When Justice Meets Small-Town Pressure

A quiet crime week at home doesn’t mean we coast. We double down on what Studio 411 stands for: keeping local stories front and center, honoring the missing, and holding a firm line on presumption of innocence. From high school sports pride to holiday events and traffic alerts, we ground the conversation in real life—and then we turn to a case that still haunts true crime: the Delphi murders.

We walk through the known facts with care: a warm winter day, the Monon High Bridge, a creek crossing, and an image of a bundled figure that raises more questions than it answers. How far did the girls travel? What does the terrain tell us? Could the spacing of railroad ties help estimate the height of the “bridge guy,” and how does that compare to Richard Allen’s reported stature? Instead of leaning on viral theories, we test assumptions against physical details and consider why photographic ambiguity can’t carry a conviction.

The heart of the episode is a sober look at process: a self-reported tip from 2017, a name allegedly misfiled, and a rediscovery just ahead of a sheriff’s election. We weigh the credibility of long-lapsed memories, ask how a clerical error led to renewed focus, and explore the tension between public pressure and investigative rigor. Alongside the case analysis, we deliver practical safety advice on scams, identity theft, and human trafficking—how to protect your data, read red flags in public spaces, and contribute to community safety without escalating risk.

If you value careful timelines, chain-of-custody questions, and actionable steps for safer neighborhoods, this one’s for you. Listen, think it over, and tell us where you land on the misfiled tip and the larger investigation. If the show helped you see the case more clearly, follow, share with a friend, and leave a review so others can find Studio 411. Your perspective drives the next chapter.

Go to studio411 facebook page for photos and a more in-depth conversation.

Chapters

• 0:00 Show Mission And True Crime Focus
• 1:40 Local Crime And Sports Roundup
• 6:20 Community Events And Holiday Happenings
• 10:20 Why True Crime Over Sports
• 15:20 Crime Watch Meeting And Scam Awareness
• 22:30 Human Trafficking Signs And Safety
• 27:00 Community Involvement And Bystander Culture
• 31:40 Local Incidents: Shooting, Rally Gun, Vandalism
• 36:00 Traffic Alerts And Resources
• 38:00 Delphi Murders: Case Overview
• 43:30 The Bridge, Terrain, And Timeline Questions
• 48:30 Suspect Height, Images, And Mismatch
• 52:00 Politics, Pressure, And The Tip Sheet
• 57:00 How A Misfiled Lead Became An Arrest
• 1:01:00 Credibility, Process Gaps, And Open Questions

Transcript

Show Mission And True Crime Focus

SPEAKER_00 0:10

People go missing. Some crimes go on for years without being solved, and some are solved quickly. There are times when these cases can be solved with the help of the public, with the help of shows like mine. Here on Studio 411, I will cover local crimes committed here in the Wyoming Valley and surrounding areas. I will also cover Colts cases and missing persons' cases. I'm not a lawyer or have any involvement with law enforcement in any way, shape, or form. I'm a trucker from Northeast Pennsylvania with a passion for the law, how it is interpreted and enforced. A passion for finding the truth. Let's remember that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Here on Studio 411, the guilty will be exposed, the missing will be remembered, and colt cases looked into. This is Studio 411. It is true crime time. It's True Crime Time here on Studio 411. That's what we're going to stick with. True crime. True crime is always on my mind. What is on the agenda this week here in the studio? There's a little bit going on. There's not a lot of crime going on in the area right now. But uh there's a little bit, but not much. Uh all petty stuff. Uh about two or three weeks ago, there's a shooting in Edwardsville. I don't think they got that guy yet. I didn't I'll explain uh why I don't have that information. And uh that's about it, really. There's not a whole heck of a lot going on. But uh today uh we're gonna talk about uh the Delphi murders down in Delphi, Indiana. Uh if you're a true crime buff and you're listening to this, you've heard about this case. Uh this case is baffling uh beyond belief. Um and uh it it I don't know how this guy even I don't know how this even went to trial for this guy, uh to be honest with you. Uh there's a lot to this, and uh we'll get into it here in a minute. But before we do, uh we're we're getting into the thick of things here right now with high school sports in the area. Uh we got basketball coming up, wrestling starting, uh girls' volleyball going on as we speak. Uh swimming and diving will be starting. Uh, you know, get out there and support your school. Support these student athletes and the coaches. Uh, they they need that support. They work very hard, not only during the season, but a lot of them do work hard in the offseason. Uh they they need some encouragement, they need some support. It's very important to these kids, uh, especially to seniors. You know, it's our last year. Let's uh let's uh support these kids. Um our Pittson area Patriots. Uh they did quite well this year, uh, better than I expected. I knew they would do decent, like I said uh in my last show that I did. Uh I knew they'd be over 500. Uh, and they superseded that, that's for sure. Um, it just sucks that uh, you know, they lost the the last two games of the season. One was to the rival uh rivalry. Uh Wyoming area beat us, uh pretty much stomped us. But you know, it's hard to win when you don't have a lot of kids out, and you rely on the same kids playing both sides of the ball for the whole game. Uh it's very difficult to win like that. And you know, they only had two losses through the whole season. Well, no, they had three. They they lost to Mount Pocono, they lost to uh Wyoming area, and the playoff game, they lost to Delaware Valley. Um, but they won the district championship. So that that you know, kudos to them. Uh they had a good year. But like I said, it's it's tough to win