Bar owner: Delphi murder suspect sat by wanted poster, spoke about case
An Indiana bar owner has revealed that the suspect arrested in the Delphi murders of two teen girls was a patron at his tavern who would often sit just inches away from a police sketch of the wanted killer.
Bob Matlock, the owner of the now-shuttered JC’s Bar and Grill, said that Richard Matthew Allen and his wife were regular customers who would often talk about the 2017 killings of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German and 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams.
“He would come in and we would always talk about the girls and everything,” Matlock told the Daily Beast.
“We would carry on conversations about it, he would say, you know, ‘It’s such a tragedy,’ and we’d say we felt sorry for the families and all that …”
Allen, a 50-year-old married dad of two and CVS technician, was taken into custody Friday and charged with two counts of murder for the mysterious slayings in Delphi. The girls’ bodies were found near a hiking trail on Feb. 14, 2017 — a day after they went missing while going for a walk during a day off from school.
Matlock, who closed his business in December 2021, said he considered Allen and his wife, Kathy, to be good friends of nearly 20 years. The couple came to the bar three to four times a week and chatted with other patrons, sometimes about the girls’ unsolved murders.
Matlock said some of Libby and Abby’s relatives were also his patrons.
The Allens were members of JC’s Bar’s pool league and were active in the community, Matlock said. He stressed that there was “never any indication” that Richard, known to his friends as “Rick,” would be accused of a double murder.
“I just couldn’t believe it when they said they arrested him,” said Matlock. “I said, ‘Well, that can’t be the Rick we know.’ And then we come to find out it was … There wouldn’t have been any inkling to anyone that knew him that would expect him to do something like that.”
A haunting photo shared by Matlock showed a smiling Allen posing in front of a police poster with an artist’s rendering of the Delphi murder suspect’s face.
The former bar owner said he thought the sketch bore no resemblance to Allen. He also did not think a man’s voice saying the words “down the hill” in a grainy video recovered from Libby German’s phone sounded like Allen’s.
Matlock described Allen as “quiet” and “friendly.” He said his “sweet” wife, Kathy, works as a veterinarian.
Libby’s grandmother, Becky Patty, told reporters Monday that Allen had once processed photos for their family at the CVS but he didn’t charge them.
Betty Cummings, a customer at the CVS where Allen worked, told the Indianapolis Star that she would occasionally see him while having lunch with friends at a nearby McDonald’s.
She described him as calm and mild-mannered.
“He just blended right in,” she said. “You wouldn’t even suspect the guy.”
CVS issued a statement in the wake of Allen’s arrest, saying the company is “shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.”
“We remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families,” the statement continued.
More than five years after Libby and Abby’s killings, police still have not released how they were killed, or what evidence they had in the case.
During his initial court appearance Friday, Allen pleaded not guilty to the murder counts and was ordered held without bond.
State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said the probe is “far from complete” and urged members of the community to continue to come forward with information.
With Post wires
