Delphi Murders Trial: Day 4 | Focus on evidence recovered at crime scene

Nov 03, 2024

DELPHI — Day 4 of the Delphi Murders Trial began Tuesday morning in the Carroll County Courthouse with a lengthy presentation of evidence introduced by the state of Indiana in the trial of Richard Allen.

Allen is charged with the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams in February 2017.

Crime scene investigator Brian Olehy took the stand as a witness for the prosecution.

James Luttrell, a prosecutor for the state of Indiana questioned the witness. During the questioning, Olehy went through a long list of items that were found at and around the crime scene where the girls' bodies were found.

Some of the evidence included:

Olehy explained how the items were documented by Crime Scene Investigators and how they were protected for future use saying that no items were ever packed or stored with any other items.Richard Allen, the defendant, took notes at the defense table as dozens of pieces of evidence were introduced.

The testimony turned to the items collected during an autopsy. There were sexual assault evidence kits entered as evidence for Abby Williams and Libby German as well as various articles of clothing the girls were wearing when their bodies were found.

Upon cross-examination by Allen's attorney, Bradley Rozzi asked Olehy if the Smith & Wesson bullet found at the crime scene is "One of the most common rounds?" Olehy responded, "I would say no." There were several follow-up questions regarding what the defense calls the "magic bullet," a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson round.

Olehy said "No specific photos" were taken of the ground after the round was removed. He said there were no photos taken of the round itself after it was removed.

The defense attorney asked "Did you do a poor job of documenting this piece of evidence? Do you wish you would have taken more pictures?" Olehy replied, "No."

Rozzi presented the swabs to Olehy and asked if any of the information on them was a link to Mr. Allen. Olehy said, "No."

Olehy was asked about the integrity of the crime scene and private information -- and whether he was aware of information about a breach of the crime scene.

He also stated from the stand that he did not think the way sticks were found on the bodies was an attempt to communicate something.

The jury did have an opportunity to ask questions. One of the questions was whether the undergrowth appeared to be disrupted under the body. Olehy said, "I don't recall any area disturbed beyond movement of the body."

WATCH | Delphi Murders trial day 3 focuses on crime scene photos

The early afternoon session on Tuesday focused on another main piece of evidence in the Delphi murders trial. It is a video of the girls and the "Bridge Guy" that was taken on Libby German's phone.

Indiana State Police Lt. Brian Bunner, a digital forensic expert, testified about his role in examining information captured from the phone.

Testimony began with State Exhibit 182, a Google Earth map illustration that includes measurements of the area of the Delphi High Bridge.

Lt. Bunner discussed digital forensics and other categories involved in dissecting evidence. He specializes in data captured from cell phones and computers.

Bunner testified that when a cell phone like Libby's is taken for evidence, they start with a manual examination of the phone's exterior.

Bunner said numerous photos of the phone were taken before they tried to extract any data from it. Investigators then extracted the data and used the processing software called Cellebrite to put the information into a readable format.

The first report on the iPhone 6s was processed on Feb. 15, 2017.

Lt. Bunner said the phone was not turned on when he received it. The battery was not charged and had to be charged to process. Investigators were given the passcode to the phone.

Bunner's first exam is called Method 1 Technology. It pulls messages, voicemails, internet browsing history, photos, and more. For an iPhone, that data is plugged into a computer and then extracted through Cellebrite.

Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland asked if Lt. Bunner looked through the entire report.

"The report was several hundred pages long. If we went through every single line by line that would take forever. Time was of the essence we wanted to get it back to investigators as soon as possible so they looked at the last user activity," said Lt. Bunner.

McLeland asked if he looked at the camera on the phone and why.

Lt. Bunner said the timeline report showed a video. It was a video taken at 2:13 p.m. on February 13, 2017, the day Abby and Libby were last seen alive.

The video, which lasted only 35 to 40 seconds, was shown once on a large television monitor in the courtroom.

The video shows Libby filming herself and Abby on the Delphi High Bridge. At one point, the camera points up and you can see there is no one behind Abby.

However, in a later shot, it shows a man walking behind her. That man has been called "The Bridge Man."

A girl's voice was heard on the video, and when Libby's mother heard the voice (presumed to be her daughter) she started to cry and became very emotional.

The young lady was talking as she was walking at the end of the bridge.

Reporters in court heard the voice say, "There's no path. The trail ends here so we have to go down here?"

Several reporters said the tone of the comment sounded like a question.

Shortly after the girl's voice stopped, reporters in court say they heard a voice believed to be a man, but it was unclear what was said.

The video from the bridge was not enhanced, and it was only played once for the jury to watch and hear.

There were several screenshots displayed of the man in the video behind Abby. They were shown to the jury.