when when you can't get the kids out, and you you depend on the same kids playing both sides of the ball. It's very hard to do. And uh, but I'll tell you, Coach Russick, he did a hell of a job with these kids this year. So uh congratulations to the to him and uh the football team. Uh, what else we got going on here locally? Uh Sunday, November 2nd. That was yesterday. Yeah, I'm reading uh where I got this from. Yeah. But Christmas land opens up at Main Hardware in uh Wolksbare on Main Street, obviously. Uh their hours of Christmas land are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through December 23rd. Christmas Eve hours will be 9 a.m. to noon. I remember going here when I was a little boy. Uh my stepdad, uh my dad would take me. And uh man, I I matter of fact, when I was in there, uh I I do believe my father was doing some painting uh for that owner at that time. Uh and I went down to help him. I was little. He always I was tagged along, help out. But I remember walking in there and and seeing all that. It was right around Christmas time. Yep. It was a long time ago, man. I couldn't have been no more than nine, 10 years old, if not younger. I'll tell you that. But uh it was neat. It was neat. Uh they it's nothing but what whatever you want for Christmas, decorations, whatever, they have it. Whatever you need, they have it. This is the uh the 50th uh year that they're they do their their uh their uh 12 rooms of of Christmas cheer. So it whatever you need, go to Main Hardware in Wolksbare on Main Street. Like I said, the hours of operation uh for Christmas land are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays, all the way up to December 23rd. Christmas Eve hours will be 9 a.m. to noon. Uh let's get on to a little school board stuff. Uh there's not going there's not much going on with Pitston area right now. Next scheduled meeting of the Pitston Area School Board will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18th. So if you want to attend a board meeting, that's when you that's where you want to go. Uh I have not taken this this trip at all. I heard it is very cool. It is pretty awesome, to be honest with you. They've started doing this, I believe it was the last year or the year before, year before, I believe. Um take a magical Christmas ride with Santo, a 80-minute round trip ride on the Northern Reading Railroad, uh, Wilkes Barress Grant Regional Railroad Station, 718 North Main Street in Pittston. Uh, the rides are scheduled for December 6th, 7th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and Christmas Eve the 24th. If you like train rides, it if you like trains in general, this from what I understand, it is well, well worth the uh money you pay. Uh, and it's not that expensive. Uh, I'm not sure. I don't remember. I think it was like 20 bucks a person or something like that. Don't quote me on that. I'm not 100% sure. But uh it looks uh from what I hear from people, it's great. It goes down to Jim Thorpe and back. Uh Santa will be handing out a special gift. Uh, what it is, I don't know. You'll have to get on the train and go. Advanced tickets can be purchased online or by phone at www.rbmnrpassenger.com. Once again, you can purchase tickets in advance at www.rbmnr slashpassenger.com. Don't forget to slash. Make sure you put the slash in there. I'm sure it'll pop up anyway, the way everything's going with the AI and all that stuff. Type in a couple letters and you got all kinds of crap. Your phones are listening to you anyway. Um, there's not a lot of crime going on in the Wyoming Valley here. Uh, nothing too uh too crazy at all. Um that's why I went with the Delphi murders this week. Uh that's what we're gonna do. Um, that's what I'm gonna do here on on the show. Uh, I'm gonna stick with true crime. And you know, and there's a reason for it, other than it it I just love the true crime. I love it. I love doing the research, I love learning about it, love the law, you know, how it's interpreted, uh, the gray areas of it. It, you know, sometimes even some of these these laws can be um uh uh they could be interpreted in different ways, even uh uh the way they're they're spoken, it's amazing. It really is amazing. And how they could be manipulated, I don't say manipulated, but uh looked at in a different way depending on how they're said, you know, with with without being with without being uh too uh over the top, I guess I want to say, about trying to uh uh manipulate them a little bit, I guess I want to say, but it's very interesting the way this stuff works. Um but that's what I want to do. Uh I tried doing another podcast just on sports. That's why I bring sports up on the show. Uh I love sports, I love talking about them, I love high school sports. Um, and uh it it I couldn't keep up, man. And that's what I really wanted to do. But with my job, uh it was just impossible to uh be as informative as I wanted to be. And um, at least with my true crime podcast here that I'm gonna do and the local stuff, uh at least here I could research it more in depth, me be more informative, be more accurate, and I'm not so crunched for time. And that was the big thing with the sports thing. By the time I I would get something finished, we're already into the next week's uh competitions, and it just didn't make sense for me to do that. So I I I stayed away from it. I I couldn't do it. But this is uh something here that I absolutely love and I want to do. And I did it before with my wife, um, and it was a great, great show. Uh, I did uh the case on Hugo Selinski, I did um uh Joanne Curly, I did George Banks, uh, I did a couple, uh one other one, local one, I can't remember what it was, but I'm gonna pull them up and I'm gonna post them on my Spotify account. So it it because there was no video with them. So if if you're listening to me and watching me on Rumble, that's why I keep looking over here to make sure I'm still recording because my screen froze before. Uh, if you're listening to me on Rumble and you want to listen to them shows, you have to go to Spotify to uh listen to them shows. Um, but they they won't be on Rumble, they'll be on Spotify. Maybe in the