An Indiana jury was shown a longer version of the infamous video taken from the phone of one of the slain teenagers in the Delphi murders case.
The trial of Richard Allen, 52, entered its fourth day of testimony on Tuesday and included the previously unseen video. It came a day after the jury was shown gruesome crime scene photos of the victim’s dead bodies.
Allen is accused of killing 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams and 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German. The girls’ bodies were found alongside the Monon High Bridge trail near Delphi on February 14, 2017, a day after they went missing.
Video from Libby’s phone that was taken on February 13, 2017, has been considered to be a significant piece of evidence in the case as it allegedly included audio released by police at the time that led to the identification of a suspect, dubbed “Bridge Guy.”
A grainy image of a man who came known to be “Bridge Guy” was taken from the video and released by Indiana State Police following the murders in an effort to track down the suspect. In the footage released by police, the man who is believed to be the killer, can be heard telling the girls to “go down the hill.”
In 2022, Allen was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while kidnapping in connection to the case. His trial began last week in Carroll County.
In court on Tuesday, a longer version of the Snapchat clip of “Bridge guy” was presented to the jury while Brian Bunner, a digital forensic expert with Indiana State Police, testified to how they retrieved the data from Libby’s phone, according to WTHR. The clip, which is about 40 seconds long, according to Fox59 who is at the trial, one of the girls says something that sounds like, “There’s no path down here. We’ve got to go down here.”
It’s not clear if the voice belonged to Libby or Abby. The video also showed an image of the man who later became known as “Bridge Guy.”
Bunner said he extracted video four separate times between 2017 and 2019. In 2017, and that the phone was sent to the Department of Homeland Security for additional analysis.
The reveal of the video comes two days after the defense filed a motion on Sunday to ban the “enhanced” audio recording from a video found on Libby’s phone, according to WRTV.
“Interpreting the words and sounds on the enhanced video requires a completely subjective analysis,” the motion reads, referring to the video footage and audio as “poor quality.”
The “enhanced” audio includes a clip where a man is heard saying “down the hill,” according to WTHR, a phrase now synonymous with the case.
The motion argued that the video and audio from the clip were not used to identify Allen as a suspect,
“Allowing a witness to speculate as to the words and sounds on the recordings would put ideas in the jurors’ heads that would be confusing and misleading,” the motion said, according to WTHR. “It is up to the jury to determine what words or sounds exist on the recordings.”
Judge Fran Gull has yet to rule on the motion regarding the enhanced video and audio.
On Monday, jurors had an emotional day in court as they viewed graphic crime scene photos of the murders while prosecutors questioned Sgt. Jason Page, an Indiana State Police crime scene investigator.
At one point, a graphic closeup picture of one of the victims appeared without warning, causing several people to gasp.
Libby was found nude and covered in blood while Abby was found wearing some of Libby’s clothing, according to testimony from last week.
Following the questioning on Tuesday, one juror asked whether the undergrowth on the ground where Abby was lying appeared to have been disturbed, which would suggest she was dressed there, the Indy Star reported.
Ryan Olehy, an Indiana State Police crime scene investigator, said he does not recall the area being disturbed.
As testimony continued, Allen sat at the defense table and rocked subtly back and forth during testimony. He was not cuffed or shackled.
The trial is expected to last a month.
