Delphi killings: Timeline of events in Richard Allen case

DELPHI, Ind. (NewsNation) — The deaths of Indiana teens Libby German and Abby Williams shocked the country and changed their families and their small Midwest town forever.

German, 14, and Williams, 13, ventured out on a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail on Feb. 13, 2017, but never returned home.

Their disappearance sparked a community-wide search for the girls. Investigators discovered the girl’s bodies the following day near the Monon High Bridge, just outside their hometown of Delphi, Indiana.

Five years after their death, police arrested Richard Allen in connection to the killings.

However, with an evidence leak, several legal filings, the removal and reinstating of the original court-appointed defense team and other delays in the Delphi murder case, Allen’s trial is expected to begin in October 2024.

Despite his 2022 arrest, Allen had talked to police in 2017 and told them he had been on the bridge the day of the girls’ disappearance. 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: German and Williams set out for a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail, where they are last seen.

“They just got out of the car and walked down the trail to go to High Bridge,” German’s older sister said. “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 to the social media site Snapchat. It was a picture of the Monon High Bridge.

2:07 p.m.: German posted a photo of Williams, her friend and hiking partner, walking across the historic bridge.

That post was the last correspondence from either of them. Hours passed and nobody could get in contact with the girls. They were then reported missing.

Feb. 14, 2017: Law enforcement and volunteers began a search for girls, canvassing areas. Their bodies were found in a rugged area near a hiking trail one day after they vanished while walking on that trail near the Monon High Bridge.

Feb. 15, 2017: Law enforcement confirmed that the two bodies discovered were those of German and Williams. State police released images discovered on German’s phone to the public, saying they were believed to be of the suspected killer.

Delphi killings investigation begins

Feb. 22, 2017: Indiana State Police released an audio recording to the public of a male voice saying, “Down the hill.”

Feb. 25, 2017: ISP and FBI investigators executed a search warrant linked to account “anthony_shots.” Their investigation led them to Miami County, according to court documents that have been heavily redacted. 

They eventually found a man identified as Kegan Anthony Kline. Kline told police he’d used social media accounts to talk to underage girls, contacting both people he knew and didn’t know. He told police he would find girls on Instagram and then ask them to talk to him on Snapchat. 

According to Kline, he exchanged messages with more than a dozen underage girls and received pictures from them. Kline said he had about 100 pictures from underage girls that were sexual in nature, in addition to about 20 sexually explicit videos. 

It was later revealed Kline’s profile had communicated with German.

July 17, 2017: Police released the first sketch of what the potential suspect could look like.

April 22, 2019: A new sketch of a suspect was released by police along with video and extended audio. Police clarified the second image was not the same man as in the previous sketch.

August 2020: Kline was charged with 30 felonies, including possession of child pornography, child exploitation, obstruction of justice, child solicitation and synthetic identity deception, according to online court records. 

Dec. 6, 2021: Indiana State Police released information in their investigation into the Delphi killings, appealing to the public for tips about a person tied to a social media account. It was later revealed that the profile communicated with German.

Dec. 20, 2021: Kline, whose name has become linked to the investigation into the Delphi murders, appeared in court for a pretrial hearing on 30 counts of child pornography in Miami County.

It is important to note 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 local affiliate WXIN that a man was booked in the Carroll County, Indiana, jail in connection with the Delphi homicide investigation. The outlet reported that the man, Richard Allen, was moved to a state facility for his safety.

Oct. 31, 2022: Allen was officially arrested in connection with the killings of German and Williams.

Allen pleaded not guilty and remained at the White County Jail where he was detained without bond, Carroll County District Attorney Nicholas McLeland said.

It marked the first time the tight-knit community of Delphi received possible answers to the case.

Nov. 1, 2022: German’s grandmother said Allen worked at CVS and had printed photos for the girls’ funerals.

Nov. 22, 2022: Allen was granted a bail hearing and a prosecutor said in court that Allen may 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 a man they interviewed five years earlier in connection with the deaths.

A redacted version of an affidavit was released that outlined why police suspected Allen in connection with the deaths of German and Williams.

March 30, 2023: Kline pleaded guilty to child exploitation charges.

