The tragic deaths of Indiana teens Libby German and Abby Williams shocked the nation and forever altered their families and small Midwest towns.
German, 14, and Williams, 13, went for a walk on the Delphi Historic Trail on Feb. 13, 2017, but never returned home.
Their disappearance prompted a community-wide search, leading to the discovery of their bodies the next day near the Monon High Bridge, just outside Delphi, Indiana.
Amid evidence leaks, numerous legal filings, and the removal and reinstatement of the original defense team, the Delphi murder case has faced several delays. Allen’s trial is now set for October 2024.
Although arrested in 2022, Allen spoke to police in 2017, admitting he was on the bridge the day the girls disappeared. He denied meeting the teenagers and pleaded not guilty.
Here’s a timeline retracing key moments of the Delphi killings case.
Libby German and Abby Williams vanish
Feb. 13, 2017: Libby German and Abby Williams went for a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail, where they were last seen.
“They just got out of the car and walked down the trail to go to High Bridge,” German’s older sister recalled. “We told each other we loved each other. And that was the last time I saw her.”
2:05 p.m. local time: German posted a photo of the Monon High Bridge on Snapchat.
2:07 p.m.: German posted a photo of Williams walking across the bridge.
That post was their last correspondence. Hours passed without contact, and they were reported missing.
Feb. 14, 2017: Law enforcement and volunteers began searching for the girls. Their bodies were found in a rugged area near the hiking trail the next day.
Feb. 15, 2017: Law enforcement confirmed the bodies were those of German and Williams. State police released images from German’s phone, believed to be of the suspected killer.
Delphi killings investigation begins.
Feb. 22, 2017: Indiana State Police released an audio recording of a male voice saying, “Down the hill.”
Feb. 25, 2017: ISP and FBI investigators executed a search warrant linked to the account “anthony_shots.” According to heavily redacted court documents, this led them to Miami County.
They eventually identified Kegan Anthony Kline, who admitted using social media to communicate with underage girls, including those he knew and those he didn’t. He used Instagram to find girls and then asked them to talk on Snapchat.
July 17, 2017: Police released the first sketch of the potential suspect.
April 22, 2019: A new suspect sketch, along with video and extended audio, was released. Police clarified that this second image depicted a man different from the first sketch.
August 2020: Kegan Anthony Kline was charged with 30 felonies, including possession of child pornography, child exploitation, obstruction of justice, child solicitation, and synthetic identity deception.
Dec. 6, 2021: Indiana State Police released information appealing for tips about a person tied to a social media account that communicated with German.
Dec. 20, 2021: Kline, linked to the Delphi murders investigation, appeared in court for a pretrial hearing on 30 counts of child pornography.
It is important to note that Kline has never been charged in the 2017 murders of German and Williams.
Kline admitted to exchanging messages with over a dozen underage girls, receiving around 100 sexual photos and about 20 explicit videos from them.
It was later revealed that Kline’s profile had communicated with German.
July 17, 2017: Police released the first sketch of the potential suspect.
April 22, 2019: A new suspect sketch, video, and extended audio were released. Police clarified that this image depicted a man different from the first sketch.
August 2020: Kegan Anthony Kline was charged with 30 felonies, including possession of child pornography, child exploitation, obstruction of justice, child solicitation, and synthetic identity deception.
Dec. 6, 2021: Indiana State Police released information appealing for tips about a person tied to a social media account that communicated with German.
Dec. 20, 2021: Kline, linked to the Delphi murders investigation, appeared in court for a pretrial hearing on 30 counts of child pornography.
It’s important to note that Kline has never been charged in the 2017 murders of German and Williams.
Delphi suspect Richard Allen arrested
Oct. 28, 2022: Multiple sources told NewsNation affiliate WXIN that a man was booked in the Carroll County, Indiana, jail in connection with the Delphi homicide investigation. The man, Richard Allen, was reportedly moved to a state facility for his safety.
Oct. 31, 2022: Richard Allen was officially arrested in connection with the killings of Libby German and Abby Williams. He pleaded not guilty and remained detained without bond at the White County Jail, according to Carroll County District Attorney Nicholas McLeland. This arrest marked the first time the Delphi community received possible answers about the case.
Nov. 1, 2022: German’s grandmother revealed that Allen worked at CVS and had printed photos for the girls’ funerals.
Nov. 22, 2022: Allen was granted a bail hearing, where a prosecutor suggested Allen might not be the sole suspect.
Nov. 29, 2022: Newly unsealed court records detailed how a cellphone video and an unspent bullet led officers to arrest Allen, a man they had interviewed five years earlier. A redacted affidavit outlined why police suspected Allen in the deaths of German and Williams.
March 30, 2023: Kegan Anthony Kline pleaded guilty to child exploitation charges.
Delphi killings suspect Richard Allen claims mistreatment
April 6, 2023: Allen’s attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi filed an emergency motion to modify his safekeeping order, arguing that the suspected killer was not receiving equitable treatment compared to other detainees.
June 13, 2023: Allen’s defense team filed a motion under seal to suppress specific evidence from the case, later revealed to involve ballistics.
