Suspect in homicide of Indiana teen women wins jail switch

DELPHI, Ind. (AP) — A choose has ordered a person charged with killing two teenage women in Indiana transferred to a special state correctional facility after the suspect’s attorneys argued that his bodily and psychological well being is deteriorating after months in isolation.

Richard Matthew Allen, 50, will probably be moved to a different facility that can accommodate his medical, bodily and psychological wants, the Journal & Courier reported, citing a courtroom order signed Friday.

Since shortly after his arrest within the 2017 killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, Allen has been held in isolation on the maximum-security Westville Correctional Facility for his safety. It’s unclear the place he’ll be despatched subsequent, however the order suggests it’ll have completely different medical services.

In an April 5 request for Allen‘s transfer, his defense team said he sleeps on a pad on a concrete floor, hasn’t acquired visits from his spouse or household for the previous 5 months, and is pressured to put on the identical garments for “days and days on end, all of which are soiled, stained, tattered and torn.” The attorneys’ request cited a change in “his overall mental status.”

The choose’s order doesn’t specify the place Allen will probably be moved, however it asks officers to observe the steering of physicians and psychiatrists. Gull has scheduled a June 15 listening to on a protection request to permit Allen to be launched on bail.

Allen, of Delphi, Indiana, has maintained his innocence.

He was arrested in October and charged with two counts of homicide within the February, 2017, killings of the women, often known as Libby and Abby. They had gone mountaineering on a path simply outdoors of their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their our bodies had been discovered the following day in a rugged, heavily-wooded space close to the path.