Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Disturbing Details of the Delphi Murders

Transcript

Disturbing Details of the Delphi Murders · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Everythink about how technology could be at the center of
• 0:04
  a murder investigation.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: It's crazy, right, Yeah, it's pretty wild.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Today we're diving into the Delphi murders, a case that
• 0:10
  really highlights that definitely. So this case it just seems
• 0:14
  like a normal afternoon hike.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Gone wrong, totally.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And you guys have sent in tons of articles, research,
• 0:22
  even court documents about this.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Wow, they did their homework.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It seems like you really want to go beyond the
• 0:28
  headlines with this one and figure out why this case
• 0:31
  is still so captivating even after all these years.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and for good reason. The Delphi murders, I mean
• 0:36
  they really grip the nation, and not just because of
• 0:39
  the tragic loss of those two young lives, but also
• 0:42
  because it's the evidence that was left behind, right.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And it's supposed to be such a normal day too. Yeah.
• 0:46
  February thirteenth, twenty seventeen, Libby Jermyan and Abby Williams, two
• 0:51
  teenagers from Delphi, Indiana. They decide to spend their day
• 0:54
  off school just exploring the Delphi historic trails like so
• 0:58
  many people.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Do, beautiful area, and they never made it home.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And what really gets me about this case is that
• 1:03
  Libby she actually captured evidence herself.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: It's unbelievable.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a video on her cell phone of what seems
• 1:10
  to be their killer.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: I got chills when I first heard that detail too.
• 1:14
  You rarely hear about a victim actually capturing their own assailant.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I know, it's heartbreaking, but it's also incredible, right, exactly.
• 1:20
  We don't hear about that every day, no, And I.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Think it was really Libby's quick thinking to even think
• 1:25
  to start recording in a situation like that. That's probably
• 1:27
  why investigators were able to get some pretty valuable leads.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, for sure.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: The video, along with that audio clip that was released,
• 1:35
  they show a man and he's approaching the girls on
• 1:38
  the moon and High Bridge and he says, guys down
• 1:41
  the hill.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. It's giving me chills just thinking about it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: And there's also this possible mention of the word gun,
• 1:47
  but that part has been a little difficult to confirm
• 1:49
  for investigators, for sure.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Right, because the audio isn't totally clear exactly. Yeah, it's
• 1:55
  just eerie to think about, though. You know that she
• 1:58
  might have sensed the danger and that her actions in
• 2:01
  that moment they must have been terrifying. I can't even imagine,
• 2:05
  but those actions might hold the key to solving this
• 2:07
  whole thing.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: They very well could.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: So they have the video, they had the audio. You
• 2:11
  would think it would be an open and shut case, right,
• 2:13
  you would think.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: But this is where it gets really complicated, Okay, because
• 2:17
  despite this seemingly really strong evidence, this case went unsolved
• 2:22
  for years.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Oh wow.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Years. Yeah, and that's part of what made it such
• 2:25
  a national obsession. You had social media, you had true
• 2:28
  crime communities, and everybody was just desperate for answers.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can understand why two young lives cut short,
• 2:36
  this chilling video evidence and no arrest, right exactly. It's
• 2:40
  definitely the kind of case that stays with you. Now.
• 2:43
  One of the things that really stood out to me
• 2:44
  while I was looking into all this was this whole
• 2:47
  catfish angle. Can you explain that a little bit?
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, So to understand the complexities, we have to
• 2:53
  talk about Keegan Klin and this online persona, this fake
• 2:58
  persona Anthony.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Shop okay, that named Anthony Jones. That's practically synonymous with
• 3:03
  the Delphi murders. Now, right, But for people who maybe
• 3:06
  aren't as familiar with the ins and outs of this case,
• 3:08
  can you just break down exactly why that online identity
• 3:11
  is so important.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Sure, so catfishing basically, it's when someone creates a fake
• 3:16
  online persona to deceive other people, and a lot of
• 3:19
  times it's for romantic or exploitative purposes. And it turns
• 3:22
  out this guy Kline, he was using this tactic to
• 3:25
  talk to underage girls, and it turned out that he'd
• 3:28
  actually been in contact with Libby Germans through this fake
• 3:32
  profile shortly before her death.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: No way, wait, so he wasn't just some random online creep.
