The former CVS clerk accused of killing two high school girls in 2017 was convicted of murder Monday in a case that shook the small town of Delphi, Indiana.
The jury’s decision came after a four-week trial in which Richard Allen, 52, pleaded not guilty to the February 13, 2017, murder charges of close friends Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14.
Allen will be sentenced on December 20.
A gag order remained in effect after the verdict, NBC affiliate WTHR of Indianapolis reported. A spokesperson for the Indiana State Police, which investigated the killings, declined to comment because of the warrant, the station said.
“This is not over at all,” Allen’s wife tearfully told reporters, WTHR reported.
The jury heard from dozens of witnesses who testified over 17 days. The panel deliberated for four days.
Abigail and Liberty had been hanging out on the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, north of Indianapolis, when prosecutors said Allen used “force and fear” to force them down a hill and slit their throats.
During his closing arguments Thursday, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland identified Allen as “the bridge man” — a man seen in a Snapchat video walking across a then-abandoned bridge along the trail.
The video was captured on Liberty’s cell phone the day of her death and later released by authorities in an effort to identify the man.
“Now all the pieces are clear,” McLeland said, according to WTHR. “Richard Allen is the ‘bridge man’. He kidnapped them and later killed them. He slit their throats. He stole Abby and Libby’s childhood and lives.”
Attorney Brad Rozzi disputed that conclusion, saying witnesses who testified they saw “the bridge man” gave physical descriptions that did not match Allen, the station reported.
Rozzi also described Allen’s repeated confessions of the murder as “false,” the station said.
During an interview with authorities before his arrest in 2022, Allen acknowledged that he had been on the trail the day of the girls’ deaths, but repeatedly denied killing them.
After his arrest, Allen was held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison pending trial. Rozzi attributed the confessions to a mental health crisis.
“When the dust settled, he was there 13 months,” Rozzi said, according to WTHR. “How much can one person endure?”
In addition to the Snapchat video and witness statements, prosecutors pointed to an unused .40 cartridge found near the girls’ bodies that authorities said came from Allen’s gun.
The defense called the markings on the cartridge “insufficient” to connect the bullet to Allen’s gun. During his closing arguments, Rozzi called the cartridge “a miracle cure,” WTHR reported.
Allen, a former CVS clerk, was not a suspect in the case until a case clerk who organized thousands of tips in the case discovered a mislabeled “lead sheet” in September 2022.
The document, which was incorrectly marked as “obvious,” showed that Allen contacted investigators days after the murders and said he had been at the same location as the girls on the day they disappeared.
Authorities announced Allen’s arrest on October 31, 2022, weeks after the discovery.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
