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'Satan killed the girls,' Delphi suspect said · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Okay, wow, you know this Delphi murders case, it's really
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  something else.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a tough one, for sure, it is.
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  Speaker 1: I'm you know, I'm ready to like really just dive
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  into this with you. Yeah. Absolutely, not just yeah, like
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  the facts which are awful enough, Yeah, but you know,
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  I'm fascinated by the whole psychology of Richard Allen and
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  like how how much his mental state is going to
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  like play a role in his trial.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's the big question, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: It is it is, especially you know it's happening right
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  now October twenty twenty four, so.
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  Speaker 2: It's like we're in it absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, this whole case, I mean it's scripped
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  the nation for years, right, oh for sure, Like we
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  all know it goes back to twenty seventeen with Abby
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  Williams and Libby Jerman, those two teenage girls who were well,
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  they were found murdered in Delphi.
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  Speaker 3: Indiana, right, and for years nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing, It was just like a community in fear and
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  the whole country watching, you know, waiting absolutely, and then
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  finally finally late last year, they arrest Richard Allen.
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  Speaker 3: Right, I mean that must have been a relief, but also,
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  you know, so many more questions, right.
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  Speaker 1: Like, okay, maybe we're a step closer, but what does
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  it mean?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And of course, you know, we can't talk about
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  this case without mentioning that that video and audio from
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  Libby Jerman's phone.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that's right, Yeah, I mean.
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  Speaker 1: The suspect's voice saying down the hill. It's it's just chilling,
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  bone chilling. Yeah, it makes you wonder, like what was
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  going on in his head at that moment.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, who knows.
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  Speaker 3: We may never know for sure, we may never know.
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  Speaker 1: But what we do have is are these alleged confessions
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  from Richard Allen.
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  Speaker 3: Right, That's that's what's come out during the trial, and
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  that's where where things get really interesting psychologically speaking.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so let's let's break down these confessions. Like what
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  are we talking about here. We're hearing he confess like
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  multiple times.
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  Speaker 3: Right, yeah, allegedly to his wife, to corrections officers, even
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  to a psychologist while he's in jail.
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  Speaker 1: And some of these confessions, from what I've read, they're incredibly.
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  Speaker 3: Specific, very specific, uns settlingly so unsettling. Yeah, you know,
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  like you see it in some of the quotes from
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  the corrections officers reports.
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  Speaker 1: For example, okay, Mike.
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  Speaker 3: What one officer he reported Alan saying, I killed Abby
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  and Libby.
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  Speaker 2: My wife wasn't involved. I want to confess.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 3: Just a few days later, another officer documented him saying,
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  can I talk, Can you listen?
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  Speaker 2: I killed Abby and Libby. How do I prove I'm insane?
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  Speaker 1: Okay? So, I mean those statements they're just they're so stark. Yeah,
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  it's like he's both admitting to this horrific crime but
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  then also like desperately trying to distance himself by claiming insanity.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's a strange mix.
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  Speaker 1: It is. And then there's a psychologist, the one who
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  interviewed Alan in jail. She testified that he actually described
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  ordering the girls down the hill, that he was intending
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  to rape them.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow.
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  Speaker 1: And then he claimed he got startled by either another
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  person or a van and that led him to order
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  the girls across a creek and it was there allegedly
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  that he that he slip their throats and covered their
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  bodies with branches.
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  Speaker 3: That's that's a chilling confession, and it seems, at least
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  on the surface, to match some of the evidence from
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  the scene, right right, But this leads us to a
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  really crucial question about how valid any of these confessions
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  really are. Okay, how so, because the defense is arguing
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  that that Allan was in a psychotic state while he
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  was in prison, meaning he essentially made these stories up.
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  Speaker 1: So we're talking about a potential confession, but maybe from
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  someone who's not you know, in their right mind.
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  Speaker 3: That's exactly what the defense wants us to believe.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So tell me more about about this defense argument,
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  like what are they basing it on?
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  Speaker 3: So they brought in their own expert, a neuropsychologist, Polly
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  Wescott Hope. She evaluated Alan back in May of twenty
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  twenty three, and she diagnosed him with a few things,
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  dependent personality disorder, depression, anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: And their argument is that all of that like escalated
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  into full blown psychosis.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly due to being isolate in solitary confinement.
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  Speaker 1: So solitary confinement actually like messed with his mind to
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  the point of psychosis.
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  Speaker 3: That's what they're saying. And Westcast testimony is key here,
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  how so, because it raises the question of, you know,
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  were Allan's confessions or real admission of guilt or were
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  they were they the result of a mental state that
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  was just deteriorating.
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  Speaker 1: So we're talking about a confession, but maybe from someone
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  who is not really connected to reality.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's like trying to build a case on
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  shifting sand, you know.
