Condemned Delphi, Indiana, murderer Richard Allen was sentenced to 130 years in prison on Friday for the 2017 murders of two teenage girls, as the victims’ relatives spoke in court.
Allen was given 65 years for each murder, to run consecutively.
Allen, wearing an orange jumpsuit, gray sweatshirt and ankle chains, looked at the empty courtroom seats reserved for his family. None of his relatives were present at the sentencing.
He showed no reaction to his punishment.
Last month, a jury found Allen guilty of all counts of double murder: felony murder for the attempted kidnapping of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams; felony murder for the attempted kidnapping of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German; murder for knowingly killing Abby; and murder, for knowingly killing Libby.
People hug in the courtroom after the verdict was handed down on Nov. 11, 2024, at the Carroll County Courthouse in Delphi, Ind.
Alex Martin/Journal and Courier via USA Today Network via Imagn Images
A gag order restrained the families Abby and Libby From commenting during or after Allen’s trial.
Libby’s grandmother, Becky Patty, broke her silence Friday, saying at the sentencing, “I have never changed my choice to let Libby and Abby walk down the aisle that day.”
“I hope he lives with the same fear that Abby and Libby did in the last hour of their lives,” he said.
Photos of Abby Williams, left, and Libby German, right, at police headquarters in Delphi, Indiana.
Lindsey Jacobson/ABC News, FILE
Libby’s mother, Carrie Timmons, said Allen’s decisions created a “path to destruction.”
“I was blind to the fact that this evil existed,” he said.
An undated photo shows Libby German of Delphi, Ind., who was killed in February 2017.
Courtesy Becky Patty
Timmons said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, guilt and anxiety.
Libby said she would be 22 now, but the family has stopped celebrating her birthday because it’s too difficult.
“She could have taken responsibility,” Libby’s grandfather, Mike Patty, told Allen. “You have to stand up and not appeal.”
Victim Liberty German’s grandfather, Mike Patty, speaks after Richard Allen’s sentencing on Dec. 20, 2024, in Delphi, Ind.
Pool/ABC News
Abby’s grandmother, Diane Erskin, said: “It’s a very sad day for our family. We’re not going home to celebrate with champagne.”
Almost eight years after her grandson was killed, Erskin said, “I’ve seen her friends graduate from college and I wonder how many great-grandchildren were murdered that day, too.”
Erskin said Abby’s last words on Libby’s phone were “don’t leave me up here,” so the grieving grandmother didn’t let herself leave the trial even during tough testimony.
In this undated photo, Anna Williams is seen with her daughter, Abby Williams, who was killed in Delphi, Ind., in February 2017.
Courtesy Anna Williams
Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman called the crime “brutal,” and told the judge that Abby and Libby were stalked, kidnapped, humiliated and “treated like animals.”
“I can’t imagine their fear,” he said.
He called Allen “manipulative and persuasive” and said he “lacks remorse”.
Judge Fran Gull told Allen, “I’ve spent 27 years as a judge and you’re up there with the most heinous crimes in the state of Indiana.”
“That’s where you sit in the extraordinary impact on the family, including the impact of generations,” he said. “These families will forever face your slaughter.”
Richard Allen, 50, Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were charged in February 2017 in Delphi, Ind.
Indiana State Police
“You sit here and roll your eyes at me like you rolled your eyes at me during this trial,” he said.
At a news conference following the sentencing, Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett apologized to the families for the fact that the case took eight years to reach a conclusion.
“There will never be closure in this case,” the sheriff said. “Some form of justice was served, but it doesn’t bring Abby or Libby back. These families will live every day without two of the most important people in their lives. Milestones are missing because a low-life coward decided to take his. innocent lives.”
Flowers lie near a bridge near Delphi, where Liberty German and Abigail Williams were seen before their families reported them missing on February 13, 2017.
Alex Perez/ABC News, Files
Abby and Libby were walking along a mountain trail in Delphi when they were attacked on February 13, 2017. They cut their throats and dumped their bodies in the nearby woods.
Moments before the murders, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat showing her on the Monon High Bridge. After crossing the bridge, the girls saw a man behind them… who was known as the “bridge man”. — and Libby started a recording on her phone, according to prosecutors.
As police hunted for the suspect, they released images taken from Libby’s phone to the public: a grainy image of the “bridge man” and an audio clip of him telling the girls to go “downhill.”
The road in Delphi, Indiana, where Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were killed on February 13, 2017.
ABC News
Allen, a husband and father who worked at the local CVS, He was arrested in 2022.
“He developed the pictures without remorse and he didn’t flinch,” Becky Patty said in court Friday.
Allen admitted to police that he was on the road that day, but denied any involvement in the crime.
A sign for the Monon High Bridge Trail is shown in Delphi, Indiana.
ABC News
The prosecution’s key piece of physical evidence was a .40-caliber round found on the girls’ bodies. Police analysis determined that the unspent round was fired through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226, prosecutors said.
It was another main focus of the trial Allen’s various prison confessions and his mental health at the time. The defense argued that Allen was in a psychotic state when he confessed multiple times to his psychologist, corrections officers and his wife.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
