Transcript of Talking Dateline: A Walk Through the Woods

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Hi, everyone. I'm Blaine Alexander, and today we are talking Dateland. I'm joined today by Andrea Canning to discuss her latest episode, A Walk Through the Woods. If you haven't seen it, it's the episode right below this one on your Dateland podcast. Feed, so go there and listen to it or stream it on Peacock, and then come back here. To recap, in 2017, two schoolgirls, Libby German and Abby Williams, were found murdered in the woods of Delphi, Indiana, near an abandoned railway bridge. For years, the case went unsolved and police were at a standstill except for one clue, a grainy picture and a gravelly voice captured on Libby's phone right before the murders. It would turn out to be a very big clue that helped solve the girls' murders. For this episode, Andrea is going going to share a podcast exclusive clip from her interview with the case's prosecutor, nick McCleeland. Then we'll answer viewer and listener questions from social media. All right, let's talk Dateland.

Hey, Blaine.

Hi, Andrea. How are you?

I'm good. Thank you. This was a tough one for me.

I can only imagine. I want to dive into that because this was one of those stories that a lot of our Dateland cases for viewers and even for us, they're brand new, right? You haven't heard about them before we bring them the episodes. This was something that we all watched laid out from beginning to end, right? I remember having friends cover this. I remember watching it, and when the cell phone video was released, all of that. There's a lot to dive into. I want to start with just where this actually occurred, that bridge. It was already an theory setting for a crime like this, right?

It really was. It was having been out there. It's very high up. It's old, it's dilapidated. The ties are far apart. A lot of people would go out on it. But you're really playing with fire out on this bridge. If you fall, you're dead. I said to the sheriff, I was like, You would not catch me ever on that bridge. It was just so scary.

I remember that line, and I thought the exact same thing. Was it as high as it seemed?

Yeah, that was what surprised me. Now it's been turned into a like a recreation place. But before the bridge, there's railings. You can go out there and look out at the wilderness and the creek and everything. Sure. But the bridge is still there. The dangerous ties, if you wanted to go out on it, you could find a way.

There was a lot that was really memorable about this episode. But I have to say that almost as soon as you introduced Libby's grandparents, Mike and Becky. My heart just went out to them because I can't imagine just this feeling of like, Hey, they were just having a sleepover at the house.

Yeah.

And then the next day, they're gone. Talk to me about what it was like just having that conversation with them.

It was hard. I was on the verge of tears a few times. Mike and Becky were so nice. I commended them because there's a lot of grandparents who end up taking in their grandchildren as their own because of issues going on in the family. I always think how incredible grandparents can be when they are so selfless. They said they wouldn't have it any other way. I think they truly enjoyed having the girls there. And something that was not in the show was something that Becky said to me. She said they had a Disney World vacation planned. Of course, the girls died. And she said the hardest thing because it was months later and they decided to go on the trip. She said she had to call and take Libby off of the reservation.

It just broke her when she had to do that because it just felt so real, and they were so excited the trip. Of course. Oh, gosh, that's just so, so heartbreaking. I'm curious, did you or did anybody from our Dateland team, did anyone speak to Abby's family?

So Maryanne O'Donnell, who's the producer on this story, the lead producer, she was in court every single day, including Saturdays. The court was on Saturdays, too. She got to know everyone. And Abby's family, they did not do a whole lot there with the media. They They were not particularly outspoken about everything, which is understandable, given what they went through.

Absolutely. Absolutely understandable. Let's talk about this investigation. I think, Andrea, for stories like this that so many of us follow, almost in real-time, I'm almost even more fascinated to watch the Dateland episode because I think that I know a lot about a case, and then the episode brings forth some more that I didn't know. The thing that I think all of us remember is that eerie recording from Libby's phone. They have this image now of the murderer, his voice, and really, the girls helped bring down their own killer.

Yeah, I mean, I said that to the prosecutor. I said it was like Libby helped solve her own crime and the crime of her best friend. I don't think I've ever covered a story where someone has the wherewithal to pull out their phone feeling something's not right here and just hitting record. So hats to Libby, who, by the way, was a big fan of crime traumas. She loves CSI, and she loved the show Body of Proof. Also, I'll say to Mike Patty, her grandfather, he also really instilled safety and her and everything. We know how tweens and teens are with their phones. I guess all those factors came together, and she just had that instinct to pull out her phone.

