Delphi, Indiana
AP
—

An Indiana man convicted in 2017 of killing two teenage girls who disappeared during a winter hike was sentenced Friday to a maximum of 130 years in prison. The case has long cast a shadow over the teens’ small hometown of Delphi, Indiana.

A special judge sentenced Richard Allen during a hearing that began at 9 a.m. Allen, 52, was convicted Nov. 11 for the murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, known as Abby and Libby. A jury found him guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of murder in the commission or attempt of kidnapping.

Allen faced a prison sentence of between 45 and 130 years for the murder of the Delphi teenagers. He was convicted in two of the four murder cases.

Allen also lived in Delphi and when he was arrested in October 2022, more than five years after the murders, he was employed as a pharmacy technician at a pharmacy just blocks from the county courthouse where he later stood trial. His week-long trial came after repeated delays, a leak of evidence, the withdrawal of his public defenders and their reinstatement by the Indiana Supreme Court.

The case, which contained tantalizing evidence, has long attracted great attention from true crime fans. The teens were found dead with their throats slit in February 2017, a day after they disappeared while hiking during a day off from school.

Allen was convicted by Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull, who along with the jury hailed from Allen County in northeastern Indiana.

The seven women and five men were seized during the trial, which began Oct. 18 in Delphi, the girls’ hometown of about 3,000 residents, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis in Carroll County.