Testimony on Day 6 of Delphi, Indiana murders trial focuses on misfiled document about Richard Allen
DELPHI, Ind. (CBS) -- Testimony in day six of the Delphi, Indiana murders trial Thursday focused on a misfiled report from 2017 that was linked to suspect Richard Allen.
Due to a labeling mix-up, a tip that defendant Richard Allen was seen on the Monon High Bridge on the day of the murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty "Libby" German, 14, in 2017, was not reviewed after September 2022.
Kathy Shank, the volunteer who came across the tip, said it caught her attention because she recalled three girls reporting seeing a man on the bridge—and thought there was a possible correlation.
According to CBS affiliate WTTV in Indianapolis, Shank testified that she immediately notified Tony Liggett—the lead investigator on the case and now the Carroll County, Indiana sheriff—about the tip sheet. The sheet incorrectly listed Allen's name as "Richard Allen Whiteman"—at the time, Allen lived on Whiteman Drive, WTTV reported.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Capt. Dan Dulin also testified Thursday. He was asked to help investigators track down leads in the case, and met with Allen only a few days after the February 2017 murders, WTTV reported.
Allen had contacted investigators to "self-report" he had been on the bridge the day Abby and Libby disappeared, WTTV reported. Dulin testified that Allen declined to meet at his house or the police station, instead settling on the parking lot of a Save A Lot drugstore, the station reported.
Dulin testified that Allen told him he was in the area of the Monon High Bridge the day the girls disappeared—and said he saw three girls walking, but was not paying attention as he was walking while looking at a stock ticker on his phone, WTTV reported.
Dulin was the one who prepared the report that Shank went on to find five whole years later, WTTV reported. Shank contacted him at that point, and went into the DNR files to see if there was anything new to learn about Allen—finding that he had changed his height and weight on a fishing license application on April 1, 2017, the station reported. Dulin deemed this "uncommon."
Former Delphi police Chief Steve Mullin also testified Thursday. He testified about the investigation after the 2017 document was found, and an interview with Allen in October 2022 in which he became "agitated," WTTV reported.
Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett and two Indiana state troopers also testified.