future, I'll break out uh all my paperwork on them cases and I'll talk about them. And uh especially the Hugo Zelensky case, uh, because I I went to school with him. Uh I didn't know him. He was uh, I think he was two or three years younger than me, maybe four. He was a little bit younger. Uh see him uh walking around school, Pat Russin, see him walking around, uh Tina Strom. Uh she was involved in that. I wouldn't say involved. Yeah, she was involved. I knew her brother quite well. So I I have a little bit of uh a personal personal uh uh input I could I could give to that case. And I did in in the in the uh podcast that I did on the on that case. Um so but like I said, I just want to reemphasize I'm not a lawyer. I am no way any way affiliated with any any law enforcement agency whatsoever. I just love love the law, and uh I just love to uh to learn about it and and hopefully you know we can learn together as we go along, as we go on here in uh the studio when we talk about our cases. Uh first I want to talk about what happened here in the county on the 30th, um, or sorry, uh Wednesday. Luzerne County District Attorney's Office hosted the first countywide crime watch meeting on Wednesday night at the Luzerne County Courthouse. The event was attended by local and state officials, police officers from the surrounding municipalities, and members of area crime watch groups. They came together to inform the public on the many ways to protect themselves from crimes like scams, identity theft, and human trafficking. Um scams, when we talk about scams, you know how many phone calls I get every day on scams, scam calls? I probably get I if I go on my phone now and look, I guarantee, I'll guarantee you there's at least 10 in here. Just from today. Let's see here. There's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, thirteen just from today. That's insane. That's insane. Um I I think that the best way to handle scam calls like that is one, if if it's in a text, just report it as junk and delete it. Don't even don't respond to it, don't do nothing. Just junk it and delete it. Because if you respond, that might give them access into your phone. And then that's where we get into identity theft. They get into your phone, they could get pictures of you. Uh, I know I used to keep a picture of my driver's license in my phone. Uh, just because I'm a truck driver, and if I ever lose my license, at least I have a picture of the front and back of it in my phone. Well, guess what? I took it out of there just for this that reason, right there. Um, any old bills you have, uh get a paper shredder and shred them up because you have information on there that you know, with the programs that these computers can run anymore, with AI, you know, they could take the uh an account number, maybe the first couple numbers, and they could just run through it to get the last couple. Millions and millions of sequences they can run through until they get the one they want that they need. That's what they'll do it, they do it, I'm telling you. Uh, I had my uh it wasn't my identity, it wasn't stolen, but uh they got my credit card number through my phone. And uh they they racked up a couple couple grand on it, and uh uh thank God I had that insurance on on that credit card and it got taken off. But yeah, just just be aware, don't keep any of that stuff in your phone. I know we all like to uh to go on our phones and do our banking on there and buy stuff and and all that stuff, but when you do that, try to delete that information as soon as you can. Uh that that's important. That's important. Uh the big thing here is human trafficking. Um, what do you look for in human trafficking? How do we identify this stuff? I had to go through a training class on this uh because of my job uh being a truck driver. Uh, it it is a big, huge deal out there in the trucking industry. Um, you know, when I go up, I used to go up to the Canadian border quite a bit a couple years back. And uh I have a sleeper truck. And whenever I went through there, Border Patrol would always, always pull me over and ask me if I had anybody in my truck. Uh that they're always looking. How do we identify that? Uh it's hard. It's hard to. Uh the these people, they know how to hide this stuff like there's no tomorrow. Uh, you see a young girl with an older man, you know, and that that raises a red flag. Then you're, you know, watch her her her her actions. Does she look scared? Does she look sad? Um why is she with him to be in the first place? You know, if you suspect something, don't approach him, don't do anything like that. Just call 911, um, and and they'll come in and and they'll investigate it. Um, but human trafficking is a big thing. That's not just with uh in in the trucking industry, but it's it's all over the place. Um for me, the big thing is you're under, you know, 17, 18 years old, and you're you're a teenager and you want to go to the mini mart two, three blocks down the road. Uh I I I don't like to be, I don't want to scare anybody like that. This isn't a scare tactic, but you know, don't go by yourself. Don't walk out there by yourself there, kiddos. Uh, have somebody with you, take a friend with you, your parent, whoever. Uh, you can't go anywhere by yourself anymore these days as a teenager, uh, especially young kids, uh, 12, 13, 14 years old. It's very scary out there. So be aware of your surroundings. Okay, we'll get into that here. Um, this is a quote from uh Cami uh Anderson uh from Robinson Counseling Center's uh drug and alcohol prevention education supervisor. He says, My team works in schools, so what I am offering is information for families to take away and understand what our kids are involved in now. Uh like I just said, uh these young kids they they like to go out, they like their freedom, they like their independence. Uh that's awesome, that's great. When when they like that stuff. Uh, but like I said, you can't go anywhere alone. Don't go anywhere alone. Always have somebody with you, have a buddy with you. And if you can't, if you have a dog, take your freaking dog with you. You know, uh that it's important stuff. Uh it really is. Um, let's