The bullet that tied a pharmacy tech to the Delphi trail — and the tip that came too late

The tip came in 2022.

It pointed to Richard Allen, a local pharmacy technician who had told investigators years earlier that he had been on the trail the day the girls disappeared.

He was not considered a suspect at the time.

The case had stalled by then.

Multiple persons of interest had been publicly named and cleared.

More than five years had passed since Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, went hiking near the Monon High Bridge and never came home.

The exact nature of the tip is not in the record.

Who provided it is not in the record either.

What is in the record is the delay.

Investigators later faced criticism for a period when Allen was not treated as a suspect despite his own self-reported presence on the trail.

The public had been given an audio clip of a man's voice saying "down the hill."

They had been given a grainy video from Libby German's phone.

Neither broke the case.

The tip that did came from a different source.

When investigators finally looked at Allen, they found a bullet at the crime scene.

It was matched to a gun he owned.

A woman testified she saw him on the trail that day, dressed in clothing matching the description of the man in the video.

What if the tip had come sooner?

What if Allen had been checked in 2017, when his name was already in the file?

What if the bullet had been tested then?

That would require evidence.

The record shows only that the tip came late.

It shows that the girls' families waited five years and more.

It shows a trail, a bridge, and a bullet that tied a pharmacy tech to the scene.

The what-ifs are not in the record.

THE GIRLS AND THE TRAIL

February 13, 2017, was a Monday.

Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, went hiking near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi, Indiana.

They were dropped off for the afternoon, a plan that should have ended with a pickup.

The pickup never happened.

By that evening, the girls had failed to appear, and they were reported missing.

Their bodies were found the next day, February 14, in a wooded area near the bridge.

The cause of death was later determined: homicide by sharp-force injury to the neck.

The weapon itself was never recovered.

The record does not establish what knife was used, only that it was a knife.

The trail became a crime scene, and the bridge became a name repeated on national news.

Libby's father and grandmother became public advocates, speaking to reporters again and again.

They asked for tips. They asked for patience. They asked for answers.

Abby's mother also spoke publicly, her grief carried into interviews and press conferences.

For five years, they lived with the audio clip and the grainy video.

For five years, they lived with a case that stalled.

When the conviction came in November 2024, the families expressed relief.

They also expressed grief.

Relief that someone was held accountable.

Grief that two girls were still gone.

The verdict did not bring Abby back.

It did not bring Libby back.

It gave the families a word for what happened: guilty.

But the trail, the bridge, and the missing weapon remain part of the record.