For years, the Delphi double murder case went cold. Then a volunteer found a file with an interesting piece of information

For five years after two teenage girls were killed and their bodies left along an Indiana trail, Richard Allen’s name sat unnoticed in a box with thousands of other tips about the mystery, until it was rediscovered by chance.

For five years after two teenage girls were killed and their bodies left along an Indiana trail, Richard Allen’s name sat unnoticed in a box with thousands of other tips about the mystery, until it was rediscovered by chance. Stashed in a box of tips from the public, Allen’s note said he saw three girls as he walked along the Monon High Bridge Trail between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on February 13, 2017. In September 2022, as volunteer receptionist Kathy Shank filed the tip in an online database, she realized the time Allen said he was on the trail matched the time the girls were thought to have gone missing, according to CNN affiliate WLFI. Shank submitted the tip to the detective in charge of the investigation because she thought it was worth looking into, she testified last week at Allen’s trial for the murders of Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, in Delphi, Indiana. Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett said despite the tip, Allen “got lost in the cracks,” according to CNN affiliate WLFI. The suspect never left the small town, working at a local CVS pharmacy until he was arrested. The revelation about the tip box is one of many facts surfacing in what is known as the Delphi murder case. Many details of the case, including how exactly the girls died, have remained unknown to the public for years. In December 2022, a judge issued a gag order to stop attorneys, law enforcement officials, court personnel, the coroner and the girls’ relatives from making public comments on the case.