June 15, 2023: Allen appeared in court for a scheduled bail hearing, where the judge heard arguments concerning various issues, including Allen’s attorney’s motion to restrict certain evidence from being presented at trial.
Prosecutors asserted that Allen confessed to the murders five or six times, but his attorneys argued that his mental state made his confessions unreliable. They also requested Allen be transferred from the Westville Correctional Facility to a county jail, citing concerns over his deteriorating physical and mental health.
June 16, 2023: Allen’s defense team claimed that the suspect’s isolation was exacerbating his declining mental and physical condition.
Evidence revealed in unsealed Delphi court docs
June 29, 2023: Allen County Judge Frances Gull unsealed 118 documents in the case against Richard Allen. The documents disclosed that Allen allegedly confessed to his wife and mother “no less than five times” that he was responsible for killing Libby German and Abby Williams. Investigators also believed a knife was involved in the killings.
July 27, 2023: Kegan Anthony Kline was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to child exploitation and child pornography charges, as reported by WRTV.
Odinist cult killing theory unfolds
Sept. 18, 2023: Attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi announced an alternative theory to the Delphi murders that did not involve their client, Richard Allen. They suggested a conspiracy involving a ritualistic murder linked to the occult.
The Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the Odinist cult killing theory as “unfounded” and lacking any evidence. However, Baldwin and Rozzi noted that investigators had spoken with key suspects whom the defense team believed were central to the cult theory.
There seems to be a discrepancy in the dates provided. The first date mentioned, Sept. 26, 2024, hasn’t occurred yet as of now (June 2024). The second date, Oct. 3, 2023, has already passed.
Could you please clarify if you meant to provide recent information up to the current date or the closest possible date?
Delphi crime scene photos and evidence leaked
Oct. 5, 2023: Evidence related to the deaths of Libby German and Abby Williams, including crime scene photos, was leaked online and distributed to YouTube and podcast content creators.
Oct. 9, 2023: Mitch Westerman reportedly contacted attorney Andrew Baldwin and admitted to being responsible for the leak. Westerman claimed he visited Baldwin’s law firm office and found evidence photos related to the Delphi case spread out in Baldwin’s conference room.
Westerman confessed to using his phone to photograph the evidence and subsequently sharing those photos with a man from Fishers, Indiana. Investigators determined that the Fishers man further distributed the evidence to an individual in Texas, who then forwarded it to various YouTube and podcast creators.
According to court documents, the man from Fishers ended up taking his own life after being questioned by police about the evidence leak.
Westerman stated in a sworn statement that Andrew Baldwin did not authorize him to take photographs of the crime scene evidence he discovered in the conference room of the law firm’s office. He also clarified that Baldwin was not present in the conference room when he took the photos.
Delphi lawyers Baldwin and Rozzi ‘withdraw’ from the case
Oct. 19, 2023: Judge Gull announced that attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi were “voluntarily withdrawing” from the case in response to the evidence leak from their office earlier in the month. The judge described this decision as a “very unexpected turn of events,” meaning certain aspects of the pretrial process would need to start over as Richard Allen awaited a new legal team.
Oct. 26, 2023: Baldwin and Rozzi filed several motions with the Indiana Supreme Court, asserting that they were removed from the murder case by Judge Gull following the evidence leak. Rozzi accused Judge Gull of “ambushing” the defense with allegations of “gross negligence” during a conference in her Fort Wayne chambers. The attorneys requested the Supreme Court to review Judge Gull’s case handling, alleging that she violated public access rules by keeping certain filings confidential.
Oct. 27, 2023: Attorneys Robert Scremin and William S. Lebrato were appointed as contract public defenders for Richard Allen’s case.
Oct. 30, 2023: Hundreds of documents filed with the Indiana Supreme Court disclosed details from the evidence leak, including email chains confirming the death of an individual involved in the crime scene leak.
Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi filed paperwork to represent Allen pro bono if they were not reinstated as his public defenders. Allen petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court to intervene, requesting his former defense team to continue representing him.
Indiana Supreme Court gets involved in Richard Allen murder case
Oct. 31, 2023: Judge Gull, who had previously expressed doubt about meeting the January trial date, postponed Allen’s trial to October 2024.
Nov. 6, 2023: Attorneys representing Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi requested the Indiana Supreme Court to remove Judge Gull from the case.
Nov. 16, 2023: Judge Gull responded to the Indiana Supreme Court, stating that Richard Allen’s claim of not having access to all documents related to the case is without merit. She affirmed that Allen and his attorneys had complete access to all documents filed in the case, whether sealed or unsealed.
Additionally, a letter from inmate Robert Baston at Westville Correctional Facility, alleging that Allen “was being abused and mistreated,” was obtained by the public, according to WISH. This letter had been previously sealed from public view.
Man charged in Delphi killings evidence leak
Nov. 22, 2023: Mitchell Westerman, 41, who was accused of leaking crime scene evidence in October, was arrested and charged with one count of conversion, a Class A misdemeanor. He allegedly took photos at Andrew Baldwin’s office and distributed them to an individual who subsequently leaked them on social media.
Jan. 12, 2024: Richard Allen’s new defense team requested the state to transfer him to a different prison following his allegations of mistreatment at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. The attorneys argued that the alleged mistreatment affected their ability to effectively represent him in court.
