when i'm sitting in the sun ♪ ♪ i think about the rain i think i know i'm not the same ♪ [ cheers and applause ] this is nightline. tonight, who is the delphi killer? >> delphi was the safest place any of us felt like we could be. >> the shocking crime that rocked a small town. >> who would kill two teenage girls? >> the grainy video taken by one

of the victims. nice young girl becoming a key piece of evidence. but not everyone is convinced. the man on trial is the killer. the fate of the man accused now in the hands of the jury. >> i truly feel the evidence points to richard allen. but we'll see what the jury decides. >> plus, the first charges in liam payne's death. >> seems to me that when i die, these words will be written on my stone. >> the former one direction singer of hits like story of my life falling to his death from a hotel balcony in argentina. >> the final time he came back down, he actually passed out in the lobby of the hotel. >> authorities there criminally charging three people what they're learning about his final moments. and what do. more time. candy shop. >> candy shop. i let you lollipop. >> overstated. underrated. everywhere. and wiggle. wiggle, wiggle for the d o double g. >> have in common the ultra

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>> thanks for joining us tonight. a jury is deciding the fate of richard allen, accused of being the so-called delphi

killer and brutally slaying two teenage girls. best friends out for a hike in rural indiana. the double murder haunting their small town and the nation for nearly eight years. but while a jury deliberates, not all are convinced the man on trial is the true killer. here's nightline correspondent austin sing the jury in the delphi murder trial now has the case. >> a group of eight women and four men are now deliberating to determine if richard allen is guilty of murdering two teenage girls back in 2017. >> after about two hours of deliberation, the jury has called it a night. >> it's the case that gripped the world. >> this was one of those that the moment it happened, people became obsessed with it. >> two eighth grade girls disappeared on a hike in the tiny town of delphi, indiana. what came next? a horrific double murder in broad daylight. >> the city of 30,000 is on edge. two bodies found. no one in custody. >> the bodies have been

positively identified as abigail jay williams, 13, of the delphi area and liberty rose lynn german, 14. this is considered a double homicide investigation. >> tens of thousands of tips pouring in and a critical piece of evidence. video recorded by one of the girls pointing directly to a suspect. guys, come here for a long time, the question was, who is bridge guy? >> a lot of people in town thought they recognized him. >> we have his face, his voice, his image, the way he walks, what he sounds like. >> rumors and theories swirled for years, until a surprise break in the case led police to richard allen charging him with double murder. >> i think in 2017, delphi was the safest place any of us felt like we could be. we would leave our doors unlocked. we didn't have security systems in the soul of small town america, an unthinkable crime in the

victim's best friend's 14 year old liberty german and 13 year old abigail williams. >> they had the same interests in music and arts, had played volleyball together. >> everything was normal up until february the 13th, 2017. >> it was a beautiful day that the girls said, you know what, let's hang out together. bffs. they went out for a walk. >> the destination? the monon high bridge trail. hours later, when the girls were supposed to meet libby's father to be picked up, they were nowhere to be found. >> becky tried to call and she said, hey, we're not getting any. can't get ahold of libby. i said, all right, let me pack up here and i'll head that way. just walking up and down trails, trying to look and hollering and yelling, she said. it's starting to get dark. let's think we ought to call the police. >> everyone was out looking for these young girls, but you still had hope, you know. >> but then, a full day later, the search party made a disturbing discovery. >> this is considered a double

homicide investigation. no further information will be released at this time. >> according to the investigators, he killed them within 20 minutes. and according to a blood expert, abby was forced to put on libby's clothes before she was murdered. so libby's naked. but what happened between the guy on the bridge on libby's phone saying, guys down the hill, they go down the hill? what? >> interrupted him over time, police circulated two very different sketches of the suspect. >> those differences in the two sketches were very noticeable and actually created a lot more questions for the public. investigators began to release evidence and information that was captured taken from libby's phone, including video that shows the so-called bridge guy. >> he looks exactly like every single person in indiana. he's wearing the clothes that

everybody here wears everywhere around us wears. >> then an audio recording. >> nice young girl. >> investigators desperate for leads, asked the public if they were on the bridge that day to report what they saw. >> richard allen himself called police not long after this whole incident unfolded, and self-reported being at that trail. >> in the information vacuum, the internet obsession only grew. >> definitely eerie being out here even in the daylight, because this is the time of day when it happens. >> about five years after their brutal murders, authorities had more than 70,000 tips that they were investigating or had investigated. and yet there were no suspects and no arrests. >> in 2022, a lead coming in the form of a wrongly documented file found by a volunteer clerk at the sheriff's department, leading back to that name from five years earlier, richard

