Delphi killings: Status hearing expected Friday for suspect Richard Allen

Delphi killings: Status hearing Friday for suspect Richard Allen

Libby German and Abby Williams were killed in February 2017
Suspect Richard Allen to face murder trial in October
Allen faces four counts of murder in connection to the killings

Updated: Aug 23, 2024 / 06:44 AM CDT

FILE – Officers escort Richard Allen out of the Carroll County courthouse following a hearing, Nov. 22, 2022, in Delphi, Ind. Special Judge Fran Gull said during a scheduled hearing Thursday Oct. 19, 2023, that Allen’s attorney Andrew Baldwin has withdrew his representation. Gull added that she expects Allen’s other attorney, Bradley Rozzi, to withdraw in writing in the near future. Allen, of Delphi, was arrested in October 2022 and charged with two counts of murder in the 2017 slayings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

(NewsNation) — A status hearing will be held Friday for the man accused in the 2017 killings of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi, Indiana.

Special Judge Fran Gull scheduled the hearing for 1 p.m. in Carroll Circuit Court. According to Gull’s order, the first portion of the hearing will be closed to the public, while the second part will be open to the public.

German, 14, and Williams, 13, ventured out on a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail on Feb. 13, 2017, but never returned home. Their bodies were found in a rugged area near a hiking trail one day after they vanished.

Five years after their deaths, police arrested Richard Allen in connection to the killings. He faces four counts of murder in connection to their deaths.

However, with an evidence leak, several legal filings, the removal and reinstating of the original court-appointed defense team and other delays, the case has been mired in legal back-and-forth involving the defense, prosecution and Gull herself.

Gull recently denied a defense request to dismiss the case against Allen and a separate defense motion regarding discovery evidence.

Allen’s trial is expected to begin in October.

NewsNation affiliate WXIN contributed to this report.