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NBC’s Dateline brought forth one of the more distressing true crime stories in the episode titled A Walk Through The Woods, which aired on the network on February 21, 2025. The Dateline episode follows the 2017 murders of 13-year-old Abigail ‘Abby’ Williams and 14-year-old Liberty ‘Libby’ German. The two girls disappeared after they had gone for a hike near the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana, on February 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day. Richard Allen was found guilty of the murders after weeks of trial ending in November 2024.
The Dateline episode synopsis says,
‘The murders of teenagers Abby and Libby in their close-knit hometown of Delphi, Indiana spark worldwide headlines. The high-profile case takes a stunning twist after detectives reveal Libby captured a video of the killer shortly before her death – a crucial piece of evidence that helps police track down the murderer.’
What happened to Liberty German and Abigail Williams? - Dateline’s A Walk Through The Woods
Liberty German and Abigail Williams were eighth-graders at Delphi Community Middle School. Both the girls were softball players. On February 13, 2017, the two girls decided to go for a hike at Monon High Bridge Trail. Libby’s older sister, Kelsi German Siebert dropped the two girls at the trail. Libby had called her father, Derrick German, to pick them up from the trail in the afternoon. She even went on to post their photos after the call. When Derrick arrived at the site, he could not find them. Their bodies were recovered a little further from the bridge on February 15th.
During the investigations, they found a grainy Snapchat video in Libby’s phone. The authorities put the video out to the public to get the identity of the person initially referred to as ‘the bridge guy’. In the video, the man was seen hiking along the bridge in a dark jacket, hat, and jeans. As the video ends, he is heard saying,
‘Go down the hill.’
Despite investigations, the case remained unsolved. However, in 2022 a retired government employee, Kathy Shank, volunteered to organise all the tip sheets received over the years. She found a ‘lead sheet’ with Allen’s name. She gave the document to the authorities. After several interrogations by the Indiana State Police, Richard Allen, a CVS employee in Delphi was arrested.
What happened at the trial?
The trial for the murders began in Carroll County in October 2024. Nicholas McLeland, Carroll County Prosecutor connected Allen as ‘the bridge guy.’ During his pre-trial detention, Allen had made several murder confessions to the prison officials, a prison psychologist, and his wife, which McLeland produced in the court. McLeland also went on to reveal that a 40-caliber bullet was discovered at the sight of the murders. A ballistics analysis matched it to a gun owned by Allen. The prosecution maintained that Allen used ‘power and fear’ to coerce the girls down the hill and cut their throats.
Allen’s defense lawyers claimed his innocence by stating that Allen made false confession during the pre-trial detention owing to the environment he was forced to be in. His attorney, Brad Rozzi spoke on Dateline,
‘It’s psychological warfare on a man who’s a pretrial detainee’
In November 2024, a 12-member jury found Allen guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of murder while kidnapping. In December, Allen was sentenced to 130 years in prison.
Delphi Sheriff Tony Liggett spoke in a press conference after the hearing,
‘A form of justice was served, but it does not bring Abby or Libby back. These families will live every day without two of the most important people in their lives.’
He added,
‘They’re missing milestones because a lowlife coward decided to take their innocent lives. They did not deserve this. Today is not closure, it is just turning the page and starting a new chapter. My heart is, and always has been, broken for these families. I want them to know that we stand with them, and I want to apologize to them that it took 8 years to get to this point.’
Dateline’s A Walk Through The Woods episode features interviews from the victim’s families, Delphi Sheriff Tony Liggett, and Richard Allen’s defense attorney.
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