• 3:36
  There was an actual connection to Libby. Yeah, so this
• 3:39
  guy Klein had been talking to her online pretending to
• 3:42
  be someone else and then she ends up murdered. That
• 3:44
  is horrifying.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: It's really disturbing. And so Klein was eventually arrested and
• 3:49
  charged with thirty felonies, including child exploitation and possession of
• 3:52
  child pornography. He is currently serving a forty three year sentence.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Okay, so just to be clear, because I know this
• 3:59
  park can get a little con fusing sometimes, Klein was
• 4:01
  never charged in connection with the Delphi murders themselves.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Right, that's correct. He has not been directly linked to
• 4:07
  the murders officially.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: But still, the timing of these online interactions, his past behavior,
• 4:14
  it definitely casts a shadow over the whole investigator, a
• 4:17
  huge shadow.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's this unsettling parallel storyline.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Exactly, and it really shows you the dangers of online predation.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. You have a young girl who's active on social media,
• 4:28
  like most teenagers are these days, and it's through those
• 4:31
  online channels that she may have met someone who wanted
• 4:34
  to do her harm.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Hm. That's a chilling thought, it really is. It really
• 4:37
  makes you think twice about what you post online. But
• 4:40
  that's not even the end of the story. For years,
• 4:43
  this investigation seems to hit dead end after dead end, right,
• 4:46
  and then in twenty twenty two, they finally arrest someone,
• 4:49
  Richard Allen, a local guy who worked at the CVS
• 4:52
  in town.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's weird, right, because this wasn't some totally
• 4:55
  unknown guy who suddenly popped up on their radar. He
• 4:59
  had actually already been interviewed by police back in twenty seventeen,
• 5:02
  right after the murders.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Wait, hold on, so you're saying they talked to this
• 5:05
  guy early on and he still slipped through the cracks
• 5:10
  for five years, five years? What happened there?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: That's what everyone wanted to know when they heard about
• 5:15
  his arrest, Right, So they were sifting through mountains of
• 5:19
  tips and leads potential suspects. Okay, But something about those
• 5:22
  initial interviews, something about this guy Alan's story, he just
• 5:26
  didn't sit right. So they went back, re examined everything,
• 5:29
  and this time it clicked.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So what was it what finally made them look at
• 5:34
  Richard Allen as their prime suspect.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Well remember those details about what the guy in Livy's
• 5:38
  video was wearing.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like the clothing, Yeah, the.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Carhart jacket, those blue jeans. Alan admitted to owning clothes
• 5:45
  that were very similar. Okay, and he also admitted to
• 5:48
  being on the trail that day, even said he was
• 5:50
  in the general area of the girls around the same
• 5:52
  time they were killed.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Not a good look, no, not at all.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: But his explanation for being there it raised some eyebrows.
• 6:00
  He claimed he was just.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Watching the fish, watching the fish, That's what he said.
• 6:04
  Come on, who goes to a hiking trail to watch
• 6:06
  the fish? Sounded like a pretty weak excuse.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty weak. And it wasn't just what he said
• 6:13
  that tripped him up. Do you remember that unspent point
• 6:16
  for you caliber shellcasing, the one they found near the bodies.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Oh right, I remember reading about that.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: They kept that detail really quiet for years.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: It seemed like a big deal, but they didn't say
• 6:27
  much about it at the time, and for good reason.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: They held onto that card close to their chest because
• 6:31
  it turned out to be a major turning point in
• 6:33
  the case. When they searched Richard Allen's house, they found
• 6:37
  a point forty caliber pistol. Oh wow, and get this.
• 6:41
  Ballistics tests confirmed that that shellcasing, the one from the
• 6:44
  crime scene, had been fired from Allan's gun.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: WHOA. You don't have to be a forensic expert to
• 6:50
  know that's bad news for this guy.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Talk about damning evidence. Ballistics, it's huge in court. It's
• 6:56
  like a gun's fingerprint. Every firearm leaves little unique markings
• 7:00
  on the bullets and shell casings, and those can be
• 7:02
  matched back to the weapon.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: So this wasn't just a coincidence like a lucky guess. Yeah,
• 7:07
  they could say for sure that the shellcasing at the
• 7:10
  crime scene came from that gun they found in Allen's house.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Absolutely a direct link. It's hard to argue with that
• 7:17
  kind of scientific evidence, you know, But here's the thing,
• 7:20
  even with all that evidence stacked against him, Richard Allen
• 7:23
  says he's innocent.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine being in his shoes, right, facing
• 7:28
  those charges, all that evidence against him. Yeah was his defense?
