Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen loses attorneys ahead of trial
It marks the latest twist in the tragic 2017 murders of Libby German and Abby Williams
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Richard Allen’s defence attorneys have quit the high-profile Delphi murders case amid a scandal over the leak of graphic crime scene photos.
Graphic photos of the scene where teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams were found brutally murdered in February 2017 have been circulating among members of a social media community, The Murder Sheet podcast revealed this week.
In a bombshell twist, it emerged that the leak allegedly originated from a man close to the defence team representing Mr Allen – the 51-year-old local man now charged with the murders.
Now, Mr Allen’s attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi have withdrawn from the case – throwing the trial into disarray.
A brief court hearing was held in Allen County, Indiana, on Thursday, where Special Judge Fran Gull was set to preside over several matters including the leak of the images.
Within minutes of the hearing starting, the judge said that Mr Allen’s attorneys had both withdrawn from the case, leaving the accused killer without legal representation.
“We’ve had an unexpected turn of events, ladies and gentlemen,” said Judge Gull.
“Earlier this afternoon, the defence attorneys have withdrawn their representation of Mr Allen.”
Mr Baldwin made an oral motion to withdraw from the case, while Mr Rozzi will be submitting a written motion to withdraw.
The scheduled trial date of 8 January 2024 will now almost certainly be delayed, as the married father-of-two will need to be assigned a new set of public defenders to represent him.
It marks the latest twist in the tragic case which began in 2017 when Libby German and Abby Williams were found brutally murdered on a walk along the Monon High Bridge in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana.
In October 2022 – over five years later – Mr Allen was arrested and charged with their murders.
Who are the attorneys who ditched the Delphi murder suspect?
Richard Allen’s defence attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi have represented him since November 2022.
The team withdrew their representation just before the hearing.
It happened just hours after defence attorney David Hennessy filed a memorandum on behalf of Baldwin, arguing he should be able to remain counsel to Allen following a reported evidence leak.
Back in early October, a photo had circulated on social media showing a tree with what was claimed to be markings etched with Libby’s blood. These photos have not been verified.
The Murder Sheet podcasters – journalist Áine Cain and attorney Kevin Greenlee – told The Independent that days later, on the morning of 5 October, a source sent them a “number of graphic crime scene pictures and other images that are part of the discovery in the case”.
Not knowing where the leak originated from, they said that they contacted both Mr Allen’s attorneys and law enforcement to report the leak.
After that, they learned that the photos had been shared with the source by an individual allegedly connected to Mr Allen’s attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi.
The man was a close friend of Mr Baldwin and previously worked as an employee at his law firm, the podcasters said.
However, he had never worked on the Delphi case and left the firm years ago.
The individual died by suicide last week after a police investigation into the leak was launched.
Judge ordered new counsel to be appointed for Richard Allen
The judge in the Delphi murder case said the motion filed by the defence attorneys to withdraw was unexpected.
She ordered new counsel to be appointed for Allen.
He should have new representation by the next court date on 31 October.
Who is Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen?
The 50-year-old married man was arrested and charged in connection with the 2017 Delphi murders of teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams.
Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody 26 October and booked into Carroll County Jail on two counts of murder.
His arrest marked a bombshell development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi and had gone unsolved for more than half a decade.
Before Mr Allen’s attorneys quit on 19 October, they previously claimed that their client was innocent and that the victims died at the hands of a pagan white nationalist cult.
Rachel Sharp reports...
Who is Richard Allen, the man charged over the 2017 Delphi murders?
Richard Allen is a married 50-year-old man who worked in the local CVS store in the heart of Delphi – where Libby German and Abby Williams lived with their families
Richard Allen’s wife cried after court hearing was canceled
Two family members were in the courtroom for Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen, local media reported.
His wife and another woman waited in a room filled with media and the victims’ families before the judge announced the hearing would be canceled after Mr Allen’s attorneys withdrew from the case.
Mr Allen’s wife was brought from the courtroom to the hallway and then back to the courtroom where she was visibly crying.
What happened to the Delphi murder victims Libby and Abby?
Libby German and Abby Williams vanished on 13 February 2017 after they set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana.
Libby had posted photos on Snapchat of her and Abby along the trail. The happy image of the two best friends is believed to be the last photo of them before they died. Their bodies were discovered the next day in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.
Libby also captured a grainy video on her phone of a man dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge.
Investigators released a grainy image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: “Go down the hill.”
Investigators have long suspected that this man is the girls’ killer and have praised the girls for documenting the video as evidence.
Delphi murder suspect spoke with police years before he was arrested
Mr Allen spoke with investigators at least twice, including in 2017 - confirming that he was on the police radar at the time of the murders.
In the 2017 interview, Mr Allen had confessed to being on the Monon High Bridge Trail on the afternoon of 13 February – placing him on the scene at the same day and time that the victims went on their fateful walk.
At the time, he denied any involvement in the murders and insisted he had never seen the two girls that day.
In another interview on 13 October 2022, Mr Allen had “no explanation” as to how the spent bullet ended up in between the bodies of the two teenage victims, the affidavit states.
The accused killer said he had “not been on the property where the unspent round was found, that he did not know the property owner, and that he had no explanation as to why a round cycled through his firearm would be at that location,” it says. The property owner – Ron Logan – was also previously tied to the case. He died in 2020.
Podcasters helped uncover key details in the Delphi murders
The Murder Sheet podcast uncovered key details in the 2017 murders of Libby German and Abby Williams.
Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee met while both working on the case and, after falling in love and marrying, decided to launch a podcast in November 2020 delving into their shared interest.
Here’s what they discovered:
Meet the couple whose podcast paved the way for justice in the Delphi murders
The Murder Sheet uncovered key details in the 2017 murders of Libby German and Abby Williams. With an arrest finally made, the husband and wife team behind the podcast speak to Rachel Sharp about the breakthrough and why they don’t see themselves as ‘true crime’ podcasters
What is Odinism?
Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen made the bombshell claim that teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams were killed as part of a “ritualistic sacrifice” at the hands of a white nationalist cult called Odinists.
The nature of the crime scene pointed to the work of a cult from the get-go, according to the 135-page document.
“Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists,ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” according to court documents.
Libby and Abby’s bodies had both been staged with tree branches and sticks across their bodies in the shape of pagan symbols, the documents state – which “resembled possible Odinism signatures left behind at the crime scene”.
Read more:
Delphi murders suspect claims victims were ‘sacrificed’ by Odinism cult
In sensational court documents, attorneys for the accused killer claim the brutal 2017 murders were actually carried out by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group called Odinists