see. He says, prevention is key to a lot of stuff, she said. Um, of course, prevention is key, but how do we prevent? Is it up to the kids to find this stuff out? They're not gonna know how to find this stuff out. They're they got a one-track mind. I want to go to that minimort, I want to get my ice cream or my potato chips, my soda, and come back and watch a movie. That's it. They're not thinking about getting picked up by a stranger, they're not thinking about getting jumped by anybody. How about the parents step up to the plate and teach their kids what to look for? Be vigilant, be aware of your surroundings, maybe teach them how to how to read people, recognize the good and bad in people, teach them right from wrong. You know, if you see somebody walking down the street following you for a block or two, hightail it out of there, get into a store, get into a uh populated area, uh, you know, let it be known that that you know, people are can see you and they can see who's following you. And more than likely, that person is gonna back off and and leave you alone. Um, just you have to be aware of your surroundings. I would suggest too taking a self-defense class. Um, I had my son uh a while back in into uh jujitsu, karate, and kung fu. Uh so he he could protect himself, but you know, what are you gonna do if you get a 250-pound man uh uh coming after you, you know? Uh so that that's something to to look into. Uh Paul Winsky, vice president of the Hanover Township Neighborhood Crime Watch, said he believes more people need to get involved in crime watch groups to promote safety in the community. He quotes it's been a battle to get people to come out to the meetings, it's the same people all the time, he said. Uh and quote, even though the crime watch group has over 4,000 members on Facebook, only about a dozen people attend monthly meetings. If you want to save the community, you gotta show up, he said. So you have 4,000 members on a Facebook group, and why do you think they're there? Most of the people that are there to see the drama, to see the crimes being committed, hoping somebody had a camera, they could post it, you know, almost like a reality TV show. Um it's crazy how people think what the mindset of people are. It's like when people are out walking in the street or and somebody gets jumped. Instead of helping that person, what's the first thing they do? What's the first thing they they whip out that camera and they start taking pictures or or a video? That's why these people are on these Facebook groups. That's why you have 4,000, you know. The problem here is these 4,000 people want everyone else to do the work for them. You know, I get it. Not everyone has a time to put into getting out there and just driving around like a like a cop and looking for for somebody doing something wrong or or somebody suspicious or something like that. And if you are one of the people that do that, don't engage. Call 911. Call 911. Don't engage. If you're not a cop, you're not a member of law enforcement, call 911. But you know, we need to get people to pitch in and help if your community is in that rough of shape. Really do, you really do. You got to pitch in and help. Don't just be a bystander. It's important, it's important. Too many crimes, too many things happen out there where people just watch and look and they get that phone and they're snapping pictures or taking videos. You know, one thing that really irks me and bothers me, uh, I don't want to harp on this too too much, uh, because I want to I I do want to get to this case. Uh when police officers are engaging in something like that, they're trying to make an arrest or they're trying to investigate something, and uh uh a bystander gets too close. They start getting in the cops' face. Somebody who has absolutely nothing to do with that crime whatsoever. I mean, nothing. They they they just want to know why are you arresting him? What are you doing? Why are you doing that? It's none of their business. And what is too close? I mean, these people are getting right up on these cops, they can't do their job. That's a safety concern for these cops. I think too close is if you're if you're within, if you get closer than 10 feet of a police officer doing an investigation or making an arrest, you're you should be arrested yourself. If you should not engage, and if you do engage, you get arrested. And you get fined. That'll put a stop to a lot of this nonsense. And I think that is the route that we need to go. I I really do. It's too much. It's too much. Everybody, everybody thinks they have the right to know what's going on with every with somebody else's business. Maybe you do. I I don't know the laws on that. Well, maybe you do. I don't know. But why? Why do you want to get involved? It's not you committing a crime, it's not you getting arrested. So why are you getting involved? You know, mind your own business, man. But you know, the officials said two victims were shot uh in Edwardsville. Uh, I believe it was on police say two shot in Edwardsville Monday. So that happened on Tuesday, Tuesday, the 19th. 44 and Swartzville responded to the scene, according to Times Leader reporter. Uh, shots were fired and heard around 11:30 a.m. Uh Fasula Karim Dunn, 36 of North Franklin Street, ran out a rear door of an apartment at 589 Main Street after shots were fired and killed. One person just after 12 p.m. Sunday, according to court records. Uh I don't know what to say about this because I I haven't seen anything else in the paper about this, but this is the craziness that that that goes on. This, in my opinion, this is just my opinion. I have no facts on this whatsoever. But this this has to be drug related. I know that area down there. I'm sure most of us do. Uh it has to be drug related. Drug related or or uh some kind of domestic dispute, more than likely. But you know that that that that's the biggest thing that I've seen so far in the past two or three weeks, as far as uh crime goes in the area. That was the hottest thing. Um, a man charged uh with a gun. Uh Andajar Jimpson threatened during a rally in Wooksbear. The guy showed a gun uh during a rally