Latest / Case Cracked / EP 58 - Down the Hill: The Phone Video That Haunted Delphi
Transcript
- HOST: The most important witness in the Delphi murders was a phone in a teenage girl’s pocket. [SFX: scary sting] HOST: February 13th, 2017. Thirteen-year-old Abigail Williams and fourteen-year-old Liberty German were walking the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana. By the next day, both girls were found dead. HOST: But Libby had done something extraordinary. She recorded video of a man approaching them on the bridge. Grainy. Brief. Terrifying. HOST: Investigators released two words from that recording: “Down the hill.” Three words, really—but enough to burn into a town’s memory. HOST: The video showed a man in jeans, a blue jacket, and a cap. Not a clean face. Not a license plate. Just movement, clothing, voice, and timing. [AD_BREAK:1] HOST: For years, the case sat in public view, but unsolved. Then investigators focused on Richard Allen, a Delphi pharmacy technician who had admitted back in 2017 that he’d been on the trail that day. HOST: That detail mattered. So did the timeline. Witnesses saw a man dressed like the bridge suspect. Allen said he wore similar clothes. And then came the physical clue. [SFX: surprise hit] HOST: Near the girls’ bodies, police found an unspent .40-caliber cartridge. Investigators said it had been cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer pistol. HOST: The defense challenged the firearm evidence. They also attacked the investigation. But prosecutors built their case around convergence: the phone recording, the trail timeline, witness sightings, the clothing, the cartridge, and Allen’s own statements while in custody. [AD_BREAK:2] HOST: In November 2024, Richard Allen was convicted of killing Abby Williams and Libby German. HOST: The clue that cracked this case wasn’t perfect. It was shaky video. Muffled audio. A few seconds captured under unimaginable pressure. HOST: But Libby German pressed record. And in doing that, she gave investigators a direction, a voice, and a shadow to chase until justice finally caught up.