Richard Allen, man charged in girls' murder in Delphi, Indiana, to be moved to state prison for own safety
DELPHI, Ind. (CBS) -- Richard Allen, the man charged with the murder of two young teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana more than five years ago, will be moved to state prison for his own safety.
Court records showed Thursday that Allen asked to be transferred from the custody of the Carroll County, Indiana Sheriff's office to the custody of the Indiana Department of Corrections for safe keeping. The request was granted by Judge Benjamin Diener, court records show.
Judge Denier also issued an order Thursday for the Indiana Supreme Court to appoint a special judge outside of Carroll County to hear the case.
Allen, 50, of Delphi was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Abigail J. "Abby" Williams, 13, and Liberty Rose Lynn "Libby" German, 14, to Indiana State Police Supt. Doug Carter announced Monday. He pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
Abby and Libby were best friends in the eighth grade. They disappeared while they were hiking on the Monon High Bridge Trail near Delphi in February 2017.
Their bodies were found a day later on Valentine's Day in a wooded area, a quarter mile from an abandoned railroad bridge that's part of a trail system where the teens had planned to go hiking during a day off from school.
Allen is a Delphi resident, and lived in the town the whole time the case was under investigation before he was charged. There are fewer than 3,000 people residing in the entire town of Delphi.
We've learned Allen worked at a CVS drugstore on West Main Street.
Photos pulled from social media accounts, since taken down, show Allen and his wife out and about since the 2017 murders.
Over the years, investigators reviewed thousands of leads, but no arrests were made until now.