcement permission to search his house but it wasn’t on Feb. 13, 2017.
McLeland’s cross-examination was short, but the jury asked Weber several questions about his ATMs, his route home, the process of clocking out of work, and if any of his ATMs would have photo or video of servicing.
The jury left the courtroom, and the defense said they planned to have former State Trooper Kevin Murphy testify and that he would have said that incident command always said there were more than one person involved in the investigation. The prosecution objected to that testimony. Baldwin also said he had an offer of proof for third party suspects, and Gull answered, “We’ve had this discussion a thousand times, you have no evidence to tie these people to the crime.”