Grandmother of Delphi murder victim speaks out after arrest of Richard Allen: ‘Where do we go from here?’

Richard Allen, a married pharmaceutical technician who currently works at the local CVS store in Delphi, was arrested on Friday in connection to the 2017 case

The grandmother of one of the Delphi murder victims has spoken out after a 50-year-old local man was finally arrested more than five years on from the 2017 killings.

Becky Patty, the grandmother of Libby German, shared a heartbreaking Facebook post on Saturday where she said that her family now has a “very difficult path” ahead of them and questioned: “Where do we go from here?”

“I guess I am kind of at a loss. Every morning I get up - get my coffee - and start looking for which photo will be the today is the day post,” she said.

“Now I sit here not needing to do it because at long last we have a face to go with our monster. I sit here wondering - now what. Where do we go from here? I realize our lives have again made a big change - we have a very difficult path to start down.

“It is a path we will gladly face as we know each step taken is one step closer to our monster being convicted. Knowing that makes that walk so much easier.”

Ms Patty went on to thank people for their support after the case rumbled on for more than half a decade with no arrests made and no one held accountable for the murders of her granddaughter and her best friend Abby Williams.

“I want to thank everyone who has supported and prayed for our girls daily for 51/2 years - who never gave up!” she said.

“Who grew to love them. I know they are smiling down on the world today knowing it is now a little bit safer. Thank you.”

On Friday, both Ms Patty and Libby’s sister Kelsi German posted online that “today is the day” as it emerged that a man had been arrested in connection to the murders.

Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody at around midnight and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.

It is currently unclear what the accusations against Mr Allen consist of but law enforcement sources have described it as a “major development” in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi.

A state-issued photo of Mr Allen, obtained by Fox 59, reveals that the 50-year-old bears some likeness to the police sketches of the suspect which were released to the public over the course of the investigation.

Libby German and Abby Williams were killed after heading off on a walk in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana (AP)

Mr Allen, a married pharmaceutical technician who currently works at the local CVS store, had never before been publicly linked to the murders.

Shocked local residents told Fox 59 that he always seemed “just like a normal guy”.

Mr Allen appears to have no prior criminal record though jail records list him as also going by the alias of Craigh Ross Rentfrow.

Indiana State Police plan to hold a press conference on Monday morning to provide an update on the case that has gone unsolved for more than half a decade.

Best friends Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana, back on 13 February 2017.

The teenagers failed to show up when a family member arrived to pick them up later that day and they were reported missing.

The next day – Valentine’s Day 2017 – their bodies were discovered in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.

For years, police have refused to say how the girls died and have revealed few details about the crime scene.

Investigators have long been searching for a man captured on Libby’s cellphone before she died.

A grainy video shows a man dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge.

Investigators released a still image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: “Go down the hill.”

Richard Allen was arrested on Friday in connection to the murders (Indiana State Police)

Prior to capturing the man believed to be their killer, Libby had also posted a photo on Snapchat of the girls walking along the bridge.

The killer is believed to have moved and staged the victims’ bodies, before taking some sort of souvenir from the scene, according to a search warrant application filed by an FBI agent in 201.

The partly redacted document, obtained by podcast The Murder Sheet and shared with The Independent back in May, was to carry out a search on the home of a local man Ronald Logan.

It revealed that the girls had lost “a lot” of blood during their deaths and had been killed by some type of weapon, with the word redacted. The murderer would have been covered in the victims’ blood in the aftermath of the slayings due to the “large amount of blood was lost by the victims at the crime scene”, it reads.

Mr Logan owned the land on which Libby and Abby’s bodies were found and his home was just 1,400 feet from the crime scene. He also allegedly lied about where he was at the time that the teenagers disappeared, claiming he was out of the area with a friend when cellphone location data actually placed him in the area around the trail.

Mr Logan was never charged and he died in 2020.

It is not clear what information has led to Mr Allen’s arrest now, more than five years on from the 2017 slayings.

This grainy image was taken on Libby’s phone on the trail the day the girls went missing. Investigators believe the man is the killer (Indiana State Police)

In August, Indiana State Police were spotted searching the Wabash River in Peru – around 40 minutes east of Delphi – in connection to the case.

Investigators have also been seeking information about an online catfishing account which is believed to have been in communication with one of the victims around the time of their deaths.

Kegan Anthony Kline, a 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru, allegedly confessed to using the fake social media account @anthony_shots to groom underage girls online and get them to send him nude photos and to arrange to meet him.

Kline’s home was also searched on suspicion of child porn charges just two weeks after the 2017 murders.

He has denied any involvement in the murders.

In December, Indiana State Police announced details of the fake account to the public and urged anyone who had communicated with, met, or attempted to meet the individual posing as @anthony_shots to come forward with information.