A murder trial in the 2017 killings of two teenage girls is set to begin Friday in the small Indiana town where the teens and the man charged with killing them all lived.
Richard Allen, 52, is accused of killing 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. Their deaths had gone unsolved for more than five years when Allen, then a pharmacy worker, was arrested in the case that has drawn outsized attention from true-crime enthusiasts.
Allen had been there all along in Delphi, living and working in the community of about 3,000 people in northwest Indiana. He faces two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping. If convicted, Allen could face up to 130 years in prison.
Nearly two years after his October 2022 arrest , opening statements are scheduled to begin before a special judge in the Carroll County Courthouse, just blocks from the pharmacy where Allen had worked. A panel of jurors has been brought in from nearly 100 miles 160 kilometers away. They'll be sequestered throughout what's expected to be a monthlong trial, banned from watching the news and allowed limited use of their cellphones to call relatives while monitored by bailiffs.
Prosecutors said during this week's jury selection in Fort Wayne that they plan to call about 50 witnesses. Allen's defense attorneys expect to call about 120 people. The 12 jurors and four alternates will receive preliminary instructions Friday morning before hearing opening statements.
