An Indiana man has been charged in the unsolved murders of two teenage girls whose bodies were found near an abandoned railroad bridge where they were last seen hiking five years ago, authorities said.
Richard Allen, 50, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of murder in the 2017 deaths of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, outside their hometown of Delphi, state police and prosecutors said Monday.
The arrest follows years of perplexing leads, including a grainy photograph that police said shows a man walking on the Monon High Bridge near the girls before they disappeared.
Police also released audio of the man saying “Guys, down the hill.” The audio and photo were recovered from one of the girls’ cellphones, police said.
The girls’ bodies were found a day after they were reported missing. Authorities never disclosed how they were killed.
“It’s concerning that he’s a local guy,” Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said of Allen, who resides in Delphi, at a morning news conference. “This is bittersweet. It is a step in the right direction.”
Authorities declined to release details about what led to Allen’s arrest, saying the investigation remains ongoing.
“What I can say is that we do have probable cause, established by the court, for his arrest and he is in custody. He’s being held currently without bond,” said McLeland.
Allen entered a not-guilty plea at his initial court hearing, the prosecutor added.
It’s not “solved”. He hasn’t been convicted yet.