I'm curious. One of the things that we heard was that recording and the words down the And correct me if I'm wrong, but that was the only portion that was released. I didn't realize that they actually had what, 43 seconds?

You said of audio? Yeah, 43 seconds of audio and video. I knew viewers would wonder Why didn't they release the whole video? We never got a straight answer, really, of why they didn't. I think they also felt like seeing the images, seeing the snippet of him walking was enough.

Well, I have another question about that. I wonder, did the video lead investigators astray at all? I mean, it led to people pointing fingers at friends, acquaintances online, just anyone that they could think about that even slightly resembled Bridge guy.

I mean, I think they had to. That happened. Sure, people were pointing fingers at each other, and everyone was a suspect, but they had to release that video, right? I mean, how could you not? Sure. Because someone might have recognized something, and the killer his wife had seen the story on the news and said, Hey, you were out there that day around that time. The police are saying, Come talk to us if you were out there on the trails. And so he did. Richard Allen went to the police. Unfortunately, he didn't get with a detective. He got with a conservation officer. I know the now Sheriff, who was a detective, said he didn't even know about Richard Allen. It never even got to him.

That is unbelievable. Before we go further into Richard Allen, something that was really interesting about this episode to me, there were obviously alternate suspects. Let's talk about Anthony Shatz or Kagan Klein. That was a journey. That was interesting.

That was a really big-time red herring.

Yes, absolutely it was. First, I want to say, I loved that we had these interviews that Court TV reporter had done, like WTHR reports done. Yeah, Barbara. Yeah, I mean, to have that interview with the guy whose real picture it was while he was working out on a workout machine.

I know, right? I don't think I've ever done it. I don't know what was going on there. I don't think I've interviewed any people like that who are working out.

Can I just say, I appreciate the multitasking. Okay? He said no excuses. We're getting it in today. I know.

That was so funny. Yeah, I know. It was so funny. It was so funny to think that he was a model, and now he's a police officer in Alaska. He's like, Wait a second. Why am I getting dragged into this murder investigation.

I just want to go on the record and say, next time we do a talking dateland, perhaps we could do it from the Peloton.

And that way we're- Oh, my gosh.

No excuses to not work out here. But that whole episode with Anthony Shatz, Kagan Klein, I mean, that really was, yes, talk about a red herring. But I'm sure that when detectives found those conversations with Libby, they were like, Okay, this is it. Case closed. We got a guy.

I think they kept thinking that. They thought it was going to be solved within a week.

And it just didn't happen. I would imagine this had a tremendous impact on this community.

Everybody was just fearful. Delphi is just a tiny little community, and you can only imagine. You're there to raise your family and have kids and where they feel safe and where you can drop them off at the trails for the afternoon and not think twice.

And you know everybody. That's the creepy thing. You feel like you know everybody. So now you're looking and it's like, okay, these people that I know, is one of you guys? Are we in a restaurant with the person who did this? Are you next to me at the stoplight? Yeah.

Exactly. Everyone is so nice there. I was actually rear-ended. I was in a rental. And a service-type van just crashes right into the back of me. And he's like, Meet me over at the fire. There was a fire station right there. And so I went, and he was so nice. He's like, I'm so sorry. That was my fault. I feel like if I was in New York, they'd be like, Why did you stop at a stop sign? Exactly.

First, they wouldn't I don't told you to meet anyone over anywhere. They would have just yelled at you and probably kept going.

But it was funny, though, because it just showed you just how nice. There was no animosity, no fighting, no denying, no just... I'm so sorry.

I'm sure you were on your way to an interview or something.

Oh, I was. We had to start late. Oh, yeah.

Okay, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Andrea is going to share a podcast exclusive clip from her interview with the prosecutor in this case, nick McLeeland.

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Let's talk about the trial. Before we can talk about the trial, of course, we have to talk about the pre-trial hearing and the judge ruling that the defense could not introduce this alternate theory that the murders were tied to odinism.

