Indiana man confessed to murders of teenage girls in phone call with his wife, documents say

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana man charged with killing two teenage girls confessed multiple times to the murders in a phone call to his wife while in prison, according to court documents released Wednesday.

Richard Matthew Allen allegedly told his wife, Kathy Allen, in an April 3 phone call that he killed Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14. The two teenagers’ bodies were found Feb. 14, 2017, just outside of their hometown of Delphi, Indiana — about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis, in Carroll County.

Allen County Judge Fran Gull, assigned to the case after the original judge recused himself, unsealed the motion describing the confessions alongside more than 100 filings in the case on Wednesday.

“Investigators had the phone call transcribed and the transcription confirms that Richard Allen admits that he committed the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” reads the document filed by Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland. “He admits several times within the phone call that he committed the offenses as charged. His wife, Kathy Allen, ends the phone call abruptly.”

Allen was arrested in October 2022 on two counts of murder. A relative had dropped the girls off at a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge, and their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the trail.

Gull’s order issued Wednesday stated she was withholding from public release because it includes the names of juvenile witnesses.

McLeland alleging abuse at the correctional facility he has been housed at since November 2022, attributed the admissions to his declining mental state.

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Arleigh Rodgers is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.