ALLEN COUNTY — Monday is day one of a three-day jury selection for the Delphi murders trial in Allen County.
12 jurors will decide the fate of Richard Allen, 52, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German, teen girls whose bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge in Carroll County in 2017. There will also be four alternates.
So far, 14 jurors have been seated with eight of them being women and six being men.
The jurors have a variety of backgrounds including, a nurse, a counselor, a retired man, two with law enforcement families, and one who has been on three other juries.
Allen was arrested in October 2022, more than 5 years after the girls' killings. He lived in the Delphi community for at least 16 years and worked as a pharmacy technician.
PREVIOUS | Delphi Murders: Richard M. Allen charged in 2017 killing of Libby and Abby (wrtv.com)
He became the leading suspect after he admitted to being on the bridge the day of the murders and Indiana State Police claimed that a bullet found at the crime scene matched a gun found during a search of his home.
Other evidence included a video taken on Libby's cell phone, showing the suspected killer, and a voice recording telling the girls to walk down the hill to the riverbank where their bodies were located.
Witnesses also told police they saw a man who resembled Allen near the bridge that day.
The murders became an international obsession. Libby and Abby's story has been told across the country on television and podcasts and debated by people around the world in chat rooms and social media groups online.
Due to this level of publicity, Special Judge Fran Gull ordered that jurors be selected from Allen County, which is the Fort Wayne area.
Jurors will be transported roughly 100 miles to Delphi for the duration of the trial, where they will be monitored and banned from using cell phones or watching news broadcasts.
WATCH |DELPHI CHAT: Remembering Abby and Libby
Cameras are banned from the courtroom during Allen’s trial, and reporters are barred from taking electronic devices inside the courthouse.
Jury selection will be finalized on Tuesday, giving the jurors a few days off before the trial begins Friday morning at the Carroll County Courthouse.
The trial is expected to last a month.