ISP investigators received the phone back on February 21, 2017.

Lt. Bunner testified, "Knowing it was an ongoing case the first time we did it (extracted the data) quickly. I wanted to use everything I had, so I could get everything off the phone."

Lt. Bunner said the second time didn't produce any new information.

He ran Method 2 and Method 3 on the iPhone 6s. Each level pulled some new information from the phone, but Lt. Bunner said that new information was minimal and did not add anything beneficial to the case.

In September 2017, ISP investigators sent the phone to the Department of Homeland Security because it had advanced forensic tools.

In 2019, another examination of the phone was done. They hoped that new technology might uncover some new information from the phone.

Defense Attorney Jennifer Auger led the cross-examination of Bunner.

She started with questions regarding when the reports were created and why. Jurors had eight questions after Bunner’s testimony.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution played a video clip that was taken from Libby's phone. The audio and video had not been enhanced on the phone.

Later in the day, an audio-video technician from the Indiana State Police named Jeremey Chapman took the stand. He was responsible for enhancing the audio and video from the phone that was widely shared with the media as authorities looked for the "Bridge Guy."

Judge Gull allowed the enhanced version of the video to be played in court Tuesday afternoon. It was about 45 seconds long. They played the video in its entirety a second time.

In the video, the girls are heard saying, "See this is the path. There is no path. We have to go down here?" Shortly after, a man's voice says "Guys, down the hill."

Chapman explained his role as an examiner.

He said he pulled three frames of still images of "Bridge Guy." He cleaned those up by adjusting the contrast and brightness of the images. He also used de-blurring and filters to enhance the photos.

Railly Voorhies was the first of two young ladies called to testify. She says she was walking on the trail with her sisters and a friend and taking photos near the Monon High Bridge on February 13, 2017.

At the time of the murders, she was 16-years-old and attended Delphi High School. Voorhies said she was friends with Libby and Abby on Snapchat.

Voorhies showed the jury the path she took to the bridge on a map. That trail was across from Freedom Bridge and across from the Monon High Bridge.

While walking along the trail to go home, she said she didn't see anyone on the path past Freedom Bridge. However, she said she did pass a man who did not wave back at her and "did not seem to be a happy person" near the Freedom Bridge.

Voorhies said she was supposed to be home by 2:30 that afternoon.

Voorhies provided this description of the man she passed. She said he was:

During cross examination she was questioned about what she originally told police the man she saw on the trail looked like.She testified that despite what she said when she was 16, she was certain the man she saw on the trail was "Bridge guy."

The state showed a photo of the "Bridge Guy" and Voorhies said, "That was the man I had waved at on the trail."

She also said she is 5'7" tall, and that the "Bridge Guy" was taller than her.

Defense Attorney Jennifer Auger asked, "Around 5'10"?"

Voorhies replied, "Yes."

Three more witnesses were called to the stand on Tuesday.

The first was Breann Wilber, who was a student at Delphi High School in 2017. She was friends with Kelsi German, Libby's sister.

She testified to being with Kelsi when finding out Libby was missing.

Wilber shared she was on the trail February 13th.

During testimony Wilber shared that she remembered walking past a man while walking back toward the start of the trail.

She described the man, she identified as "Bridge Guy" as creeping her out while he, "walked with a purpose."

Wilber shared she posted a photo to snapchat of the bridge that day, and Libby messaged her asking if she was at the trail. She replied they had left 10 minuted prior.

She said the man caught her attention on the trail that day because, "it was warmer that day, and he was dressed in many layers, walking with a purpose. He gave me weird vibes."

Wilber's testimony ended during shortly after cross examination where she described "Bridge Guy" as:

Wilber testified that she believed the man she saw walking on the bridge was the man seen in the photo shared by investigators. Next was Betsy Blair. She does not live in Delphi but walked the trail regularly. She testified to seeing Abby and Libby on the trail the day they went missing.

Her testimony shared details on the path she would regularly take on the trail.

She says on February 13th, 2017 she was walking the trail when she noticed a man on the bridge.

Blair described the man she saw as "Bridge Guys." Her testimony detailed that she was about 50 feet away from the man on the bridge.

"He was out on a platform, and looked at me like he was expecting someone. It didn't seem like he was looking for me," Blair testified.

She described the man as:

Blair said she only saw the man, "for a moment." When asked by the jury if the "brown poofy hair" could've been a hat, she said it's possible.

Blair also said the man she saw on the bridge is the man in the photo released by police of "Bridge Guy."

The final witness to testify was Steve Mullin, who talked about the vehicles that were at Hoosier Harvestore.

Mullin is the lead investigator for the Carroll County Prosecutor. He testified to time stamps of cars driving past the Harvestore toward the trail.