Indiana police are investigating how gruesome crime scene images of the 2017 Delphi murders were leaked to the public, after numerous pictures were shared via text, email, and social media.
Richard Allen, 50, is accused of killing Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, while they were hiking through Indiana’s Delphi Historic Trails on 13 February 2017.
Their bodies were discovered the next day and the case puzzled police for years – until a bullet found at the bloody crime scene linked Allen to the slayings in 2022.
Lawyer Kevin Greenlee and journalist Aine Cain who run ‘The Murder Sheet’ podcast said they were sent the horrible scene photos from a source and contacted the police.
Cain described them as ‘some of the worst I have ever seen. Very very disturbing, very upsetting not only what we are seeing but also the fact that they got out.’
Richard Allen, 50, is accused of killing Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, while they were hiking through Indiana ‘s Delphi Historic Trails on 13 February 2017
Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13. Their bodies were discovered and the case puzzled police for years – until a bullet found at the bloody crime scene linked Allen to the slayings in 2022
Greenlee told Fox News: ‘Crime-scene photos obviously serve an investigative purpose, and the evidence depicted in these pictures can be used to potentially demonstrate the guilt of a particular individual.
‘So, obviously, it is very important for a jury to see these photos and these images.’
It’s understood that the crime scene images, which have been dispersed on the internet, could harm Allen’s case.
Greenlee added: ‘Anybody who wanted to could copy [the photos] and do anything they want with them, including emailing the family members or doing other harassing things.
‘And in addition to the pain it would cause the family members, it would also potentially infringe upon Richard Allen’s rights because … people seeing these pictures could get inflamed with anger and passion and that could potentially taint the jury pool.’
Cain said: ‘We contacted police to let them know that there had been a serious breach of discovery in the case. And we also sent an email to the defense team, letting them know.
Lawyer Kevin Greenlee and Aine Cain, a journalist, run ‘The Murder Sheet’ podcast. They said they received the horrible scene photos from a source
‘At that time, we had no idea where the leak was coming from, so we really felt it was important to let both sides know what was happening so that they could both address it and perhaps look into where … the leak originated from.’
They allege that the images came from a former employee of attorney Andrew Baldwin, who is part of Richard Allen’s defense team. Baldwin has not commented, citing a court-enforced gag order.
Now Judge Francis Gull has ordered both sides of the case into court in Fort Wayne on Thursday. The hearing is to address ‘other matters which have recently arisen.’
Shay Hughes of the Tippecanoe County Public Defenders Office, who knows Allen’s lawyer, told Fox59 that ‘the investigation into the leak needs to play its course and then it’s up to the state to how they want to address it later on.’
Allen’s trial is set for January 8, 2024.
But if his defense lawyers are potentially removed, this could cause a delay.
Greenlee told the outlet: ‘If Judge Gull chooses to remove his defense attorneys, his trial which is scheduled to begin in January, it will certainly not begin in January because these new attorneys are going to need to take time, months or perhaps a year or more, just to learn the case.
‘So his pre-trial detention period is just going to grow even longer through no direct fault of his own.’
Podcaster Cain added: ‘I think that the fact that this leak comes from the defense attorneys’ side, it makes it a little bit more complicated because they’re the ones fighting the system and this happened.
‘I think in general, this case has become a circus and it’s driven by social media to a large degree.
‘I think we’re seeing the dark side of the curiosity here because what you’re having is people that are putting their own need for information and their own essentially personal gratification above the health and well-being of the case and this brief certainly speaks to that underlying trend.
‘I think that social media has inflamed this case at every turn and I think that it’s a double-edged sword. You have the sheer amount of crankery that has occurred.’
This comes as lawyers for the suspected Delphi killer claim that Liberty German and Abigail Williams were ‘ritualistically sacrificed’ in bombshell court filings.
Unsealed legal documents sensationally claim that the two teenagers were killed by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group called ‘Odinism.’
Attorneys for Allen are asking Allen County Judge Frances Gull to throw out evidence collected during a search of his home before his arrest last year.
His team argues that authorities left out important information in their request for a search warrant, including the link to Odinism.
The newly unsealed filings state: ‘Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German.’
Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin are requesting a Franks hearing, which means they have reason to believe investigators withheld information from a judge or intentionally lied in order to get the search warrant approved.
Their filing, which is more than 130 pages, have questioned the validity of the search warrant and is pushing for Allen to be moved to a different facility, in a separate motion.
It claims that a report by the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit found the ‘individual(s) responsible for the homicides were involved in Nordic beliefs.’
Abby was seen in a Snapchat video posted by her friend Libby in February 2017, moments before both were murdered
Libby’s iPhone was discovered under her body in 2017, and contained the 43-second video that helped investigators piece the case together.
Search warrants show that investigators searched Allen’s home in Delphi, including outbuildings, a shed and his car, looking for firearms and knives.
They also scoured the home for electronic devices, clothing and a specific cell phone.
Law enforcement recovered numerous items, including boots, multiple knives and sweatshirts, multiple cell phones, an iPod, a hard drive, laptop and other electronics.
An affidavit released in November 2022 shows that an unspent .40 caliber round was found between the teenagers’ bodies, and it was later linked to Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226 firearm through forensic evidence.
Prosecutors believe the gun links Allen directly to the case, after forensics determined a bullet found next to the girl’s bodies had cycled through his gun.
Kathy Allen also confirmed to police that her husband owned several guns and knives, as well as a blue Carhartt jacket similar to the one worn by ‘Bridge Guy.’
He has pleaded not guilty to both counts of murder, his defense attorney Andrew Baldwin previously said Allen was the ‘wrong guy’ and the sealed probable cause affidavit is ‘flimsy’ adding: ‘You expect more than what I saw.’
Prosecutors have not named any potential accomplices. Ron Logan, who died in 2022, had long been the prime suspect in the killings after the girls’ bodies were found on his property, and Kegan Kline was also named as a possible murderer.
Both girls’ bodies were discovered on Logan’s property – just 1,400ft from his house – and it was revealed over the summer that his alibi for the day of the murder did not line up.
His home was searched and he was arrested shortly after the killings, but he was released and never charged.
The voice in a clip released by police of a man talking to the girls shortly before their deaths was described as being ‘not inconsistent’ with that of Logan, the FBI investigation concluded.
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