First, talk about what that was, and that was a tremendous blow to the defense. It was. The fireworks really happened pretrial more than in trial. If you watched the episode to our listeners, the defense team took me out to the woods and demonstrated how the sticks were placed on the bodies and the blood spattered on the tree.

That was fascinating, by the way.

Yeah. They were convinced that it was a ritualistic killing, whereas the sheriff, who was the former detective, said that he just felt like the sticks were just haphazardly thrown on the girls to try to cover them. But I mean, one thing is that there were not... It was a very bad attempt. I mean, if he wanted to cover them up, it certainly didn't accomplish that. Sure. So who knows?

Having that not be allowed in, that upends their defense in a way, right? They have to go on trial in a different posture. Yeah.

Well, and they weren't allowed any other suspects. So it was just they just had to find what they could to defend Richard Allen. I mean, the defense went hard on his confessions, which they said were under extreme duress, that that's what happens when someone is placed in solitary like that for months. So Richard Allen was actually... Most of our viewers at this point, I feel like, and listeners, know the difference between jail and prison. Jail is if you've been charged with murder, you will go to a jail until your trial and throughout your trial, and then if you're convicted, then you'll be carted off to a state prison somewhere or a federal prison. In this case, they actually sent Richard Allen to prison.

Why?

They said it was for his own safety. I was in the jail in Delphi, and I did talk to the sheriff about the jail, and he said that they were understaffed. Richard Allen would have ended up with other people. It's just too small. So they said that's why they just made this decision to send him to the prison. And then why he goes into solitary, they say, is for his own safety. But there were stories of him doing things with his feet he sees and that he's in his underwear. The defense made it sound like he basically was losing his mind in there. So they call them almost like false confessions.

That's really interesting. Something that stood out to me was I believe it was his defense attorney who was basically saying, Hey, when you talk about matching the physical description, he's wearing what? Jeans and a Carhartt jacket. Everybody's wearing jeans and Carhartt jacket. Yeah, Carhartt hoodie. So I wonder about those just differences or the pushback of, does he exactly match the description of this guy?

Well, the defense would say that he doesn't match. There were differences in height, and the prosecutor, we pointed out, never actually had that moment, that Perry Mason moment in court, point the killer out, the man you saw. They didn't even do that. Also, we should mention, too, that we have an extra clip that you did not see in the show. This is a clip from the prosecutor.

Yeah. Nick McLeeland, the prosecutor, talking about what it was like waiting for the jury to come back with a verdict.

I didn't expect a verdict in five minutes. We had three to four weeks of evidence. They had shown through their jury questions that they were a very interested jury. They were paying attention. So we knew they were going to examine every piece of evidence carefully and not come to a decision in a hastily manner.

Are you starting to think this could be a not guilty?

No, I never believed it could be a not guilty. I thought there was too much evidence to be not guilty. My fear was a hung jury.

Come back in Monday morning, the verdict is read and it is guilty. What is that moment like for your team, you thinking about the family, all the hard work that you've put into this?

As you can imagine, this is the culmination of seven years for me, almost eight years for the family of investigating this offense, another two years of preparing for trial, then the trial in itself, just imagine the culmination of that and to come out with a guilty verdict. Obviously, it's what we wanted. We think that brings justice to Abby and Libby and some piece of the family. And so it's just a huge weight off your shoulders.

There were people who were very concerned about a hung jury because even though it didn't look good for Richard Allen, there was still a lot of circumstantial evidence.

Do you find that there is still, even though he's been convicted, is there still some doubt about this in the town? Where do people land on where the verdict?

I mean, yeah. Well, it's I, of course, didn't talk to tons of people in town. I know law enforcement, of course, believes they have the right man. The families 100% believe they have the right man. But there's some people that there's still lingering questions. The defense truly believes Richard Allen is innocent. I mean, they have a job to do, but they also believe he's innocent.

Before we wrap up this portion of our conversation, Andrea, I want to circle back to something that you said at the beginning of just how difficult this case was the story was for you to cover, personally. I wanted to ask you about that. I know that you are a mom, you are a girl mom. You even mentioned that for a bit in the episode of just the similarity in ages with two of your girls. How did you make your way through this story?

