Jury selection begins in the murder trial in Delphi, Indiana

CHICAGO (CBS) — Jury selection in the Delphi murder trial begins Monday.

Richard Allen is charged with two counts of murder in the 2017 murders of 14-year-old Liberty (Libby) German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams.

The community is preparing for one of the most high-profile criminal trials in Indiana state history, which is expected to last just over a month.

The trial begins with jury selection in Allen County and is expected to last three days. Once selected, jurors will be transported to Carroll County for the trial.

Delphi murder case

Libby and Abigail were found stabbed to death on a hiking trail near their hometown of Delphi.

Allen, a pharmacy technician in the town of 3,000, was not arrested until October 2022. He pleaded not guilty.

The police said Libby took a photo of the murderer and recorded his voice on her cell phone before she died.

Since his arrest, Allen’s lawyers have blamed four other people for the murders. They have also theorized that the killings were ritualistic in nature, linking them to a white supremacist religion.

Prosecutors have previously said that Allen confessed to telephone conversations with his wife in prison.

Numerous reported confessions from the suspect can be used in court. Special Judge Fran Gull, assigned to the Carroll County, Indiana, case from Allen County, where Fort Wayne is located, ruled that all of Allen’s statements to psychologists, inmates, guards and family members from the prison can be used as evidence.

The four-week trial is estimated to cost more than $4 million.