in Wooksbear. Uh why you would do that unless you intended on using it. I don't know how stupid can you be. You know, that that's just uh asinine. Asinine. Uh this one here really, really bothers me. And it that I you know, I was gonna talk about two other things, but it nah, that one's kind of it's has nothing to do with crime. But um three juveniles juveniles cited for vandalism at a Durier playground. Police in Duryer say that they cited three juveniles for causing damage at Haley Playground in September. Two 15-year-olds from Dunmore and a 16-year-old from Durier were petitioned to the Zaran County Juvenile Court on charges of criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct. Police reported on September 28th that tables were damaged and flipped, garbage thrown throughout the playground, and porta potty was tipped. The playground at Foot Avenue and Wright Street underwent renovations with new equipment being installed earlier this year. Well, guess what? I don't see a porta-potty over there anymore, and I don't see garbage cans over there anymore. I had my granddaughter there yesterday. It was a beautiful day out. We went over there and played, and it's a beautiful playground. Uh the workers here in Durier they busted their ass to get that place to where it is today. It was nice before. You know, the equipment was a little old, a little run down, but they really put forth the effort to make that a really nice playground. And a couple weeks ago, I think it was about three or four weeks ago, they had a little fair there. Uh, they had um they actually had that stand open that they have in the park where they were selling some food and stuff, and they had some vendors there uh selling. Selling crafts and uh they had a farmer there selling uh uh corn on the cob and peppers and uh tomatoes, uh potatoes, stuff like that, all different kinds of vendors and ice cream truck there. You know, it was really nice to see that. Um, we need to do more of that in our area, uh not just in the Pittson area, but uh in Wooks Bear, maybe the Scranton area. I don't know. I and I didn't even know what was going on. I was just driving down the road and I saw the sign event parking. I was wondering what the hell was going on. And I I looked and I saw all these people setting stuff up. So me and my son took a walk down there and uh I bought some uh corn on the cob. Uh so it was very good. It was very nice to see something like that, locals getting out and mingling amongst one another. So that was really nice. We need to do more of that stuff uh in the area. Definitely do. Um I don't even want to talk about that because that's out of the area. All right. So we're gonna go. We're gonna start with wait a minute. Let me go back here. Where's this at here? Uh, I do want to bring this up here. Uh, this is important. Uh, my wife got caught in this this morning. She was bitching. There will be uh lane restrictions on Interstate 81 southbound between exit 165, which is uh Mountaintop Wolksburg, and exit 164 Nanokoke uh Route 29 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday for bridge passing or patching. So remember that when you're out there uh traveling, uh you're going to work, you don't want to be late like uh some people are a lot because of stuff like this. Not going to mention any names. Once again, 81 southbound between exit 165 and 164. Uh, we'll be down to one lane from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday this week. So keep an eye out. Keep an eye out. Uh if you are curious as to what is going on out there traffic-wise, all you have to do is go to www.511pa.com. www.511pa.com or go to www.pa.govs forward slash dot projects, and that will tell you where all the construction is. Uh so I thought that was uh really important. Uh there's something else going on here. No, that's it. So we're gonna go on here. So we have the Delphi case down in Delphi, Indiana. Uh, this might be a two-parter. Uh, that there is a lot, a lot to to go over here. Uh, I I I was looking at this now. When this this first happened, I was listening to a podcast on it, and they didn't arrest anybody after about three weeks. And I stopped. I said, nope, I don't want to listen to this, I don't want to get corrupted into theories and uh other things like that. Uh, I just stayed away from it. I didn't listen to any podcast on this up until uh an arrest was made. And when the arrest was made, and that's when I really, really started digging into it. Uh, I don't know how this guy got arrested. I don't know how this even went to trial. Um, but I'll give you a little quick overview as to what had happened. Uh, two young girls found murdered in Delphi, Delphi, Indiana, after not returning to get picked up after a hike. Uh, they had a day off of school. It was a beautiful day out. Uh in uh I think it was January, I believe, and February. They went missing 223-17. Okay. Uh two girls, Abigail and Liberty, uh, 13 and 14 years old. Um, they went missing on 223-17. Arrested, charged, and sentenced to 130 years was Richard Allen. Uh, like I said, I have looked into this case uh in depth, uh, step by step, piece by piece, witness by witness. And I I I don't know how this guy got what he got. That there really wasn't any evidence. Uh I followed the case off and on over the years, nothing major at all, like I said, listening to a few podcasts here and there about the case and getting some updates over the years, but nothing, nothing crazy. I didn't want to hear anything on it. Like I said, any theories or any speculation. Nope. All I wanted was facts. That's it. Uh, when it was put out that they got someone in custody, I really started paying attention to the case. I did not want to come to any conclusions or theories as to what or who had committed uh these horrible crimes. And they were horrible. It was horrific. An arrest was made, charges were filed, and the trial has begun. I didn't look at any of this until it was all said and done. I wanted all the evidence, statements, and witness testimony out. Uh, when everything was all said and done, I did my research. I looked at the the most accurate and credible podcasts, uh, every