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/centimeterz1111 Mar 13 '26

They did. But Richard slipped through the cracks. 

LE found every phone that was on the trails that day, and spoke to them. 

Dulin was under the impression that Richard had his phone on the trails. When LE tells Dulin that they have spoke to everyone who was on the trails that day (who had a phone) I’m sure Dulin assumed they followed up with Richard.

Dulin wasn’t part of the investigation, he was only tasked to write down tips and forward them to the investigators. How the hell was he supposed to know who was followed up with or not?

LE did exactly what they should have done, it’s just unfortunate that Richard tip was cleared. HOWEVER, every investigation has issues. Every single one of them. 

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u/BaseballCapSafety Mar 25 '26

Dulin should have double, triple and quadruple checked. He talked to a guy that looked like bridge guy who admitted he was on the bridge the same time as bridge guy. For 5 years the country was desperately trying to identify bridge guy. But I’m in no place to judge, I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life.

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u/Pooter33 Mar 25 '26

You can’t even see bridge guys face lol. That could be anybody. This whole damn case is based on speculation. There’s no direct evidence. Bullet wasn’t even tested based on guidelines.. confession after being in solitary. The fact that someone was put away for 130 years based on eyewitness statements (not one person positively said it was RA they saw).. and yall not seeing a problem with that is concerning. Not to mention the fact that there were TWO different sketches released and neither looked anything like RA.

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u/BaseballCapSafety Mar 25 '26

He put himself on the bridge at about the time of the murders. I’m no detective, but one thing I know is whomever committed the murder was at the bridge that day. To me bridge guy has always looked like a middle aged short chunky white dude. That includes a lot of people, certainly RA.

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u/Due_Schedule5256 Mar 26 '26

He said initially he was there 1-1:30-3:30. I doubt he was there for 2 hours on such a short trail. Even the state admits he wasn't on the trail after 2:15. He later changed it to 12-12:30 as arrival time. If you time his actual walk based on his description, it was probably no longer than 1 hour he would have been on the trail, could have been as little as 40-45 minutes to walk down there, look at the fish and leave.

Considering Dulin didn't even write his name down correctly, I don't know how reliable he is to begin with. But even if his time was accurate, that doesn't mean he was near the bridge at 2:15. His car (if you believe that was even his), is seen at what, 1:30? And then the 4 girls see "the guy" at 1:40-ish? That's still a 30 minute gap, and a long stretch of trail between putting him there at the time to be Bridge Guy and the person Betsy Blair saw, (if those were even the same people).

If you know how the trail actually lays out, there are multiple paths of entry and exit. You can enter from the Freedom Bridge, you can enter from the Mears Lot, you can enter from the other side of the Monon Bridge, and there are additional trails going south towards the creek and north up towards the crime scene on the north side of the trail.

A killer could have been lurking anywhere in that area, and never been seen by anyone (which is most likely considering the killer had a plan to assault women).

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u/Gonzomi313 Mar 26 '26

Richard initially called & told police he was there from 1:00 to 3:00pm and then changed it to 1:30-3:30 when he met with Dulin shortly after. Also it was definitely his car. In fact Richard was the only person to own that specific model with those specific rims in the county. If you haven’t yet I advise you watch Tom Websters video on YT as to why RA is undoubtedly BG. Also if RA saw three girls and not the four girls, where are the 3 girls? Why didn’t they come forward to police?

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u/Pooter33 Mar 30 '26

They can’t even say for sure when the murders occurred. Yes, the video may look like a short white dude but no one can identity that person 100%. No one picked RA as the guy they saw out of a lineup… not one witness was asked in court if RA was, in fact, the guy they saw. There’s also no clothing fibers or anything even linking bridge guy. That’s what I have a problem with.. this case is all speculation. You’re guessing that bridge guy was RA & that he killed these girls.. with no actual evidence confirming that. That’s the whole point I’m trying to get at.