Delphi killings suspect Richard Allen claims mistreatment

April 6, 2023: Allen’s legal team, attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, filed an emergency motion to modify his safekeeping order, claiming the suspected killer was not being treated like other detainees.

June 13, 2023: Allen’s defense team filed a motion to suppress certain evidence from the case. At the time, the motion was under seal, but the court revealed it involved ballistics.

June 15, 2023: Allen appeared in court for what was supposed to be a bail hearing. Ultimately, the judge heard arguments over covering several issues, including a motion filed by Allen’s attorney to keep certain evidence from coming out at trial.

Prosecutors stated that Allen confessed five or six times to the murders, but his attorneys said he couldn’t be trusted due to his mental state. Along those lines, Allen’s attorneys also asked that he be moved from the Westville Correctional Facility to a county jail, citing a decline in the man’s physical and mental health.

June 16, 2023: Allen’s defense team claimed the suspect’s mental and physical state was getting worse in isolation.

Evidence revealed in unsealed Delphi court docs

June 29, 2023: Allen County Judge Frances Gull unsealed 118 documents in the case against Allen.

Allen allegedly told his wife and mother “no less than five times” that he was responsible for killing German and Williams. The records also revealed that investigators believed a knife was used in the killings.

July 27, 2023: Kline was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to child exploitation and child pornography charges, according to WRTV.

Odinist cult killing theory unfolds

Sept. 18, 2023: Baldwin and Rozzi announced a conspiracy-fueled alternative theory to the Delphi murders that not only didn’t involve their client but invoked a ritualistic murder seeped in the occult.

While the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office deemed the Odinist cult killing theory “unfounded” with “absolutely no proof,” Baldwin and Rozzi pointed out that investigators spoke with key suspects whom the defense team believed were at the center of the cult theory.

Sept. 26, 2024: McLeland responded to Allen’s defense team’s 136-page memorandum that laid out an alternative theory that linked the Delphi murders, calling the alternative theory “a fanciful defense for social media to devour” that isn’t supported by evidence.

Oct. 3, 2023: In a court filing, the defense team said it believed investigators reopened their investigation into the theory that German and Williams were killed in a ritualistic sacrifice.

Delphi crime scene photos, evidence leaked

Oct. 5, 2023: Evidence related to German and Williams’ deaths, including crime scene photos, were leaked online and distributed to YouTube and podcast content creators.

Oct. 9, 2023: Mitch Westerman reportedly contacted Baldwin and admitted to being behind the leak, claiming he stopped by the law firm’s office and found evidence photos related to the Delphi case spread out in Baldwin’s conference room.

Westerman admitted to using his phone to take photographs of the evidence and then sharing those photos with a Fishers, Indiana man. Investigators determined the Fishers man then shared the evidence with a man from Texas who, in turn, forwarded the evidence to various YouTube and podcast creators.

According to court documents, the Fishers man ended up killing himself after being questioned by police about the evidence leak.

Westerman said in a sworn statement that Baldwin did not give him permission to take photographs of the crime scene evidence he found in the conference room of the law firm’s office. He also said Baldwin was not present in the conference room when he took the photos.

Delphi lawyers Baldwin and Rozzi ‘withdraw’ from case

Oct. 19, 2023: Gull announced Baldwin and Rozzi were “voluntarily withdrawing” from the case in response to the evidence leak from their office earlier in the month.

The decision, which the judge called a “very unexpected turn of events,” meant some parts of the pretrial process would return to square one as Allen awaited a new legal team.

Oct. 26, 2023: Baldwin and Rozzi filed several motions with the Indiana Supreme Court, claiming they were removed from the murder case by Gull in the aftermath of the evidence leak.

Rozzi claimed Gull “ambushed” the defense with allegations of “gross negligence” during a conference in her Fort Wayne chambers.

The lawyers asked the Supreme Court to review Gull’s handling of the case, accusing her of violating public access by keeping some filings a secret.

Oct. 27, 2023: Attorney Robert Scremin and Attorney William S. Lebrato were appointed to Allen’s case as contract public defenders.

Oct. 30, 2023: Hundreds of documents filed with the Indiana Supreme Court revealed details from the evidence leak, including email chains that confirmed the death of an individual involved in the crime scene leak.