document possible, uh what I could obtain, and uh news reports, court transcript, crime scene for everything imaginable. I looked at it. I will say the best and most reputable one is the defense diaries. Uh uh, he's on a lawn crime, and yes, of course, true crime garage. They covered that extensely two podcasts. Um, but the best one was defense diaries because uh this is Bob Mada and his wife that do that podcast. Uh Bob sat through that whole trial uh from day one right to right to the end, and he took vigilant notes on everything that was said, everything, everything, all the evidence, all of it. Um his podcast is is pretty awesome if you like uh court, if you like the court proceedings. It's pretty good. I looked at this case from every direction from a lawyer's uh point of view. Uh, I'm not a lawyer, like I said, or involved with law enforcement at all. I want to make that clear. I'm just your average everyday truck driver, man. It's it from both the defense and the prosecution side, from the investigator's point of view, we have to remember that this case went unsolved for over six years. Keep that in mind. That's a long time. That's a long time that there was an election for sheriff going on at the time of Richard Allen's arrest. At the time of his arrest, there was a an election going on for sheriff. The pressure from the community was it was heating up. It was they wanted they wanted somebody caught uh to catch that killer of these two young girls. They wanted somebody in cuffs. What led to Alan's arrest is I don't think it's a little crazy. I think it is crazy. I said a little crazy in my notes here, but it's crazy. After nine years, this was noticed. Nine years. This mistake, but yet during trial, the testimony of witnesses is still credible after nine years. Their memory is as accurate as it would have been nine years ago. Doubtful. Doubtful. And we'll get into that. We'll get into that. So this case is the most messed up case. Not that I heard a lot. This is actually uh probably the third trial I've really sat down and picked apart. I'm, you know, I'm far from an expert or have any knowledge of trial procedures. I'm just going by what I think, you know, and it that's all. I'm I mean, I have no experience with this stuff at all. So, for all of you lawyers out there that may be listening, correct me if I misspeak or just uh plain wrong. But uh be nice, please be nice. I'm just learning here. So Rick Allen was interrogated, accused, tried, and found guilty for the murder of Abigail and Liberty. When the bodies of these girls were discovered, a police asked anyone who who has been in the area where they found the bodies to come forward with any information that may help find the killer. Rick Allen was one of the people to come forward on his own. Nobody went to get him. Rick was 52 years old at the time of the crime. His wife Kathy and daughter Brittany and Zapont, Rick's mother and father are still alive at the time of the crime. I believe they're all still there, they are all still alive. Okay, here we go. Liberty German at 14 years old, and Abigail Williams, 13 years old, and a day off from school in February of 2017. This time of year in Indiana is very cold. I've been there. It sucks. It is very cold. But on this particular day, it was it was very warm for that time of year. So they decided to go for a hike over the Moon and High Bridge, which is in actually uh Deer Creek Township, Indiana. Uh the kids were dropped off by Liberty's sister on County Route 300 and supposed to be picked up later that afternoon by Liberty German's father, Derek German. They never showed up to be picked up. They were reported missing at 5:30 p.m. Liberty's father was to meet them at 3:15 p.m. to pick them up. They never showed up. Now, some people say, well, why'd you wait so long to contact authorities that were that they were missing? It was only two hours, man. You know, not even. So there's nothing there. Nothing there. The bodies of Liberty and Abigail were found the next day at approximately noon, about a half a mile east of the abandoned Moon and High Bridge. They were discovered on the north bank of Deer Creek. So let me see if I could pull this up here. Uh let's see here. There it is, right there. Okay, this is where they were dropped off, right here. Okay. This here is let's see, here's the high bridge here, right? So they crossed the bridge here. They dropped off here. So there's probably a trail here that they walked to get to the bridge, okay. I can't, it doesn't matter if I zoom in or not because it's not gonna show in detail. But this is where the the the bridge is. This is where the bodies were found, okay. Um let's see here if this will go here. No, let's see something. Go here. Yeah. So this is where the bodies were found here, approximately. This here, where my cursor is, that is all creek. That's that's the creek right here. Here's the bridge. So they had to walk down here somewhere, and they had to cross somewhere here. I'm gonna say somewhere in here or or over here. I'm gonna say here because it's not, it doesn't look like it's too wide there. That's a good distance there. Especially, especially when you're walking through the woods and you have to cross a creek. Okay, that's a that's a good distance. I'd say that's a good uh at least three-quarters of a mile. That's what I say. So that that right there is something that has to be looked at. Where's this at? Uh here's Google Maps. Let's bring this up right here. Here's Google Maps. So okay, I gotta bring it up here. Here's the bridge right here, Moon High Bridge. Right here. Okay, this is Deer Creek. The girls were found somewhere over here, right here. So they had to walk across the bridge and come down through here somewhere and cross the bridge or across the creek. That's pretty wide, right? That's pretty wide. And at that time of the year the water was high, and what they're saying is when a girls were found, their clothes were dry. Their clothes were dry. How is that possible? How is that possible? I don't know. Uh let's look here. Now, this property here is owned by was owned by uh Ron Logan. He owns that property