Officer fatally shot at supermarket, suspect in custody: Police

(NEW YORK) — Details about the murder of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 were revealed for the first time Friday during the trial of the man accused of killing them.

Richard Allen is charged in the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The two friends were found dead a day after they went out for a walk on a hiking trail in February 2017.

Allen has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder.

Police have never released how the eighth graders were killed. During opening statements Friday in the long-awaited trial in Carroll County, Indiana, the prosecutors provided the jurors with details about the murders.

“You’re going to see the crime scene,” prosecutor Nick McLeland said. “It was a gruesome scene. Libby was completely naked. Her throat was cut, blood all over. Abby’s throat was also cut.”

McLeland said the case is about three things: the “bridge guy,” an unspent bullet found at the crime scene and the brutal murders of Libby and Abby, who were found dead near the Monon High Bridge.

According to McLeland, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat while they were crossing over the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, so Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, he said.

McLeland said the man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls “down the hill.” The girls complied and then, the video on the cellphone stopped recording.

According to McLeland, Allen testified that he was on the trail that day. Investigators also found a gun in his house, and testing showed a bullet found at the crime scene cycled through that gun.

McLeland said Allen also confessed to committing the crime to his wife and mother voluntarily while in jail.

Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin said in his opening statement that there is reasonable doubt in the case, arguing that the state’s investigation was botched from the beginning.

Baldwin questioned the timeline and cellphone evidence in the state’s case, holding up a phone to the jury and saying, “Forensic data on these phones don’t lie.”

Baldwin said the prosecution claims Abby and Libby were dead by 4 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, and their bodies were never moved until they were recovered the next day. He said the prosecution’s timeline puts Allen in a parking lot near the trial at 1:30 p.m. but his cellphone data shows he was gone by 2:15 p.m.

Addressing the unspent round found at the crime scene, Baldwin said law enforcement commonly used that type of bullet, but police never investigated if an officer was missing one. He also said the owner of the property where the girls were found owns a similar weapon but his gun was never tested.

The defense also argued Allen’s mental health was in decline while in prison, which led to him to confess to the crime.

The defense told jurors they believe the girls were killed somewhere else and their bodies were returned to the crime scene — that searchers saw no bodies or girl’s clothing in the creek on the night of Feb. 13, and witnesses near the crime scene also never heard any screams.

Baldwin also said hair found in Abby’s hand was a possible match to a female relative of Libby, and not Allen. The defense revealed the evidence for the first time during proceedings earlier in the week.

Ahead of opening statements, Judge Frances Gull ruled the composite sketches of a person of interest in the case released by the Indiana State Police early in the investigation will not be used during the trial.

Prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to prevent defense attorneys from referencing the sketches, arguing they were for generating leads in the case and were not used to identify Allen as a suspect in the case.

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(WASHINGTON) — For more than a century, from the early 1800s to the 1960s, Indigenous children were taken from their tribes — sometimes forcibly from their homes — to attend government assimilation boarding schools. On Friday afternoon, President Joe Biden will issue a formal apology from the U.S. government to impacted communities.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position, says her grandparents and mother were among those shipped off to these schools: “I understand that history,” she told host Brad Mielke on Friday’s episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ flagship daily news podcast.

“The children got to these boarding schools. They were stripped of their clothing. Their hair was cut. They were forbidden to speak their native languages and were beat if they did,” said Haaland.

Haaland went on a reservation listening tour to hear from tribal elders and descendants of people who attended these schools as part of a federal investigation into the government’s boarding school programs and the reported physical and emotional abuse as well as death that took place.

She also investigated those who never made it home, and found that hundreds of children had been buried at unmarked sites far away from their homes.

As part of her investigation, Haaland put together a list of recommendations, the first of which is to issue a formal acknowledgment and apology from the U.S. government.

President Biden told White House reporters Thursday that he’s going to Arizona “to do something that should have been done a long time ago.”

“To make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,” he said. “That’s why I’m going. That’s why I’m heading west.”

Haaland told “Start Here” that an apology is the first step in working toward a remedy to the trauma and pain.

“Quite frankly, Native American history is American history, so it’s important for the survivors and the descendants, I believe, to feel that they are seen.”

ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted Thursday to approve new rules requiring all wireless carriers to implement georouting for calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in a move it says will help “save more lives.”

“Time and again, across many different communities, I have heard stories of how important the 988 Lifeline is for individuals in need of support,” Commissioner Anna Gomez said during the FCC’s Thursday meeting. “Today we affirm the experiences of these individuals and take steps to enhance the lifesaving capability of this service.”

“Doing everything we can to ensure that individuals in a crisis can receive the support they need saves lives and is simply good policy,” she added.

When a person calls 988, that call is routed to one of the Lifeline’s 200-plus crisis centers around the United States. The new rules will require carriers to route calls based on where the call was placed, allowing for a more localized response. Since the three-digit number launched in July 2022, it has been using area code-based call routing.

“This is a mismatch I have long believed we should fix — and I believe we can save more lives if we do so,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said during the Thursday meeting. “Because if we get more people connected to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, to resources that are local, we can help more people with more meaningful assistance in more places.”

Rosenworcel explained that when the original 10-digit Lifeline number was created in 2005, most calls came in on landlines, so area code routing made sense. Now, she said, almost 80% of calls come from cellphones, creating the need for georouting to provide localized care.

Advocates have called for georouting to be implemented for years, saying callers would benefit from localized follow-up care, though there have been some concerns about caller privacy. Under the new georouting system, calls will be routed based on the location of the cell tower that originates the call, as opposed to the precise location of the caller — a move meant to protect privacy, according to the FCC.

The order passed Thursday only requires georouting for phone calls to the Lifeline. There is currently no requirement for text contacts to the Lifeline to be georouted. However, the FCC also voted to propose and begin seeking comments on a rule that would require georouting for texts.

Phone calls accounted for about 72% of contacts to the Lifeline for the month of August, according to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration data. Texts accounted for about 19% of August contacts. The remaining contacts come from web-based chat services, the data showed.

“We’re not going to stop working to improve the Lifeline until everyone gets access to the local help and resources that they need,” Rosenworcel said.

Last month, wireless carriers Verizon and T-Mobile implemented voluntary georouting for 988 calls placed on their networks — a move that accounted for about half of all calls to the Lifeline, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Around 80% of calls to the 988 Lifeline are done through wireless phones, and many people have phone numbers with different area codes from where they live, work or visit,” T-Mobile President of Technology Ulf Ewaldsson said at the time. “Georouting ensures that those seeking help will reach the available crisis center nearest their location for support. It’s about making sure help is there when and where it’s needed most.”

All national carriers will have 30 days to implement georouting for their 988 calls. Smaller providers will have 24 months.

Since the 988 launch, the Lifeline has fielded more than 10 million contacts.

If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.

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