Judge orders man charged with killing 2 teenage girls to remain at northern Indiana prison

DELPHI, Ind. (AP) — A man charged with killing two teenage girls will remain held at a northern Indiana prison after a judge concluded Wednesday he's being treated better there than other inmates.

Special Judge Fran Gull denied a request from attorneys for Richard Allen to relocate him from the Indiana Department of Correction's Westville Correctional Facility because of what they said were his deteriorating health and poor living conditions at the prison where he has been held since last November.

His lawyers argued, among other things, that Allen sleeps on a pad on a concrete floor; must wear the same clothes including underwear for days that are soiled, stained, tattered and torn; and has had no chance to visit his wife or other family members in the past five months. His attorneys have described his living conditions as “akin to those of a prisoner of war.”

But the judge ruled, without going into specifics, that “the evidence presented demonstrated that the Defendant is treated more favorably than other inmates housed at the Westville Correctional Facility,” online court records said.

Allen faces two murder counts killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, in 2017.

In February of that year, a relative dropped them off at a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge just outside their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the trail.

The deaths were ruled a double homicide, but police have never disclosed how they died or described what evidence they gathered.

Allen has pleaded not guilty to the killings.

The killings have haunted Delphi, a city of about 3,000, where Allen lived and worked at a local drug store.