Jury selection begins in Delphi, Indiana murders trial

CHICAGO (CBS) — Jury selection begins Monday in the Delphi murders trial. 

Richard Allen is charged with two counts of murder in the 2017 slayings of 14-year-old Liberty (Libby) German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams. 

The community is preparing for one of the most high-profile criminal trials in Indiana state history, which is expected to last a little more than a month.

The process begins with jury selection in Allen County and is expected to last three days. Once selected, jurors will be transported to Carroll County for the proceedings.

Delphi murders case

Libby and Abigail were found stabbed to death on a hiking trail near their hometown of Delphi.

Allen, a drugstore pharmacy technician in the town of 3,000, wasn't arrested until October 2022. He has pleaded not guilty.

Police have said Libby snapped a photo of the killer and recorded his voice on her cell phone before she died.  

Since his arrest, Allen's attorneys have blamed four other people for the murders. They've also laid out a theory the murders were ritualistic in nature and tied them to a white supremacist religion.

Prosecutors have said previously that Allen confessed in prison phone calls to his wife. 

Numerous reported confessions by the suspect can be used in court. Special Judge Fran Gull—who was assigned to the Carroll County, Indiana case from Allen County where Fort Wayne is located—ruled all of Allen's statement to psychologists, inmates, guards, and family members from within jail can be used as evidence.

The four week trial is estimated to cost more than $4 million.