• 7:32
  What are they saying happened?
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: His lawyers they're working hard to find holes in the
• 7:36
  prosecution's case. Well, yeah, which you know that's their job,
• 7:39
  of course. So they've suggested that maybe what Alan told
• 7:42
  police was like misconstrued or taken out of context. And
• 7:45
  remember those other potential suspects we talked about, right, right,
• 7:48
  His legal team is really pushing on that.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Trying to create doubt. So basically they're saying, yeah, okay,
• 7:54
  maybe he was there, and yeah, maybe he had a
• 7:56
  gun like the one that fired the shellcasing, but that
• 7:59
  doesn't automatically make him a killer.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Right, They're saying someone else could have done.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: It, trying to plant that seed of doubt exactly. And
• 8:07
  one of the things they brought up, which I know
• 8:08
  we talked about a little bit before, was that whole
• 8:10
  white nationalist theory.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Right, that was a weird one.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what was that about?
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: So in one of the pre trial hearings, they tried
• 8:18
  to say that maybe Libby and Abby stumbled across some
• 8:22
  kind of ritualistic killing. Oh wow, like something orchestrated by
• 8:27
  a white nationalist group.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Really.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they were pointing to stuff like the position of
• 8:31
  the girl's bodies, certain objects they found at the scene,
• 8:34
  and they were trying to use those details to create
• 8:36
  this narrative that someone else was responsible.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: It does sound a little like something out.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Of a movie, you know, yeah, for sure.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: But do they have any actual evidence to back that up?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Not really, And I think that was the problem. It
• 8:49
  was all speculation, not a lot of concrete proof. And
• 8:53
  I think the judge saw it right through it too,
• 8:54
  because he ended up dismissing the theory. He called it
• 8:57
  a fanciful defense, and it seemed like he thought they
• 9:01
  were more interested in getting media attention than actually presenting
• 9:05
  a believable alternative.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, so that theory's out.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: So after all this back and forth, the accusations, the evidence,
• 9:11
  all the courtroom drama, it all comes down to the trial,
• 9:15
  which is happening right.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Now, right now as we speak.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Wow, what's it like over there? Is it crazy?
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: It's intense? For sure. Your selection just started and it's
• 9:25
  a huge moment for everybody, I bet for the families
• 9:28
  of Libyan Abbey who've been waiting six years for.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Justice, I can't even imagine.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: For the people of Delphi, you know, who have lived
• 9:34
  under this cloud for so long, and then the prosecution
• 9:38
  and the defense of course, they've been at this for years.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, six years is a long time to wait for answers,
• 9:44
  to feel any sense of closure. I mean, how do
• 9:47
  you even begin to heal from something like this?
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: That's a good question. It's unfathomable to me really, this case,
• 9:54
  with all the twists and turns, the strange details, it's
• 9:57
  captivated the whole nation for years, and it really shows
• 10:01
  you the darkness that can be hidden beneath the surface
• 10:03
  of what we think are normal lives.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: That's very well said. And even if Richard Allen is
• 10:08
  found guilty, even if they get the verdict everyone's hoping
• 10:11
  for it, there's still that question totally will it ever
• 10:14
  really be enough? You know?
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: That's the thing about these cases, isn't it. Even with
• 10:17
  a conviction someone to blame, there are still always going
• 10:21
  to be unanswered questions, questions that might stay with this
• 10:25
  case and this community forever.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: It's true, and that's.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Something I think we all have to sit with, you know,
• 10:30
  especially as we follow this trial wait for a verdict, like,
• 10:34
  what will it really take to bring true closure to
• 10:37
  the Delphi murders? Will we ever know why this happen?
• 10:40
  Will we ever truly understand what could drive a person
• 10:43
  to do something so awful?
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Those are tough questions, and I wish we had easier answers.
• 10:48
  But if anyone listening wants to do a little digging
• 10:50
  on their own, check out the evidence and the different
• 10:53
  theories and all the details. We'll be sure to link
• 10:56
  to all the research you sent us down in the
• 10:57
  show notes.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, dive in because some time, looking at these hard topics,
• 11:02
  these real life mysteries, it helps us learn more about
• 11:04
  ourselves in the world we live in.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You know, I completely agree. So until next time, keep
• 11:10
  asking those questions, keep searching for answers, and never stop learning,
• 11:14
  you guys, never stop learning.