Richard Allen, a former CVS employee, has been charged with the killing of two middle school students in Indiana. The case has taken five years to come to trial. Allen had initially reached out to authorities shortly after the murder, stating he had been in the area where the girls were killed. This crucial information was mistakenly marked as cleared by law enforcement and was not discovered until a volunteer clerk went through thousands of tips in 2022.
During the trial, the defense team for Allen has claimed he is innocent, suggesting the killings could have been part of a ritual sacrifice. Witnesses have described seeing a man near the trail where the girls’ bodies were found, and a Snapchat video from Abigail’s phone showed a man fitting that description.
An investigator spoke with Allen after the murders, who provided an account of being in the area at the time. However, this information was marked as cleared, and Allen was not further pursued as a suspect until the volunteer clerk discovered the oversight. After being reinterviewed and a search of his home, a .40 caliber Sig Sauer handgun was found, which matched a bullet near the girls’ bodies.
Through testimony and evidence, authorities determined that Allen’s handgun was used in the killings, leading to his arrest. Witnesses’ accounts of seeing Allen in the area on the day of the murders, as well as the discovery of the matching bullet, were key factors in the case against him. The trial is ongoing, with ballistics experts providing critical testimony to tie Allen to the crime.
Photo credit
www.nbcnews.com