Why are the court documents sealed in the Delphi murders?
CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — Investigators and the Carroll Prosecutor’s Office are being tight-lipped when it comes to most details regarding the Delphi murders investigation. The probable cause affidavit, which holds key information regarding the charges and the case, is sealed under court order.
Abby and Libby were last seen on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017. They had been dropped off near the Monon High Bridge near Delphi. The next day, Carroll County Sheriff’s Office announced that it was looking for the girls. A command post was set up and the community worked to locate the girls. Their bodies were located around 12:15 p.m. that day.
Doug Kouns, a former FBI Agent said while this is unusual he believes those involved have a good reason.
“They’re not withholding stuff because they just don’t want people to know, just to withhold,” said Kouns, the founder and CEO of Veracity, a private investigation firm. “It’s because they don’t want to release some piece of information that might compromise their investigation or the subsequent prosecution.”
Officials said this investigation is still open. This could be a contributing factor to the court order.
“There still seems to be a long way to go. Just because they made an arrest you still have to successfully prosecute that so they don’t want to jeopardize that in any way,” said Kouns. “So they are going to err on the side of caution with releasing information. They can always release more later but once it’s out there you know you can’t pull it back.”
Kouns said releasing too much information could hinder investigators from making additional arrests or gathering more information for Allen’s prosecution.
“If there’s an accomplice, either directly involved or later lying about alibis or some other aspect of the case, there could be related arrests and prosecutions for that,” said Kouns.
Kouns said he has never seen court documents fully sealed like this in his career.
“I’ve seen plenty of cases sealed for periods of time but nothing exactly like this so it will be interesting when they do come out with the rest of it and it will be clear why this was withheld.”
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland said there will be a public hearing to determine if those records will stay sealed.