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  Speaker 1: That's a good way to put it. Yeah, okay, So
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  walk me through what we know about his behavior in prison,
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  Like what was he doing?
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  Speaker 3: Well? According to Westcott, she described him hitting his head
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  on the wall, washing his face in the toilet, refusing
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  to eat, eating paper, even smearing feces.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's that's disturbing.
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  Speaker 3: It is, and it wasn't just her corrections. Officers confirmed
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  these things. So we're talking about multiple sources describing this
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  this really alarming behavior.
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  Speaker 1: So it sounds like he was really really.
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  Speaker 3: Disturbed, deeply disturbed. Westcott argued that being in solitary, you know,
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  combined with his existing mental health conditions, it created this
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  environment where his brain couldn't tell what was real.
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  Speaker 1: And what wasn't, like he was living in a delusion.
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  Speaker 3: She actually compared his state of mind to being in
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  a fun house, you know, where everything's distorted, nothing's quite
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  as it seems. It's a vivid way to describe it, it.
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  Speaker 1: Is, but it really does highlight how messed up his
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  mental state might have been.
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  Speaker 2: It really does.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean the prosecution they had to have pushed
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  back on this.
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  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, They question whether everything someone says when they're
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  psychotic is automatically like distorted, you know, right, right, and
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  Wescott admitted, yes, someone in psychosis can still say things.
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  Speaker 2: That are accurate.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the core issue here, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: It really is.
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  Speaker 1: Can someone be mentally ill and still be responsible for
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  their actions? That's the million dollar question, it is, And
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  this case really highlights that tension between mental health and
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  the legal system.
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  Speaker 2: It really does.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And you know remember that chilling phrase from the video
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  down the Hill? Yeah, Well, in his confessions, Allan allegedly, Yeah,
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  but like what happened next? His stories they kind of
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  shift and change. Oh really yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes he says he blacked out.
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  Speaker 3: Other times he gives these really detailed accounts of the murders,
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  but they could be you know, totally delusional.
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  Speaker 1: So it's like we don't even know which version, if any,
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  is the truth exactly.
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  Speaker 3: And on top of that, we're talking about evaluating his
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  mental state from years ago.
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  Speaker 1: Right, It's not like is he fit to stand trial? Now?
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  It's was he saying back in twenty seventeen when this
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  all happened.
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  Speaker 3: It's like trying to put together a puzzle, but some
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  pieces are missing and some might be from a whole
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  different puzzle.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, that's that's a tough one for the jury
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  to figure out.
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  Speaker 2: It is it really is.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious about this whole legal concept of not guilty
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  by reason of insanity, Like, how does that even apply here?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's definitely understood a lot. Yeah, it's not
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  just about having a mental illness. It's about proving that
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  at the time of the crime, the defendant was so
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  impaired mentally that they couldn't understand what they were doing
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  or that it was wrong.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not just did Richard Allen kill Abby and Libby?
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  It's did he even understand that what he was doing
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  was wrong?
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  Speaker 2: Exactly?
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  Speaker 3: And the defense they have to prove that Alan met
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  that legal standard of insanity back in twenty seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Now, how do you even prove that after all these years?
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  Speaker 2: It's tough.
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  Speaker 3: It relies a lot on expert testimony like we heard
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  from Polly Wescott, but also maybe other evidence about Alan's
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  state of.
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  Speaker 2: Mind back then.
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  Speaker 1: This is complicated, it.
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  Speaker 3: Is, and it really highlights this this whole clash between
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  mental health and the law right, because.
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  Speaker 1: On one hand, we want justice right, but we also
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  have to acknowledge that mental illness is real and it
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  can really mess with someone's judgment.
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  Speaker 2: It's about finding that balance.
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  Speaker 3: It's a tightrope block, for sure, it is, and it
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  raises these bigger questions for all of us, you know,
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  like what like how do we as a society deal
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  with mental health in the criminal justice system. Can we
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  have justice for the victims and also treat people with
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  mental illness fairly. It's not easy.
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  Speaker 1: It's so easy to get caught up in the sensationalism
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  of a case like this, right, but we can't forget
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  that there are real people at the center of it.
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  Abby and Libby, their families and Richard Allen. These are
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  all individuals whose lives have been well shattered.
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  Speaker 3: By this and for the families, I mean, this trial
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  it has to be just agonizing. I can't even imagine
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  years of pain, uncertainty, just waiting for answers, for some
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  kind of justice.
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  Speaker 1: And they've been so strong, so resilient through all of
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  it it have. It's remarkable throw it into the spotlight
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  and they've handled it with such grace.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, we should also mention the investigators. They've
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  been working on this for years, meticulously piecing together the evidence.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing their dedication to getting just for Abby and Libby.
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  Speaker 2: It really is.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So we talked about the confessions, the defense saying
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  they were from a psychotic state, right, but let's not
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  forget that video and audio from Libby's phone.
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  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's crucial.
