4 weeks ago
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[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
The Delphi Murders trial is less than a week in, and it’s already gut-wrenching.
Richard Allen is on trial for the infamous 2017 murders of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German, and 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams in Delphi. It’s been a long road to get here, 5 years before police even named a suspect, and 2 years now since Allen was charged.
For a refresher, the two girls were dropped off at the Delphi Historic Trails in Delphi, Indiana by Libby’s older sister on February 13, 2017. The girls captured some grainy footage of a man walking toward them, found later on one’s phone. The girls themselves were never seen alive again. Their bodies were later found about a half a mile from the trail on the bank of Deer Creek. Police confirmed the girls were victims of homicide but have kept silent about specifics.
Now we’re learning more than ever before — right as the jury hears it.
Related: Man Killed Woman At Work After Becoming ‘Obsessed’ That She Took ‘Long Breaks’
On Monday, the third day of the trial, the court heard from Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputy Darron Giancola, the first to arrive on the scene, and Sgt. Jason Page, an Indiana State Police crime scene investigator. The state entered over 40 crime scene photos, which they showed the jury. And from what we’ve heard they were horrifying. Brace yourselves for some descriptions, per ABC News and Fox59…
The girls were found 3-5 feet from one another. Abby’s body was still dressed, Libby’s clothes were gone. The bodies had some branches laid over them. Both girls suffered lacerations to their throats. There were blood stains all over both of them, as well on the ground and on nearby trees. A closeup photo of Libby’s slashed throat was shown.
The girls’ families cried, multiple jurors gasped. Allen reportedly did not flinch.
On Wednesday it got worse. Dr. Roland Kohr, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on the girls, took the stand. For the first time, he revealed publicly the cause of death for the girls. Both bled to death from their wounds.
Dr. Kohr showed close, detailed photos of the girls’ gaping neck wounds. According to DailyMail.com, a male juror turned red and put his head in his hands. A female juror drew her hand reflexively to her mouth in shock at the images. The court was told no photos of the internal examinations of the eighth graders would be shown — and a female voice was heard blurting out, “Oh thank God.”
Kohr described the killings as clinically as possible, revealing Abby had only sustained one cut, the slash to her throat. The cut was less than an inch deep, just enough to partially cut her jugular vein. Sadly this meant, said the doctor, her death would have been slow. He said the young girl would have taken 5-10 minutes to bleed out, during which she would have “felt pain” and panic, going into “fight or flight mode.”
The killer seemingly took more time with Libby. She had four or five deep cuts to the neck, partially severing her left carotid artery and fully severing both her right carotid and jugular vein. She would have bled out faster, but not instantaneously either unfortunately. The doctor testified swelling in her brain showed she survived a long time. Her hands were covered in blood, suggesting she desperately tried to stop the bleeding.
There were no signs of sexual trauma. That doesn’t mean no sexual activity occurred, the pathologist clarified. Remember, Libby’s clothes were gone.
Faint red lines on Abby’s chin and mouth suggested to forensic experts that her mouth had been bound with something like duct tape.
There’s still so much more to come from this trial as the prosecution walk the jury through their theory of the case, why they believe Allen committed these heinous acts. He’ll then get his chance to try to refute their evidence, give his own theory of the crime. Though as we learned last month he won’t be able to bring up the theory that the girls were killed by an Odinist Nazi cult. Though from the sound of the crime scene photos and injuries, we haven’t heard any of the “ritualistic” stuff that theory was based on.
The trial will continue all week.
[Image via FBI/Cass County Jail.]
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