there. We'll get into him in a little bit. But that that's pretty much the layout. Here's the bridge. This is where they said that that uh they encountered the bridge guy somewhere around the end of the bridge. So when I bring this back, let me go back here, close that out. Here's the bridge guy. Okay, let me see if I could make this bigger. No, that's not him. Let's see. There's the bridge guy right there. That's a guy they say encounter they that they encountered. Okay, blue jacket. Notice the blue jacket, hood, jeans. He looks like a fairly large man, if you ask me. This is this one here is the enhanced version. This is the original. You can't make out his face. Okay, he has his hands in his pockets, and you can't you can't tell if there's anything in his ja in his coat pocket. You can't even tell what brand jacket that is. And we'll get into that. Why? Why we can't tell what brand jacket that is. Okay. Now we look at that too. We look at this photo. Okay, they're claiming that they can't determine the the the height of this gentleman right here. They couldn't determine by this photo. Okay. I don't know why. For simple, for the for I wouldn't I wouldn't say it's simple, but for this reason right here. This is an old railroad bridge. These railroad ties are a certain width apart. I believe they are are eight inches wide. Okay. There's another picture out there. Uh I should have found it and put it up here. Maybe next show I'll do that. But they are eight inches wide. If you count how many railroad ties there are, count all these ties. And if you lay this body down, that should give you a pretty close, pretty close uh height analysis of this gentleman. They're saying that this guy that they're thinking that he was over six foot. Okay, if he was over six foot, that's fine if that's what you're thinking. But Richard Allen was only 5'4, 5'5, I believe. Something like that. He wasn't six foot, that's for damn sure. Here's Richard Allen. I don't have uh a full-body picture of him. This is just him when he got arrested right there. That's the Moon and High Bridge behind him. Now, do you think that this guy looks anything like this guy? Could it be? I don't know. I don't know. I don't think so, to be honest with you. I I it it's impossible to tell from from them these photos. But that's Richard Allen right there. Okay. Um now. Where's my I gotta get them off of there? Right there. And here's Abby and Libby. Okay. Poor little girls, I'll tell you. Just out for a hike, trying to spend a nice day together, and this bullshit happens here. This is why, you know, you gotta be vigilant and aware of your surroundings. You have to be, because you never know what kind of assholes are out there. You don't know. You just don't know how the that part right there about you know determining his height. They said they couldn't do it. I think you can do it with that. On the next show, I'm gonna bring up that other picture. I'm gonna bring this other picture up. Uh for me, this next part here is it's very important. It should have been dived into deeper than what it was, if at all. I I didn't see anything that indicated it was looked at at all. During a campaign for Carroll County Sheriff in 2022, allegations surfaced regarding the Delphi murder case. One former law enforcement officer claimed he was demoted and replaced by the eventual election winner, Tony Liggett, who then focused on an older lead that implicated Allen. What was this lead? What led to Richard Allen's arrest? Where did this come? How did this get to? The lead was a misfiling of Allen's statement that he gave investigators three days after the murder. Apparently, it was filed under a wrong name. To me, this is all suspicious. So uh that that that someone gets demoted from sheriff and someone new gets elected, and all of a sudden a missing lead sheet surfaces out of thin air. Uh, that's pretty suspicious to me. So, my question is if there was anything in this statement at that time that would have made Rick Allen a suspect, wouldn't it have been put in the pile of potential suspects or taken directly to a law enforcement officer to get Rick Allen and talk to him right then and there, no matter what name it was filed under, because it was filed under a wrong name. It was filed under Rick Allen and his street name as the last name. After a few days of preparing this podcast, I discovered that the lead was found in a drawer of an old desk that was used during the initial investigation. So let's say that this was found where they say it was found, which I doubt it was. Wouldn't the name and the address be the same as it was when the statement was first taken? What changed? What made investigators look into Richard Allen when the name on the lead sheet was different? This is more than suspicious. What made this woman, this a woman found it, who actually took the statement? What made her say to herself that something was wrong with this lead sheet? This whole situation should have been looked into in more depth and detail. What made the authorities go to Alan at this time when the name on the sheet was different than Alan's name? Maybe the woman who originally took the statement realized when she found it in a drawer, realized she inverted the last name with the street name of the address? Definitely possible. And that is what they are claiming. But I doubt that this is the situation. After all these years, she's going to recollect that that mistake. She's going to remember that she made that mistake with that name. What drew her to that? What drew her to that sheet of paper? Was it really found in the drawer? Because she was only in that room to clean up and maybe organize things a little bit. Richard Allen was arrested around October 28, 2022. This was just before the November 2022 general election for sheriff. And political tensions were high, and an arrest was being pressured by the public of these murders. This is all suspicious shit. All of it. Every ounce of it. This should have been looked into by the FBI. According to Shank, the self-reporter listed seeing three girls. Shank testified that she wrote a lead sheet and changed the name to Richard Allen. Alan