Interview: Local reporter on Delphi murder trial decision

Richard Allen was found guilty of murdering two Indiana girls in the town of Delphi last week. Allen is scheduled to be sentenced on December 20, and he could receive up to 130 years in prison. The death penalty is not on the table.

WFYI’s Abriana Herron spoke with local reporter Dave Bangert, who covered the trial and has reported on this story for nearly 8 years.

This transcript has been edited for style, length and clarity.

Abriana Herron: The deaths of Abigail Williams and Liberty German have long haunted the Delphi community. As someone who has lived and reported in the area for over 30 years, how have these deaths altered the community since 2017? 

Dave Bangert: You know, it really did consume that community for years. In the initial stages, almost everyone was either involved in the search for the girls when they first went missing, or they knew them. The town has 2,900 people, and so it really is pretty tightly knit. Everybody goes through the Delphi community schools for the most part. People all belong to the same churches.

So everybody had a taste of this in some way, and really affected by it, and it really was such a community nightmare for Delphi for years, and continues to be kind of a defining thing about the town, it's the thing people remember about Delphi. So when they made an arrest two years ago, it was pretty seismic.

Herron: When that arrest happened, was the community split? I've seen there's a lot of people who believe Richard Allen did not commit the murders, and there's a lot of people who believe that he did. Was the community split by him getting arrested?

Bangert: You know, I don't know that the community was so split. I think the community was very surprised, because Richard Allen, who is 52 now, worked at the CVS store in Delphi. And if you know Delphi, it's a store that everybody goes to because there are only a set number of businesses there, so people knew him by face, even if they didn't know him. But as far as the community, the community kind of stayed out of the way of the trial as much as they could.

We found a lot of people, you know, didn't want to be interviewed, but what you really saw split was this true crime community. You saw some real pro-prosecution sides that were determined to see that Richard Allen was convicted, and a lot of people who showed up who were convinced that he was the wrong man, that was the split I saw.

Herron: What do you believe are some of the factors that played into this case receiving national attention?

Bangert: Well, first off, just the circumstances. So basically, eighth graders going missing, being killed, and then you just also had, you know, the factor that they had somebody's voice to say, ‘Guys down the hill’, and a photo and video of a suspect. There were a lot of factors that made this so compelling, and the fact that they didn't get somebody for five and a half years, really built on top of itself during the trial.

Herron: What were some of the most shocking moments?

Bangert: Well, you know, there were some really brutal moments in that trial, how they found the girls bodies and then the crime scene photos themselves were, I mean, gruesome and just terrible. And the families being there to watch those autopsy photos, all those kinds of things you expect in a trial were really difficult. We also heard his confessions on audio from prison where he called his wife and his mom and literally said, I killed Abby and Libby. So hearing those was a big deal.

Herron: Richard Allen was found guilty on all four counts of murder. Was that surprising to you?

Bangert: As someone who's reported and seen all the details and seeing all the evidence, it was going to be shocking no matter what, because really, people were invested, including the media, the town. I mean that word spread in town immediately.

Herron: How do you think the town will move forward?

Bangert: I think that they've done that. I mean, they continue to move forward. I think that they don't define themselves the same way that everyone from the outside defines them. That's been my impression.

Contact WFYI Morning Edition newscaster and reporter Abriana Herron at aherron@wfyi.org.