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  Speaker 1: The suspect's voice down the hill. It's haunting, but it
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  also puts them right there at the scene.
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  Speaker 3: That's strong evidence. No matter what the defense says about
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  the confessions.
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  Speaker 1: It's like a window into those girls last moments.
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  Speaker 2: It's a chilling thought, it is.
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  Speaker 1: It makes you realize that even in a place that
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  seems peaceful like Delphi, bad things can happen. Evil can
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  be lurking anywhere.
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  Speaker 3: It's a reminder to be vigilant, to support our communities
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  and to have a justice system that seeks accountability. But
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  also understanding this deep dive.
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  Speaker 1: It's taken us to some dark places. It has, but
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  I think it's important to face these tough topics head on.
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  Speaker 3: I agree, we have to understand how complex this case is.
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  The horror of the crime, the intricacies of mental health
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  and the law.
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  Speaker 1: It makes us think about uncomfortable truths about how we
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  deal with ment illness, about justice itself.
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  Speaker 3: And it reminds us that behind the headlines, behind the
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  legal stuff, are real people, real lives forever changed by
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  this tragedy.
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  Speaker 1: We've covered a lot, the confessions, the psychological evaluations, the
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  different accounts of Richard Allen's mental state, the ethical questions.
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  Has a lot to take in, it is, but it's
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  important to wrestle with these complexities.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. In this case, it's still unfolding. The trial is
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  going on. Hopefully it'll shed more light on what happened
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  that day, give some answers to the families.
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  Speaker 1: We'll keep following it for sure, But for now I'm wondering, like,
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  if Richard Allen really was psychotic when he confessed, does
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  that make those confessions less important? That's a good question,
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  or does it make them even more disturbing knowing they
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  might be from a mind that was losing touch with reality.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the question, isn't it? Like it really gets
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  to the heart of why this whole case is so
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  so disturbing. I mean, it's a question the jury's got
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  to wrestle with as they look at all the evidence,
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  you know.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Because on the one hand, if if those confessions
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  happened when he was psychotic, when he didn't really know
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  what was real, I mean, how much can we trust
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  them as evidence.
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  Speaker 3: That's that's the tough part for the prosecution, right, they
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  have to convince the jury that even if even if
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  psychosis played a role, there's still enough truth in those confessions,
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  enough that matches up with other evidence to make them believable.
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  Speaker 1: But even if we forget about the legal stuff for
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  a second, you know, just the content of those confessions,
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  it's it's horrifying.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: And that's the other side of your question, right, Like
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  if those confessions really did come from a mind that
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  was that was breaking down, that adds a whole other
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  level of horror to this.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because then it's not just about what he did.
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  It's about like the darkness inside him, even if the
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  details aren't.
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  Speaker 3: Accurate exactly, And it makes us, it makes us think
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  about this, this uncomfortable truth that the human mind it
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  can be capable of incredible good but also just unimaginable darkness.
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  Speaker 1: It's a lot, it is, and this case it forces
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  us to ask, like, how do we deal with that?
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  How do we hold someone accountable for things they might
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  have done when their mind was was basically broken.
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  Speaker 3: There's no easy answer none in this case.
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  Speaker 1: No. And this is a case that's going to stay
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  with us even after the trial's over, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: It has these implications that go way beyond just this
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  one courtroom.
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  Speaker 3: It makes us think about mental illness and the legal system,
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  about balancing the rights of the accused with getting justice
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  for the victims.
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  Speaker 1: And it makes us think about mental health in general.
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  Speaker 3: You know. Yeah, like maybe if Richard Allen had gotten
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  help sooner, if we as a society were better at
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  recognizing and dealing with mental health issues, maybe this wouldn't
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  have happened.
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  Speaker 1: It's a tough thought, but an important one.
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  Speaker 2: It is.
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  Speaker 3: We can't change the past, but we can learn from it.
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  Speaker 1: We can try to prevent something like this from happening again. Exactly. So,
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  as this trial goes on, we'll keep following it, keep
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  you all updated, we will. But for now, for everyone listening,
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  I hope you keep thinking about this case, but all
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  the evidence about the ethical question it raises. It's heavy stuff,
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  it is, but it matters like what does it mean
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  to be responsible for your actions even when when your
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  mind's not right? How do we balance mental health and justice?
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  These are questions we all need to be asking.
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  Speaker 3: And as we as we look for those answers, we
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  have to remember the people at the center of this,
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  the victims, their families, Richard Allen, all of them.
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  Speaker 2: This tragedy has touched them all.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. We have to approach this with compassion, with empathy,
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  with a real commitment to finding justice that's fair for everyone.
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  Thank you for joining me on this deep dive. It's
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  been really thought provoking, it has, and to everyone listening,
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  thank you for bringing us these sources, for letting us
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  explore this with you. It's a case that deserves our
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  attention and our reflection.