lived on Whitman Drive. So she said she believed the names were transposed and it was misfiled. She said she notified the sheriff and finding Alan's tip sheet. If this sheet was filed, what was it? What was it doing in a drawer? So either she's lying or she can't remember. I discovered that fact a few days before I prepared the the cast here to podcast. That when he when he gave the statement that he was there on the high bridge at that time, she should have taken that right to authorities, and she failed to do so. Here's how the whole tip sheet scenario played out. This is according to Google. All the reports I have seen on this didn't get into much detail as expected. Uh, before I discovered the drawer allegation, this I found this. Richard Allen's initial tip sheet was generated on February 16th, 2017, two days after the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German were discovered. A volunteer with Carroll County Sheriff's Office, Shank, received a call from Allen, who self-reported being on the Delphi Historic Trails around the time of the murders. However, the tip sheet was misfiled and overlooked by investigators for over five years until it was rediscovered in September of 2022. After this discovery, law enforcement revisited Alan's statement leading to his arrest in October of 2022. The key events surrounding the tip sheet include. Well, we'll get into that. But you're telling me just because she said she was on the hybrids, led them to search his house, his car, and look at him in more detail. There are other people in this area at the time. So they just focused on Allen? That's a hard pill to swallow, man. That is that that is a hard pill to swallow. And how do they know? How do they know to go to Richard Allen when the last name on that tip sheet wasn't a name? Did they just, you know, guess and say, oh, let's just say it's Richard Allen. Take the last name off. On February 16, 2017, Richard Allen calls to report he was on the trails a couple of days earlier. The tip is entered into the system, though, with a clerical error listing his name as Richard Allen Whitman. So now, why now? Why, why, why now is Al Why is he being investigated? February 18, 2017. An investigator follows up on the tips and speaks with Alan. So how did the investigator know how to find Alan for questioning if the name on the tip sheet was wrong? This tip sheet was made by phone. How do they identify Alan now? How? Also, why wasn't Alan arrested back then? Like I said, this should have been brought right to the authorities if he was there at that time. And he should have been arrested or at least uh brought in for questioning. Why didn't Shank bring this to investigators' attention right away after she had taken the call? That is the biggest question that I want to know. That information could have saved a lot of time and a lot of money for the community of at least five years, not to mention getting closure for families and possibly allowing Alan to murder again, if in fact he is the murderer. Between 2017 and 2022, the tip sheet is misplaced and the lead falls through the cracks. September 22nd, 21st, sorry, September 21st, 2022, a volunteer helping to organize the investigation files finds the old tip sheet. This prompts renewed focus on Richard Allen as a suspect. So this person, Shank, organizing the tip sheets, automatically out of nowhere, pulls this sheet and assumes the name on the sheet is wrong. How did this person know it was wrong? What did this person's eyes gravitate to this paperwork? How? What made this person's eyes look at that paperwork and say, oh, that's messed up? Gotta bring to somebody's attention. It's hard to believe, man. This is all just hard to believe. I think everyone can see where I'm going with this. What really confused me with this finding, it was just recently discovered that the tip sheet was found in a drawer, not in the files that Shank was organizing. Huge, huge, huge discrepancy right there. If Richard Allen was a suspect then and the proper questioning was done at that time in 2017, he should have been arrested then and there, regardless of the name on the tip sheet. That's the first major screw up by the investigators. Yes, I'm I'm insinuating it. Yes, I am. Foul play here. Yes, I am. What do you think about all of this? This tip sheet. This ch this tip sheet is it's it's a uh uh it's a main part. It's it's crucial. And nobody's taking it uh the way they should, in my opinion. Huge, huge thing right there. Um I'm gonna leave it at that for now. The next time we come back, we're gonna start digging into uh we're gonna look into the the um interrogation of Richard Allen and the interrogation and the uh the searching of his home and what they found in his home and if it was anything significant. But I'm gonna leave it there for now. I want you to wrap your head around that and really think about that tip sheet and how it got misplaced, how it got discovered, and why wasn't Richard Allen brought in for questioning when when he made this when he first made this uh report. And why was he looked at? There's other people on that on that bridge at the time, you know. There's other people on that bridge. These girls were not sexually assaulted. There's no SA here. So it could have been anyone, it could Even if they were, if it was SA, it still could have been a female that committed these crimes. It could have been. Richard Allen has no criminal background whatsoever. Absolutely none. Nothing. He has nothing. He worked at a CBS in a Walmart. He held uh jobs for quite a long time. But we're gonna get into it more uh as far as uh evidence goes, the interrogation, two interrogations of Richard Allen, his demeanor, all that stuff, and uh we'll get into it there. Uh but I really would like you to uh send me an email at rgk a p-l k a at gmail.com. That's rgapalka at gmail.com. Let me know what you think about this case. I'd really love to hear it so far, what we just talked about. All right, that's all I got for today. I got to get ready for work, man. I got a long one going on. I'm your host, Rich. Thanks for listening in to Studio 411, where true crime is on my mind.