Jan. 18, 2024: The Indiana Supreme Court reinstated Richard Allen’s original defense team after they had been removed from his case the previous fall. Attorneys Lebrato and Scremin subsequently filed a motion to withdraw from representing Allen. The justices also rejected a motion to remove Judge Gull from the case.
Allen’s original defense team reinstated
Jan. 28, 2024: Allen’s attorneys filed a motion requesting the removal of Judge Gull from the case, arguing for her replacement or recusal in favor of a different judge.
Jan. 29, 2024: Prosecutor McLeland urged the court to hold attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi in contempt, accusing them of mishandling evidence and publicly discussing the case while the court considered a gag order. The prosecutor cited 25 points detailing Baldwin and Rozzi’s alleged misconduct, which included evidence leaks.
Feb 7, 2024: Allen’s defense team filed a motion requesting the dismissal of murder charges against him, citing the deletion of interview recordings with “key suspects” as either negligent or intentional acts. Attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi argued that the destruction of these recordings was crucial to their defense of Allen.
The defense team stated that two key suspects in their alternative theory were interviewed by police shortly after the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams, with at least one interview recorded. They believed that summary documents of these interviews existed but discovered that the information had been deleted when they attempted to retrieve it. Baldwin and Rozzi contended that these deleted interviews were essential evidence for their defense.
On the same day, a third attempt to have Special Judge Fran Gull removed from the case was filed but ultimately rejected.
Allen’s defense team’s continued legal fight
Feb. 8, 2024: Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi responded to the contempt claims against them, arguing that they should be dismissed. Judge Gull denied their motion and requested that Richard Allen be transferred from the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.
Feb. 23, 2024: Prosecutors stated that the two interviews conducted in the days after the Delphi killings were accidentally recorded by police but clarified that these recordings were “not evidence at all related to this case.”
March 6, 2024: Allen’s attorneys filed a motion to expedite the date of Allen’s murder trial, requesting that it be scheduled to take place within 70 days.
Richard Allen’s murder trial moved up, kidnapping counts dismissed
March 11, 2024: Judge Gull granted the defense team’s request to expedite Richard Allen’s murder trial, setting the court proceedings to begin on May 13. Gull blocked off May 13 through May 31 for the trial in her motion.
March 18, 2024: The judge dismissed two counts of kidnapping, and Richard Allen waived an initial hearing to contest the amended charges, which now include murder.
Allen’s defense team sought to deflect accusations of contempt by urging the court to prioritize the upcoming trial over ancillary proceedings.
Richard Allen’s murder trial pushed back
May 7, 2024: Judge Gull rescheduled Richard Allen’s trial dates for the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams to October 14 through November 15 in Carroll County. The trial was originally set to start on May 13, but Allen’s defense attorneys requested additional preparation time.
Three days of pretrial evidence hearings are scheduled for May 21-23 in Carroll County.
Contributions to this report were made by The Associated Press, NewsNation affiliate WXIN, and WXIN writer Matt Christy.
Frequently Asked Question
Who are Libby German and Abby Williams?
Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were two teenagers from Delphi, Indiana, who went missing on February 13, 2017, while hiking along the Delphi Historic Trail. Their bodies were discovered the next day near the Monon High Bridge. The case gained national attention and remains unsolved.
What is Richard Allen accused of?
Richard Allen is accused of the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams. He was arrested in connection with the case and has pleaded not guilty. The trial proceedings have been ongoing, and various legal motions and developments have occurred.
Why was Allen’s trial rescheduled?
Allen’s trial dates were rescheduled to October 14 through November 15, 2024, in Carroll County, Indiana. Originally set for May 13, 2024, the rescheduling was due to his defense team’s request for more preparation time. Pretrial evidence hearings are set for May 21-23, 2024.
What were the allegations against Mitchell Westerman?
Mitchell Westerman was accused of leaking crime scene evidence related to the Delphi case in October 2023. He allegedly took photos at Andrew Baldwin’s law office and shared them, leading to their dissemination on social media. Westerman faced charges of conversion, a Class A misdemeanor.
Why did Allen’s original defense team withdraw from the case?
Attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi withdrew from representing Richard Allen after an evidence leak from their office in October 2023. This led to legal complications and motions regarding the evidence handling and the appointment of new legal representation.
Conclusion
The case of Richard Allen, accused in the tragic murders of Libby German and Abby Williams in Delphi, Indiana, has been marked by significant legal proceedings and developments. From the initial disappearance of the teenagers in February 2017 to Allen’s arrest and subsequent legal battles, the case has garnered widespread attention and scrutiny.
Key events include the discovery of the girls’ bodies, the release of suspect sketches, and the involvement of multiple legal teams due to various motions and controversies, including the mishandling of evidence allegations. The rescheduling of Allen’s trial to October 2024 underscores the complexities and delays inherent in such high-profile cases.
Throughout these proceedings, the Delphi community and the Libby German and Abby Williams families have sought justice while navigating the challenges of a prolonged legal process. As the case unfolds, public interest remains focused on uncovering the truth behind this tragic event.