CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. — The attorneys for Richard Allen are claiming key evidence was destroyed in the investigation into the killings of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017.
According to a court document filed by the defense, they requested the video and audio from police interviews with two men the defense claims were involved in the killings.
The defense claims that on Sept. 8, 2023, the Carroll County Prosecutor's Office responded to their request saying there was no audio or video of the interviews with no explanation why.
Before the attorneys could investigate, Judge Frances Gull caused them to be taken off the case, according to the attorneys.
Once they were reinstated by the Indiana Supreme Court, attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi again began looking into available video and audio from police interviews.
They discovered a letter "cataloguing" evidence turned over to Allen's attorneys on Jan. 31. The attorneys claim there was an explanation for the missing video and audio. They claim the letter said:
"Due to a DVR program error discovered on 9-20-2017 all recordings up to February 20th, 2017, were recorded over. There is no detectible audio found on this drive."
The defense claims the initial police interviews with the men they believe are behind the murders happened between the time of the bodies were found, Feb. 14, and Feb. 20. According to the defense, the loss of this evidence could greatly impact Allen's defense as key evidence which was potentially lost. All the defense has are transcripts from police, that they claim, lacks police questions and potentially other statements.
The concern raised by Allen's attorneys is that they are now unable to see if the two men's statements and stories changed over time.
The defense claims they are also unaware of what other police interviews happened during that window of time that were also lost, and has now filed a motion to have the charges against Allen dismissed.
It is not yet clear when the judge will make a decision on the motion, but a hearing is currently set for March 18 in Fort Wayne to handle other motions.
RELATED: Judge sets Fort Wayne hearing in Delphi murders case; defense attorney wants hearing delayed
The judge did reject a defense request to step down from the case.
Gull said she denied the defense's motion and pointed to the Indiana Supreme Court ruling that unanimously found she should stay on as the judge in the case.
The dismissal comes as Allen's attorneys said the judge should not act on any other motions in the case until deciding if she should step down.
The prosecutor's request to add four more charges is also on the agenda for the Feb. 12 hearing. Here are the new charges Allen could face as he is accused of killing Williams and German nearly seven years ago:
- Two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping (previously filed Oct. 28, 2022)
- Two counts of murder
- Two counts of kidnapping
Allen's attorneys have argued there is so much new evidence in the case, they will not be ready for the hearing and that one of them will be out of state. They said the hearing was set without consulting them on their schedules. They've filed to have the hearing moved, but the judge has not ruled on that request.
13News has reached out for confirmation on the defense's claims that the video was recorded over. At this time, 13News is awaiting a response.