Yeah, I mean, it just really... I was just fighting back tears. It was really sad for me because I always say the closest you can get to these people and their feelings, and it's not very close, but is to imagine that these are your kids, these are your daughters. How would you feel? And as soon as you do that, you just like, it's hard to think about, right? That that could happen. It's just so hard to imagine that someone could do that to two teenage girls. But he did. The worst thing is when, and Blaine, your kids aren't old enough yet, but when you try to reach your child and they're not answering their phone, or their phone goes straight to voicemail, and you try them more times, and then you're like, What's going on? Why is it going straight to voicemail? Did the battery die? Did they don't have service? Are they okay? And In this case, this was the nightmare, where they're calling and nobody's answering, and then the hours start to tick by, and then it gets dark, and then they don't know where they are. And you just would do anything to know where that child is.

Well, no. I can imagine. Watching you, I could tell just where your heart was in this story, and I think that you just did a really beautiful job with it.

Thank you. I don't want to scare my daughters, but I want to say to them, be so grateful for what you have. I believe it was Mike Patty. He said, hug your children and don't take them for granted and just appreciate every moment. Because Because even though bad things aren't going to happen to everyone's children, they will grow up, too. And so you need to just appreciate those moments, even just... That they're young. You know it goes fast. Yeah.

Everyone says it, and I completely believe it. So thank you for that. And thank you for this episode. It was moving in so many ways, truly. Okay, and after the break, we will be back to answer viewer and listener questions from social media.

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We've got some social media questions. There were a lot of reactions to this, so I'll just read through a few. Roni Brock says, How could the police wait five years to follow up on a man who tells them he was there? Police could have gone to his home and found the jacket and pants he was wearing that day. I mean, it's something we talked about.

This goes back to the conservation officer that unfortunately just didn't have that spidey sense that maybe a detective might have. I don't know. I haven't talked to this man. I know that law enforcement, every time I would bring him up, they were careful to protect him a little bit, too. No, but there was no saying he did the wrong thing or anything like that.

Okay. Gerri Lynn wrote on Facebook, How high off the ground was that bridge?

63 feet. 63 feet? Yeah. When you're standing up there, it feels even higher. I am sure.

I have to say, I actually have a fear of heights. It comes and goes, but it would definitely...

I couldn't have done it. You wouldn't like it. No, you would not like this.

We would have had to come up with a different way to shoot that. I could not have been up there. So my hat's off to you because that was amazing. Okay, Daniel Welcher on Facebook says, Did Richard Allen have any criminal record before this?

No. None. Nothing. That was what was so strange about the whole thing, is suddenly he snaps. It It just didn't make any sense.

And then we have an audio question from Gracie Donaldson-Cipriano. Let's listen.

Hi, Dateland team. Gracie Donaldson-Cipriano here with a question for Talking Dateland. While it was really good to see a guilty verdict, we don't know why Richard Allen killed Abby and Libby? There was no clear motive. If it wasn't odonism and it wasn't personal as he didn't know the girls and it didn't seem like he was a serial killer, why? That's the million-dollar question, which we We did raise that in the show. You don't need a motive in court. You don't need a motive as a prosecutor to try a case. But juries like them because they want to know why. Well, why did this guy do it? And that was the one thing that nobody seemed to have an answer for. Just bizarre.

It's so strange, too, because you're absolutely right. You want that resolution at the end, but no, it's in the truest sense, a senseless crime. Well, Andrea, we have talked a lot of datelines today. Thank you so much. This was just a fascinating conversation as always.

Thank you.

And that's it for talking Dateland this week. Remember, if you have any questions for us about stories or about Dateland, you can always reach us 24/7 on social media @datelandnbc. And exciting news, you can now submit your questions over the phone. Just call 212-413-5252 and leave a message with your question about Dateland and our episodes for a chance to be featured on Talking Dateland. And also remember to check out Keat's brand new podcast, murder in the Moonlight. It's about a double murder in the Great Plains and an investigation that came down to one single shiny clue. As of today, Dateland premium subscribers can binge the entire series and episodes one through four are available for everyone else. Of course, we'll see you this Friday on Dateland on NBC for my very first show as a full-time Dateland correspondent. Thanks so much for listening..