DELPHI, Ind. — The probable cause affidavit that lead to the arrest of Richard Allen in the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German would be very thin without a key piece of evidence, according to a judge.
According to the affidavit, investigators obtained a warrant to search Allen’s home and found a gun that matched an unspent bullet casing at the crime scene.
Fishers judge Daniel Henke — who is not directly involved in the case — said that’s the strongest thing he sees to find probable cause.
“I think it is no coincidence that the gun was seized in a search warrant right about the time that their arrest took place,” Henke said. “Outside of that, it’s a lot more thin.”
Right now, there are still a lot of lingering questions after the release of court documents on Tuesday.
We asked some of those questions to Indiana State Police, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and the Carroll County Prosecutor. Among the things we asked them was how did they turn their attention to Richard Allen and why it took so long to focus on him.
Indiana state police wouldn’t answer those questions directly.
“Out of respect for the prosecutorial process, which is being led by the Carroll County prosecutor, we are refraining from making any public statements and are going to allow the probable cause affidavit to stand on its own,” said state police spokesperson Jeremy Piers.
According to the affidavit, Richard Allen was initially interviewed by an officer in 2017. He told police he was on the trail around the time the girls were murdered.
A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told FOX59 there’s no indication there was any follow-up on that tip. That same source says that a review of the original tips in the weeks before Allen’s arrest was what caused investigators to re-examine him.
But it’s what is not in the affidavit that caught the attention of Judge Henke.
“I didn’t see in it a reason why it should be sealed,” Henke said. “So that tells me that there’s more evidence that’s not in the probable cause affidavit.”
Allen’s attorneys said last week that the affidavit would provide more questions than answers and so far the legal experts we’ve spoken with agree. Regardless of what has yet to be uncovered, his attorneys said they weren’t worried.
“We don’t know what other evidence is out there, but we’re confident that whatever is out there is not going to be enough to show that our client did anything here,” attorney Andrew Baldwin said.
While there are countless questions still unanswered, Henke said there are two big things he’d like to know from investigators.
“One, what more do they have?” Henke said. “And what more do they want.”
Neither the sheriff’s office nor the prosecutor’s office responded to our requests for answers.
We attempted to speak with Richard Allen’s attorneys as well but we never heard back from them either.