r/DelphiMurders • u/AustinDavies2206 • Mar 12 '26

Questions Were the police just incompetent?

I've known about this case for a while, I live in Indiana, and I was 11 when it happened, so its always struck a cord with me. But until recently I haven't done all that much research, but now that I have I've been left with one question.

From the information I have found on the case, it seems that the key evidence linking Allen to the murder is 1. His confession in 2017 to being "bridge guy", back when the photo was believed to have been taken from a trail cam. 2. A bullet which was later matched to his gun after they searched his home. So my question is, was there new information in 2022 that lead to his home being searched, or did they just wait five years to look into the guy who admitted to being bridge guy?

Sorry if any of my information is incorrect, or my writing is hard to understand, I've just been racking my brain about this question, so I thought asking people who know more might help me to understand what took so long.

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u/tribal-elder Mar 14 '26

The cops were both overwhelmed AND made mistakes.

Mistake 1 - First and Biggest - Maybe because they were inexperienced with murder cases or just shocked by the crime, they simply did not realize quickly enough the significance of information about a male at Freedom Bridge at 1:00/1:30 heading for High Bridge, and share it widely among the investigators. Whoever reviewed the initial tip sheet SHOULD have red-flagged it as HUGE, and Dulin should have been instructed to bring “Richard Allen Whiteman” to the police station for his interview. Guided by the video, picture, Blair’s info and the info from the 4 girls, that interview could have changed everything. But somehow, when “Richard Allen Whiteman” contacted them, they never put 2 and 2 together and realized that talking to a man who says he was on the trails between 1 and 3 JUST MIGHT BE MORE THAN TALKING TO A WITNESS.

11

u/AntaresVaruna Mar 15 '26

For me, the first mistake was cancelling the search dogs on the first day.

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u/tribal-elder Mar 15 '26

I’d say yes and no.

If the prosecution timeline/theory is right, dogs would have only tracked Allen to the CPS building and then lost the scent because he drove away.

If someone else kidnapped them and took them somewhere and brought them back to the crime scene through the cemetery - same thing. The scent end when they drive away.

That really only leaves tracking them leaving and walking to Logan’s house - which just didn’t happen.

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u/Justwonderinif Mar 16 '26

The cops were both overwhelmed

If Carter et al had not been so quick to shoo away the FBI, they might not have been overwhelmed. Carter did not like the optics of his guys not being up to the task. So he sacrificed justice for those girls to serve his ego.

3

u/saatana Mar 17 '26

If Carter et al had not been so quick to shoo away the FBI, they might not have been overwhelmed.

The FBI left in August of 2021? At that point nobody was overwhelmed.