Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Delphi Murders Appeal: Richard Allen Claims Solitary Confinement Induced False Confessions | Crime Alert 09.25.26

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Delphi Murders Appeal: Richard Allen Claims Solitary Confinement Induced False Confessions | Crime Alert 09.25.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvani. We begin today in Indiana, where the
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  Speaker 2: legal battle surrounding one of the Midwest's most haunting cases
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  Speaker 2: is far from over. The man serving a 130-year prison
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  Speaker 2: sentence for the horrific 2017 murders of two teenage girls
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  Speaker 2: near a hiking trail in Delphi, Indiana, has appealed his sentence.
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  Speaker 2: Attorneys for Richard Allen appeared in court this week arguing
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  Speaker 2: that he suffered severe psychosis behind bars, which they claim
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  Speaker 2: led him to falsely confess to the brutal crimes. Allen
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  Speaker 2: was handed the maximum possible sentence after a jury convicted
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  Speaker 2: him in November 2024 for the deaths of 14-year-old Liberty
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  Speaker 2: Libby German and 13-year-old Abigail Abby Williams. The best friends
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  Speaker 2: vanished in February 2017 after being dropped off for a
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  Speaker 2: day of hiking at the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.
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  Speaker 2: When they failed to meet family at the designated pickup spot,
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  Speaker 2: a massive search was launched. Their bodies were discovered the
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  Speaker 2: next day near the edge of a creek, both with
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  Speaker 2: their throats slit and an unspent. 40- caliber bullet lying between them.
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  Speaker 2: Five years passed before authorities arrested Allen, linking a gun
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  Speaker 2: found in his Delphi home to that unspent bullet after
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  Speaker 2: a tip resurfaced. Prosecutors emphasized that while in custody, Allen
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  Speaker 2: admitted to being on the trail and confessed to the
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  Speaker 2: murders both to investigators and during a phone call with
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  Speaker 2: his wife. But during Monday's appeal hearing, Allen's defense attorney,
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  Speaker 2: Mark Lehman, argued that prolonged solitary confinement shattered his client's
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  Speaker 2: mental health, inducing psychosis and coercion. Conversely, Ellen Maylander of
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  Speaker 2: the state attorney general's office pushed back, insisting the confessions
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  Speaker 2: were uncoerced and fully voluntary. The appeal also raises critical
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  Speaker 2: questions about why a police sketch of a different suspect
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  Speaker 2: seen on the trail was excluded from trial, why a
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  Speaker 2: defense ballistics expert was barred from testifying, and how the
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  Speaker 2: jury weighed Allen's complete lack of prior criminal history. During
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  Speaker 2: the original trial, defense attorneys suggested the girls were victims
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  Speaker 2: of a pagan ritual, while prosecutors relied heavily on chilling
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  Speaker 2: video from Libby German's cell phone showing a shadowy figure
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  Speaker 2: known as Bridge Guy following the teens and saying, down
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  Speaker 2: the hill. Allen, who was transferred in 2025 to the
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  Speaker 2: Lexington Assessment and Reception Center in Oklahoma, now awaits a
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  Speaker 2: ruling from the appellate court. More crime and justice news
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  Speaker 2: after this. In Texas, prosecutors in Harris County have made
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  Speaker 2: a significant concession in an attempt to bring a capital
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  Speaker 2: murder suspect back to the United States to stand trial.
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  Speaker 2: Prosecutors announced they will not pursue the death penalty against
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  Speaker 2: 39-year-old Lee Gilley, who was accused of killing his pregnant
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  Speaker 2: wife Krista before fleeing the country. Krista was nine weeks
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  Speaker 2: pregnant in October 2024 when she died of homicide resulting
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  Speaker 2: from neck compression. Gili, who pleaded not guilty, was set
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  Speaker 2: to go to trial when authorities say he sliced off
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  Speaker 2: his ankle monitor on May 1 and fled Texas. Using
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  Speaker 2: a fake name and forged travel documents, Gili made it
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  Speaker 2: all the way to Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy before
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  Speaker 2: being detained by Italian authorities. Because Italy refuses to extradite
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  Speaker 2: suspects to countries where they could face execution, prosecutors officially
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  Speaker 2: notified the Turin Court of Appeal that capital punishment is
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  Speaker 2: off the table, though life without parole remains a possibility.
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  Speaker 2: Prosecutors accused Gilley and his defense team of misleading Italian
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  Speaker 2: judges regarding sentencing laws. Legal analyst Anne Bremner, who famously
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  Speaker 2: advocated for Amanda Knox, spoke to Fox News Digital about
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  Speaker 2: the troubling precedent this decision could set.
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  Speaker 1: Is it potential, you know, for somebody to look at
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  Speaker 1: that and say, well, I guess I could do that
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  Speaker 1: too and flee? The death penalty that's on the table
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  Speaker 1: and the answer is yes, because obviously in this case,
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  Speaker 1: he jumped bail and had forged documents and made it
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  Speaker 1: all the way to Italy before he was caught on
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  Speaker 1: the forged documents. And he's not going to face the
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  Speaker 1: death penalty where it clearly was on the table or
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  Speaker 1: should have been on the table under the law of Texas.
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  Speaker 2: Gilley remains in custody in Italy, where he has claimed
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  Speaker 2: he is seeking protection, while another extradition hearing is scheduled
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  Speaker 2: before the Turin Court of Appeal on October 7th. Finally,
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  Speaker 2: in Missouri, a dramatic turn of events has emerged in
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  Speaker 2: a fatal drunk driving case that claimed the life of
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  Speaker 2: a promising young scholar. 22-year-old Lily Belfield of St. Charles
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  Speaker 2: faces charges including DWI resulting in death, first-degree involuntary manslaughter,
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  Speaker 2: and second-degree assault following an August 4 crash in St. Louis.
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  Speaker 2: Police allege Belfield was driving her black BMW at an
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  Speaker 2: excessive speed while intoxicated, illegally passing a car in a
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  Speaker 2: left turn lane and running a stop sign at Euclid
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  Speaker 2: Avenue before broadsiding a Mazda driven by 26-year-old Kennedy Reed.
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  Speaker 2: Reed died in the crash, and three passengers in Belfield's
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  Speaker 2: vehicle were injured. While police report that Belfield initially admitted
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  Speaker 2: at the scene that she was driving, her defense attorney,
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  Speaker 2: David Rosiner, now asserts she was merely a passenger and
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  Speaker 2: was not behind the wheel. Rosiner says Belfield voluntarily provided
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  Speaker 2: a DNA sample to exonerate herself and that he plans
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  Speaker 2: to present evidence identifying the real driver. Meanwhile, the academic
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  Speaker 2: community is deeply mourning Kennedy Reed, who is entering her
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  Speaker 2: fourth year as a PhD candidate in molecular microbiology at
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  Speaker 2: Washington University in St. Louis. To honor her memory and
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  Speaker 2: research legacy, Washington University has established a memorial scholarship for
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  Speaker 2: students from her alma mater, Alcorn State University. For more
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  Speaker 2: crime and justice news, be sure to join us for
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  Speaker 2: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Fox One, YouTube, Sirius XM,
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  Speaker 2: and now streaming on Tubi. With this crime alert, I'm
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  Speaker 2: Sydney Silvani.