Judge releases court documents in Delphi murder case

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Allen County Judge Fran Gull released 118 documents pertaining to Richard Allen who was arrested and charged with murder in the deaths of two teens in 2017.

Liberty German and Abigail Williams went missing on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day, Feb. 14, 2017.

CASE BACKGROUND: Indiana drugstore worker held in 2017 killings of teen girls

According to Judge Gull, 19 of the 137 documents will remain sealed. The unsealed documents were posted online here, but court leaders say the system cannot keep up with the download demand.

A gag order was previously issued in the case, but a new order from Judge Gull says Counsel for the State of Indiana agrees that “the public interest is best served by transparency, but that certain pleadings should remain sealed.”

One filing notes that Allen was arrested in October of 2022 and moved to the Westville Correctional Facility the next month. Upon his arrival, documents say he was placed on suicide watch but was later taken off as his mental health improved.

Then in April of 2023, prosecutors say he called his wife and admitted “several times” that he killed the girls.

In the same document, the defense challenges the treatment of Richard Allen as “unconstitutional” while incarcerated. They argue it directly led to his poor mental health.

The document says Allen was “wetting down paperwork” he’d gotten from his attorney’s and eating it, as well as refusing to eat and sleep.

You can read that document below.

21Alive is still reviewing the documents and will update this story accordingly.

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