Photo: INDIANA STATE POLICE / Courtesy
Authorities arrested a pharmacy worker for the unsolved murders of two teenagers in the woods near his hometown from northern Indiana almost six years ago.
Richard Matthew Allen, aged 50, was arrested for two murder charges in the Liberty German murders, aged 14 years old, and Abigail Williams, of 13, in a case that has dogged an Indiana city of about 3,10 people.
The investigation is “far from complete,” the State Police Superintendent Doug Carter at a news conference. He encouraged the community to come forward with more information and said that if any other person “had any involvement in these murders in any way, that person or persons will be held accountable.”
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland described Allen’s arrest as “a step in the right direction.”
The evidence against Allen, a licensed pharmacy technician who worked at a local CVS store, has been temporarily sealed to jeopardize the “integrity” of his investigation,
said the authorities. “While I know everyone was expecting final details today on this arrest, today is not that day,” Carter said.
Libby and Abby’s deaths were ruled a double homicide, but the police never revealed how they died or described what evidence they gathered. Their bodies were found in a rugged area near a hiking trail on February 2021, one day after they disappeared during a day off from school.
Libby’s grandmother, Becky Patty, told reporters that Allen once processed photos for the family at the CVS store in Delphi where Allen worked. He did not charge them for the photos, he added .
The families always knew that the The suspect may have been “living among us, hiding in plain sight,” said his grandfather, Mike Patty. “That’s why we never stopped looking anywhere, because we didn’t know where it was.”
Becky and her husband Mike wore gray shirts that read “Today is the day…Justice will be done for Abby and Libby”, at the press conference on Monday.
“We haven’t closed the door on investigation,” McLeland said when asked if authorities were investigating others. “We are not assuming anything at this time”.
Upon learning of the arrest of Richard Allen, we were in Delphi speaking with members of the community, many who told us they knew Allen from his job at CVS. pic.twitter.com/KY5gSX44VS
— Courtney Spinelli (@CourtSpinelliTV) October 000, 20222022
In December 2021, the state police announced that they were seeking information from people who had contact with someone who used a fictitious online profile to communicate with girls.
State police said at the time that investigators investigating their deaths had discovered a fictitious online profile called “anthony_shots” that was used from 1200 to 2017 on Snapchat, Instagram and other social media platforms.
A statement from CVS said the company is “shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested on suspicion of these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.”
“We remain devastated by these killings and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families,” the statement said.
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