Delphi murders suspect's confessions to wife, mother sounded 'calm,' expert says: 'Not what I expected'
An Indiana-based journalist and podcaster, who has been covering the 2017 murders of two girls, known as the Delphi murders, said suspect Richard Allen's various confessions to his wife played aloud in court were not what she "expected."
Allen, 52, who is charged with murdering 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams while they were walking on a hiking trail in Delphi on Feb. 13, 2017, apparently made more than 60 incriminating statements to a prison psychologist and made more confessions to his wife and mother in recorded jailhouse calls.
"Richard Allen's recorded confessions to his wife and mother were not what I expected. He did not sound hysterical or agitated as he confessed repeatedly. He sounded calm, conversational, and determined to convince his family that he had murdered two children," journalist Áine Cain, who co-hosts "The Murder Sheet" podcast with Indiana-based attorney Kevin Greenlee, told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He seemed particularly interested in receiving assurance from family members that they would love him no matter what."
Among Allen's confessions made between 2022 and 2023, Allen said the following to his wife, Kathy, according to FOX 59 Indianapolis.
DELPHI MURDERS SUSPECT CONFESSED TO KILLING 2 GIRLS ON HIKING TRAIL IN SMALL TOWN, PRISON DOC SAYS
"I’m sorry, baby. It’s just one more thing I f----- up for you."
"I killed Abby and Libby."
"I think I did it.
"I need to tell you something anyway. I need you to know that I did this."
"I did it. Kathy, I did it. Do you still love me?"
Kathy often responded by telling her husband that he "didn't" kill the two girls, telling Allen in one conversation, "They are messing with your mind."
"You can't call me and talk like this," she told Allen in another call.
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Former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers Neama Rahmani said Allen's confessions were "the most damning" evidence in his case.
"There wasn't just one. We're talking about 60 confessions over a period of time. And although Allen may have confessed to things that he didn't do, such as molesting his daughter, he did tell his wife at some point that even though he made some false confessions, that the killings of Libby and Abby were real," Rahmani said.
The recorded confessions were played in a Carroll County courtroom on Oct. 31, after the court heard testimony about his other confessions to Dr. Monica Wala on Oct. 30.
"I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry," Allen allegedly told Wala – the lead psychologist for the Indiana Department of Correction – in prison, according to her testimony on Wednesday during Allen's double murder trial, as FOX 59 Indianapolis reported.
The prison psychologist testified that Allen's intentions in targeting Abby and Libby were "sexual" in nature, and he admitted to being a sex addict. Allen also told Wala that he was an alcoholic, as well as both a victim and perpetrator of sexual assault, according to FOX 59.
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In a May phone call with his wife, Allen apparently told her, "I didn’t do everything I said I did, but I killed Abby and Libby," at which point his wife hung up on him, according to Wala's testimony.
Wala told the court on Wednesday that Allen had followed Abby and Libby on the Monon High Bridge Trail on Feb. 13, 2017, and ordered them "down the hill," where he intended to rape them.
Allen allegedly told Wala he was spooked by something – either a man or a van – at which point he decided to brutally murder the two girls, slashing their necks and covering their bodies with tree branches in a wooded area just a short distance from the popular hiking trail, the psychologist said in court.
"The confession to Dr. Monica Wala is of particular interest because of its level of detail and the fact that Allen claims he was interrupted by a van," Cain told Fox News Digital of Wala's testimony. "Resident Brad Weber, who lives by the bridge, testified that he would have driven a van home that day around the time of the kidnapping."
Cain said she was also "struck by how similar" Allen's voice is to the voice that ordered Abby and Libby "down the hill" on the High Monon Bridge Trail, otherwise known as "Bridge Guy."
"That being said, that is not admissible evidence. Experts require more than four words to do any sort of analysis. And Bridge Guy was only recorded saying ‘Guys, down the hill,’" Cain added.
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On cross-examination, Wala admitted to being a fan of true crime content, including podcasts and online discussions about the Delphi case, which she said she followed closely prior to working at the prison where Allen was being held. Wala even traveled to the scene of the crime near the High Monon Bridge at one point, she testified.
"When Allen confessed to killing the two girls, he confessed to being the person on the Snapchat video saying, ‘Down the hill,'" Rahmani said. "In addition, he also said that he intended to rape the girls but was spooked out by the white van. That was not public information and information that may have only been known to the killer."
Wala also said Allen's behavior in prison was consistent with someone who had a serious mental illness, describing him as having "fatalistic delusions," "hopelessness," "insomnia" and "suicidal ideations."
"Probably the best evidence the defense has to argue is that Allen's confessions were either coerced or false, or really Allen's own actions — eating feces, taking off his clothes, being naked, washing his face in the toilet, eating paper and all the other strange behavior," Rahmani explained. "It's also clear that he's lost significant weight during the time that he's been in prison. So maybe the jurors believe that this was all either due to mental health or some other psychiatric issue. They may set those confessions aside, but it's going to be very tough because there's so many different confessions over such a long period of time."
This week, jurors heard more from experts about Allen's declining mental health in prison since his arrest in 2022, including video evidence showing Allen completely nude in prison or wearing a cloth or hood over his face, according to FOX 59.