Baldwin and Rozzi filed paperwork to represent Allen pro bono if they are not reinstated as his public defenders. Allen asked the Indiana Supreme Court to weigh in, requesting his old defense team to represent him.

Indiana Supreme Court gets involved in Richard Allen murder case

Oct. 31, 2023: Gull, who’d earlier expressed skepticism at meeting the January date, pushed Allen’s trial back, setting a new date of October 2024.

Nov. 6, 2023: Baldwin and Rozzi’s attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to remove Gull from the case.

Nov. 16, 2023: Gull responded to the Indiana Supreme Court, saying Allen’s claim of not having access to all documents related to the case has no merit and that he has not been hindered in any way from accessing them.

She expanded, saying that Allen and his attorneys were incorrect and had complete access to all documents filed in the case, both sealed and unsealed.

This comes as a letter from Westville Correctional Facility inmate Robert Baston, claiming that Allen “was being abused and mistreated,” was obtained by the public, according to WISH. It was previously sealed from the public.

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 was accused of taking photos at Baldwin’s office and disseminating them to a source who then leaked them on social media.

Jan. 12, 2024: Allen’s new defense team asked the state to transfer him to a new prison after the suspect claimed mistreatment at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. The new attorneys claimed the mistreatment impacted their ability to represent him in court.

Jan 18, 2024: The Indiana Supreme Court reinstated Allen’s original defense team after they were removed from his case last fall. Lebrato and Scremin later filed a motion to remove themselves from Allen’s case. The justices also denied a motion to remove Gull from the case.

McLeland filed additional murder and kidnapping charges against Allen.

Allen’s original defense team reinstated

Jan. 28, 2024: Allen’s attorneys filed a new motion seeking to remove Gull from the case, arguing she should be replaced or recuse herself from the proceedings in favor of a different judge.

Jan. 29, 2024: McLeland pushed the court to hold Baldwin and Rozzi in contempt, accusing them of mishandling evidence and making public statements about the case as the court weighed a gag order.

The prosecutor provided 25 points as to why Baldwin and Rozzi’s conduct should be held in contempt, including evidence leaks.

Feb 7, 2024: Allen’s defense team called for the murder charges leveled against him to be thrown out, claiming that interview recordings with “key suspects” were deleted in acts the attorneys call either negligent or intentional. Baldwin and Rozzi filed their motion to dismiss on the grounds of destruction of evidence key to their defense of Allen.

Two key suspects in the defense team’s alternative theory were interviewed by police in the days following the girls’ murders, with at least one of the interviews being specifically noted as being recorded.

Baldwin and Rozzi believed two summary documents of the interviews existed but when they tried to track down the evidence, they found the information had been deleted. The two claimed the deleted interviews were a key part of their defense.

A third attempt to have Special Judge Fran Gull thrown off the case was rejected the same day it was filed.

Allen’s defense team’s continued legal fight

Feb. 8, 2024: Baldwin and Rozzi responded to contempt claims, saying they should be thrown out. Gull denied the motion, asking for Allen to be moved from Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.

Feb. 23, 2024: Prosecutors said the pair of interviews conducted in the days after the Delphi killings were accidentally recorded over at the police but were “not evidence at all related to this case.”

March 6, 2024: Allen’s attorneys filed a motion to move up the date of Allen’s murder trial, requesting it take place within 70 days.

Richard Allen’s murder trial moved up, kidnapping counts dismissed

March 11, 2024: Gull granted the defense team’s request to move up Allen’s murder trial, scheduling court to begin on May 13. Gull blocked off May 13 through May 31 in her motion. 

March 18, 2024: The judge dismissed two counts of kidnapping and Allen waived an initial hearing to dispute the amended charges, which include murder.

Allen’s defense team attempted to slip out of accusations of contempt by arguing the court should focus on the upcoming trial instead of ancillary proceedings.

Richard Allen’s murder trial pushed back

May 7, 2024: Gull reset Allen’s trial dates for the murders of German and Williams for Oct. 14 through Nov. 15 in Carroll County. The trial was previously scheduled to begin May 13, but his defense attorneys had sought more time to prepare.

There will be three days of pretrial evidence hearings May 21-23 in Carroll County.

The Associated Press, NewsNation affiliate WXIN and WXIN writer Matt Christy contributed to this report.