A man who helped find two missing Delphi teens has recalled the moment he found their bodies.
On February 13, 2017, 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German were dropped off at Monon High Bridge near the small city of Delphi, Indiana, before disappearing.
The girls, known as Abby and Libby to friends and family, went for a picturesque walk in the wooded area but when their parents came to pick them up later in the day at around 2pm, they were not there - nor were they answering their phones.
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A search party soon ensued that carried into the early hours of the morning, but when there was no sign of them by 2am it ended and continued the next morning at 7am (February 14).
Not long after their tracks were picked up, and the search party discovered their corpses.
More than seven years have passed since Abby and Libby's lifeless bodies were recovered and the man accused of their murder is facing trial.
Richard Allen, a married 52-year-old who worked in a local pharmacy, was arrested five years later in 2022 and is charged with two counts of murder and two of felony murder.
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At the time, he pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, before prosecutors amended the charges earlier this year.
Now, taking to the stand at the Carroll County Courthouse, witnesses who were part of the search party have recalled the horrific moment they found the teens.
Delphi residents Patrick Brown and Jake Johns helped track the girls down.
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Johns explained that he saw yellow, pink and blue clothing standing out against the dull winter landscape, and recounted how shortly after he heard Brown shout 'we just found the bodies'.
"At first, I thought they were mannequins," Brown explained about the horrific moment he discovered Abby and Libby's bodies.
Tragically, both girls had their throats cut, prosecutors state, while Libby was found stripped naked and covered in blood, Abby had some of Libby's clothes on.
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The trial also heard how Delphi's former police chief Steve Mullin, who initially thought the pair would return home, visited an agricultural supply store called Hoosier Harvestore to view its security footage.
It is understood a vehicle that resembled Allen's 2016 Ford Focus was spotted on the camera.
Taking the stand, Mullin explained that at the end of the first search he 'had no idea anything nefarious had happened to the girls'.
He added: "At that point, I still believed that, given time, they would return home. I just couldn't imagine that someone would do harm to them."
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The trial continues tomorrow (October 21).
Joe Yates