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An Indiana man accused of killing two teenage girls in the infamous Delphi murder case may not have acted alone, prosecutors said Tuesday.
CVS worker Richard Matthew Allen, 50, was suddenly charged last month – more than five years after the killing of 14-year-old Libby German and 13-year-old Abby Williams – shocking the small community.
“We believe Richard Allen is not the only actor involved in this,” Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said during a court hearing Tuesday, according to WTHR.
However, few details have since emerged after a judge took the unusual move to seal the probable cause affidavit and charging documents in the case, at the request of McLeland.
Allen, who is married and had no prior criminal record, has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer claims the sealed papers will show there is little evidence against him.
“You’re gonna read that probable cause affidavit, online or wherever they get it, and hopefully that’s gonna ring a bell for somebody to help us out because he is innocent,” said defense attorney Andrew Baldwin, WTHR reported.
“He has told us that very emotionally.”
However, police have shared scant details of the murders and haven’t even disclosed how the teenagers were killed, claiming they have withheld information to protect the investigation.
It could also be the case documents remain sealed because other arrests are coming, a legal expert told The Post.
“That’s definitely a possibility,” Indiana-based attorney Monish Patel said. “He could be the one that’s tattling,”
State law says a suspect could be charged with murder if someone dies while a felony is taking place, even if the accused didn’t directly kill anyone, he noted.
“If you and I go rob a bank and you shoot somebody and kill them while we’re robbing the bank, I’m charged with murder as well,” he explained, adding that sealing records in state cases is rare.
“Maybe they’re still gathering evidence on the guy in question and if they don’t have enough it would compromise their investigation on getting further evidence if it’s out there,’ he said.
“They want to have a slam dunk case against this guy so they want to get all the evidence they can.”
The murders shocked the community in Delphi, a small town of 3,000 about 60 miles outside Indianapolis.
A man in jail on child pornography charges had previously been linked to the killings, though he hasn’t been charged in the case.
Kegan Kline had allegedly made plans through social media to meet Libby at the bridge where she disappeared the night before her death. He has denied having anything to do with the murders.
German and Williams disappeared on Feb. 13, 2017 while on a hike on the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi. They didn’t show up to a pickup location and were found dead the next day in a rugged area off the trail.
Police released part of an eerie cellphone video shot by Libby before her death that showed a man on the railroad bridge saying “down the hill.” A sketch of the suspect based on the video was later released.
Allen had been photographed at a local restaurant with the sketch visible hanging behind him.
He had even developed film for the grieving family without charging them, reports said.
Several news organizations, including the Associated Press, are pushing to make the affidavit public although a petition to keep the records under seal that is supported by the victims’ families has garnered over 41,000 signatures.
With Post wires
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