Richard Matthew Allen was hiding in plain sight, as many had suspected, right there in the town of Delphi IN. Living only roughly one mile from the homicide scene, how did Allen manage to escape suspicion?
Investigators stated that the double homicide suspect would likely change his appearance and habits after the crime. Allen appears to have done both going from a rough looking character in a bar to a clean cut husband that liked to hike with his family.
BEFORE
AFTER
Richard Allen doesn’t appear to have a social media account. His wife, Kathy, posted photos of Allen in 2016 and then 2018. No public photos have been posted since 2018.
Was Allen’s family aware that he was the Delphi Killer? Were they suspicious? We can only speculate. More often than not, family and friends are not aware that their husband, father, son, etc is capable of a horrific crime such as rape or murder. They may notice a change in appearance or habits and excuse it away as being stress or midlife crisis.
Or, it may simply be easier to look the other way and dismiss suspicions. You don’t want to accuse your loved one and stir up trouble within the home. Perhaps fear is involved. If he can commit such a heinous crime, perhaps he is willing to go further to silence any suspicions.
What if his wife or other family member did suspect? It’s not as simple as contacting police and an arrest is made. Investigators need proof. They need to have hard evidence. You may know someone committed a crime, they may even confess to you. This is not enough for an arrest. There must be solid evidence. A family member’s suspicions can lead to an investigation but investigations must follow a course of action which will start with fingerprints and DNA if available.
Several witnesses saw the Delphi killer on and around the trails before and after the homicides occurred on February 13, 2017. Those witnesses gave a suspect description and participated in creating a sketch. The suspect description states that the killer had reddish brown hair, is around 5’6 – 5’9 and 180 – 220lbs. Allen has reddish brown hair, is 5’4 and weighed around 180lbs.
At this time it’s unknown what led investigators to Richard Allen. It’s speculated that the recent search of the Wabash river may have yielded some clues. Others in the community believe Allen was an acquaintance of Kegan Kline, a man who is held on seemingly unrelated child pornography charges. Kline operated a fake social media account that targeted young females. Kline told investigators that other men had access to that fake account. It’s been reported that Kline used that account to message Libby German in the days before the homicides.
This story will be updated when new information becomes available.
Update: Libby’s sister, Kelsi confirmed that Libby did communicate with Kegan Kline’s fake social media account – Anthony_Shots – the night before the homicides. Kelsi then contacted the Anthony Shots account during the search to ask if ‘he’ knew where the girls might be. It’s speculated that the person behind the fake account asked the girls to meet ‘him’ at the bridge the following day.
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