Delphi double murder trial: Extended video from victim’s phone played in court

A video filmed by 14-year-old victim Libby German just before she was murdered in Delphi, Indiana, was played for the jury during Richard Allen’s trial.
Allen is accused of killing Libby and 13-year-old Abby Williams while the best friends walked on a trail in their small town on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017.
A 30-second clip of the video — played Tuesday during testimony from forensic examiner Brian Bunner — showed Libby filming herself and Abby walking on the Monon High Bridge. At one point, the camera panned up, and no one was behind Abby. In a later shot, the video shows a man walking behind her.
According to Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV, a girl’s voice is heard on the video saying, “There’s no path — the trail ends here, so we have to go down here?”
Later in the day, a 43-second clip from the video was played for the jury when forensic examiner Jeremy Chapman took the stand for the prosecution.
Chapman told the jurors he enhanced the video by putting it through a filter to break it down frame-by-frame. Chapman said he was able to pull three frames of the man’s face, which are the images that were released to the public.
Chapman said he also enhanced the part of the video in which the man is heard saying, “Down the hill,” which was played for the jury.
Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat as they walked over the Monon High Bridge, prosecutor Nick McLeland told the jury last week in his opening statement. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, and Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m., he said.
The man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls to go “down the hill,” McLeland said. The girls complied, he said, and then the video on Libby’s phone stopped recording.
The eighth graders’ bodies were discovered near the trail one day later.
Indiana State Police crime scene investigator Brian Olehy testified Monday that both girls’ necks were cut, noting that Libby’s was “viciously slashed.” A large pool of blood was visible between their bodies, he said.
Olehy said some of the girls’ clothing was found inside-out in the nearby creek.
Sticks were partially laid over the bodies, Olehy said. When he and another deputy lifted Libby’s body off the ground to place it in a body bag, he said leaves and dirt stuck to her back.
Libby’s phone — in its Harry Potter-themed case — was found underneath Abby’s body, Olehy said.
On Tuesday, Olehy returned to the stand and walked the jury through evidence collected during the autopsies, including: sex assault evidence kits for Abby and Libby; Libby’s Delphi swimming sweatshirt with red stains; jeans with red stains; a gray bra with red stains and a black bra with red stains.
Libby’s mom wiped away tears as Olehy explained the sex assault evidence collection kit.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Brad Rozzi asked if any of the recovered DNA evidence was linked to Allen, and Olehy responded, “No.”
Rozzi asked Olehy if it seemed like the sticks in between the girls’ bodies were placed there intentionally. Olehy replied, “They appeared to be placed there by an individual,” and he went on to say the sticks seemed to be an “attempt at concealment.”
Allen, a Delphi resident, was arrested in 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to murder. Allen has admitted to police that he was on the trail that day, but he denied any involvement in the murders, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said they linked an unspent bullet recovered from the scene to Allen, and an investigator testified the bullet was found between the two girls. Allen’s defense has questioned the handling of evidence, arguing the bullet should have been better photographed by investigators.
ABC News’ Janel Klein contributed to this report.