Delphi murderer Richard Allen's chilling reaction when confronted with evidence that cracked the case
Delphi murderer Richard Allen gave a chilling, tell-tale reaction when he was confronted with the bombshell evidence that ultimately cracked the case wide open, it has been revealed. Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett told Dateline, in an exclusive clip obtained by DailyMail.com, that the local CVS worker bristled and became nervous when he was shown the now-infamous image of Bridge Guy captured by Libby German and Abby Williams in the moments before they were killed. The new details about the case that rocked the tight-knit Indiana town and hit headlines across the country come just days after a judge struck down Allen's bid to have his conviction reexamined, over an alleged jailhouse confession by another person of interest.Allen, a 52-year-old married man with a daughter, was convicted in November of the brutal 2017 murders of the teenage best friends.Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, went missing on February 13 2017 after setting off for a walk together along the remote Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi.Their bodies were found the next day - Valentine's Day - around half a mile off the trail, close to Deer Creek. Both of their throats had been slashed. The high-profile case hinged on a harrowing video the teenage best friends managed to capture of their killer on Libby's cellphone. In the grainy footage, the man is seen skulking towards them and ordering the girls: ‘Guys, down the hill.' The high-profile case hinged on a harrowing video the teenage best friends managed to capture of their killer on Libby's cellphone Libby German (left) and Abby Williams (right) set off on a walk along the Monon High Bridge trail in Delphi, Indiana, on February 13 2017 and never returnedThe identity of the man in the video - known as Bridge Guy - remained a mystery for more than five years before Allen was finally arrested and charged with the girls' murders in October 2022. Now, eight years on from the murders and two months after Allen was sentenced to 130 years in prison in December, Liggett has spoken to Dateline - in an episode airing at 9pm ET Friday - about the investigation.In a clip from the new episode ‘A Walk Through the Woods’, obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Liggett revealed how Allen’s behavior instantly set off alarm bells when he first interviewed him in October 2022.Liggett said he had shown Allen the image of Bridge Guy and the 52-year-old local man bristled and insisted he was not the man in the video.He also claimed he had never seen Abby or Libby at the trail day and changed his timeline to claim he had actually been at the trail earlier in the day - meaning they would not have crossed paths.But Liggett told Dateline’s Andrea Canning that he confronted Allen with the fact this new timeline contradicted surveillance footage from a nearby store which placed Allen's black car in the area around the very same time the girls went missing.Confronted with these details, the killer’s demeanor continued to change.‘He was abrasive about it and said, you, you don't know that that's not my car and things like that,’ Liggett said. Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett told Dateline, in an exclusive clip obtained by DailyMail.com, that the local CVS worker bristled and became nervous when he was shown the now-infamous image of 'Bridge Guy'The sheriff said Allen then grew nervous.The interview ultimately ended and Allen, who was not under arrest at the time, was free to leave.Later that day, investigators obtained a search warrant and swooped on Allen’s home.Indiana State Police investigator Jerry Holeman told Dateline that the search revealed Allen ‘had a lot of knives’ and ‘a lot of clothing that matched the description’ of Bridge Guy.During Allen's trial, jurors heard how a 'Bridge Guy starter kit' including blue jeans and a Carhartt jacket matching the outfit seen on the man in the video was found inside the home he shared with his wife Kathy. Investigators also found a Sig Sauer Model P226 pistol which Allen said only he had access to. Ballistics experts determined that a bullet found next to the victims' bodies had been cycled through that pistol.Days after the search, Allen was charged with the murders of Libby and Abby.The October 2022 interview marked something of a break in the case that had gone unsolved for more than five years. Richard Allen leaves the Carroll County Courthouse in December after being sentenced to 130 years in prison for the 2017 murdersJust days after the murders in February 2017, Allen had initially come forward to law enforcement to admit he was on the trail the day the girls were murdered.But this admission fell through the cracks of the investigation and was never followed up on. Then in 2022, Kathy Shank, a volunteer working with local police came across the lead - prompting investigators to look into Allen and ultimately charge him.Prior to his arrest, Allen had never been publicly tied to the case while a number of other local men had fallen under suspicion.Following his arrest, Allen confessed to murdering the girls a staggering 61 times behind bars including in jailhouse phone calls to his wife and mom.In one damning confession presented at trial, Allen revealed information that only the killer could have known. He said he had planned to take the girls into the woods to rape them but was startled by a white van driving past and so quickly killed them, jurors heard.The man in the white van testified that he drove home from work at around 2.30pm that afternoon, to his property close to Deer Creek. Indiana State Police investigator Jerry Holeman told Dateline that the search revealed Allen ‘had a lot of knives’ and ‘a lot of clothing that matched the description’ of Bridge Guy Crime scene photo shows Libby's phone on the ground at the scene of the murdersThis matched the time that Libby's cellphone last recorded movement - and came just minutes after the 'Bridge Guy' video was recorded - and so this is believed to be the time when the girls were killed.Despite his series of confessions, Allen pleaded not guilty and his defense team continues to fight against his conviction.Last week, his bid to have his conviction reexamined was dismissed by Judge Fran Gull.In court documents filed in January, Allen's attorneys argued that his conviction should be overturned due to a series of errors they allege were made by the state.Among them is the claim that another man, Ron Logan, made a detailed confession to killing Libby and Abby while in prison back in 2017.Logan owned the property where the girls were found and his home was searched in 2017. He lied about his alibi on the day of the murders and was once a person of interest in the case. He was never charged and died in 2022.On February 18, Gull denied the defense motions without a hearing. Prior to his trial, Allen's attorneys had also pointed at a group of other men and accused them of being the killers. The Monon High Bridge seen in February 2017 days after the shocking murders of the teenage best friends Police tape blocks access to the trail and creek in Delphi on Thursday February 16 2017, two days after the girls' bodies were foundIn court documents filed ahead of the trial, Allen's legal team claimed Libby and Abby were actually murdered as part of a 'ritualistic sacrifice' by a white nationalist cult called Odinists - even publicly naming four individuals as the killers. Those four men have never been named as suspects or persons of interest and have never charged in connection to the case.As part of the shocking theory, Allen's defense pointed to sticks found on the victims' bodies, claiming they were arranged specifically into Pagan symbols. The judge blocked the defense from introducing the Odinism theory into Allen's trial.The defense was also blocked from introducing any other alternative suspects including Logan and Kegan Kline, a convicted pedophile who had been speaking to Libby online before the murders, at trial.The case took a series of other twists - including the shocking leak of graphic crime scene photos - before finally going to trial in the fall.At trial, the cellphone video of Bridge Guy played a crucial role in the case.Abby's mom Anna Williams told DailyMail.com earlier this month - on what marked the first anniversary of the murders since their killer was brought to justice - that the bravery of Libby and Abby to capture the video is the one thing she is grateful for about that devastating day. Libby posted this photo on Snapchat of Abby walking along the bridge not long before they were murdered Libby and Abby (pictured together) helped lead cops to their killer with their cellphone video 'I was always very grateful that the girls stayed together,' she said.'And whether or not things turned out the way we would have hoped, resolutions came about because of how they were that day and how they stayed together.'Both of their actions helped us get to solving their crime.'While she is glad that Abby and Libby's killer is now behind bars, she said that Allen's conviction still doesn't bring a sense of closure. 'I think we're led to believe that we'll feel some kind of way about it and honestly it's still just very raw,' Williams said. 'Getting answers and justice and closure are not the same thing.'Dateline’s 'A Walk Through the Woods' Airs Friday, February 21 at 9pm ET/8pm CT