allen a cold case of five years, and it was solved due to, like a volunteer, a file clerk who noticed a clerical error. yes. that's it, that's it. police bring him in for questioning. >> they questioned him very extensively at the police department, and he repeatedly denied being involved with it. it got hostile and over and over he denied being involved. toward the end, he got exasperated and essentially told police, if you think i did this, arrest me almost as a dare. and shortly after they did, authorities raid allen's home, where they find a blue jacket, which they say is similar to the one bridge guy was wearing, and they find a sig sauer handgun, which authorities say matched an unspent bullet round found at the scene of the crime that bullet was the same kind that would have been used in the gun found at richard allen's home. >> police arrested richard allen in october 2022 and charged him

with the murders of abby and libby. the 52 year old is a husband, a father and known around town. >> he's someone who lived there and was an engrained member of the community that no one put two and two together like that period of time actually tells me this is how much people actually didn't suspect him. >> now, in 2024, more than seven years after the murders of abby and libby, richard allen faces trial for their deaths behind closed doors. key details about the crime coming to light. for the first time, the jury saw the photos of the girls in the leaves where they had been found, and both of their throats had been slit. >> then you get to abby. she was dressed in libby's clothes, libby's jeans, libby's zip up jacket, abby's shirt, her same shirt, libby's bra, her bra. dressed redressed, libby no clothes. she remained in a position with her sweatshirt like this, which was libby's sweatshirt. >> some evidence at trial raising more questions than answers to start, richard allen

pleaded not guilty to the murders. >> the large part of their argument is that richard allen confessed over 60 times to wardens, inmates, family members almost anyone who would listen within this prison and jailhouse setting. >> he had a conversation, for example, where he asks his wife, i did it, kathy, i did it. do you still love me? >> but allen's defense trying to poke holes in the prosecution's case and focusing the jury's attention on those confessions, and richard allen's mental health after being held in solitary confinement for months on end, we heard from his psychologist who testified as to what a decline he had and some of the behaviors that he displayed in prison were alarming. >> he was naked a lot. he was rolling around on the floor. he was eating paper. he was drinking from his toilet. all of these things, they say were proof that he was really suffering mentally and entering psychosis, including at the time when he was admitting to these

crimes. >> another point of strength for the defense. investigators found no dna evidence at the scene linking richard allen or anyone to the crime. >> having no biological evidence in a crime scene that is very bloody grotesque. probably also very violent is peculiar. >> in an unusual filing, which the judge ruled cannot be allowed into court. allen's team pinning the double murder on a mysterious group. what they are calling a white supremacist cult of odinism. >> i thought this was probably one of the craziest offenses that i've ever heard of, in my experience. >> my first response to that was i was sort of baffled by that. it's not surprising that there are groups of odinists proliferating, sort of in that midwest area, central to their argument, the idea that the girls bodies were found in unusual positions with branches over them, which the defense argues were actually pagan rune,

symbols that have mysterious significance. so runes are widely incorporated into odinist culture as well. at no point have we really seen the idea of ritual human sacrifice. this did not make any sense to me at all. >> richard allen's fate is now in the hands of 12 jurors. if convicted, he faces 130 years in prison. susan, what do you believe? >> i truly feel the evidence points to richard allen. but we'll see what the jury decides. >> even once they arrested richard allen, there's been so much doubt across the board as to whether he's responsible, whether he's convicted or not. i think there will always be that speculation in delphi as to who really is responsible for this crime. >> our thanks to austin for more on this story, watch impact by nightline. who is the delphi killer? streaming now on hulu. and when we come back, three

people in argentina now facing criminal charges in the death of former one direction singer liam payne. what they're accused of and what authorities now believe and what authorities now believe caused the singer's fatal fall. after a tnf blocker like humira or remicade? put them in check with rinvoq. rinvoq works differently and it's a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check. when flares tried to slow me down, i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and visibly reduced damage. check, check and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease

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>> welcome back. several people now facing criminal charges in liam payne's death at a buenos aires hotel last month. the pop star's fatal fall from a balcony sending shockwaves around the globe. an inquest by authorities today resulting in disturbing

allegations. i've tried playing it cool, but when i'm looking at you tonight, the first criminal charges after one thing singer songwriter liam payne's fatal fall from his third floor balcony at a buenos aires hotel. authorities in argentina charging three people, a friend of the former one direction band member charged with crimes of abandonment, followed by death, a hotel worker and another man charged with the supply and facilitation of narcotics. the latest after another round of police raids. multiple sources close to the investigation telling abc news. hotel security cameras show drug purchases involving a hotel employee and a drug dealer. >> tenemos un sobre pasado y alcol y van a estar cuando estar con romper estas rompiendo todo el habitacion y bueno.

necesitamos qué manana, por favor bajo de efectos de alcolea. >> no, senor. >> si correcto. >> prosecutors ruling out the possibility of suicide, saying the investigation has revealed payne was not fully conscious and believed he did not know what he was doing at the time of his fall. payne as one fifth of the boy band one direction quickly rising to superstardom after being launched on the british reality show x factor. >> this is so nice. we can't believe how many people have shown up in the cold for us. oh come on, liam. come on. >> so good. thank you. >> their debut album, going multi-platinum, paying out in front in the lead single what makes you beautiful? you don't know you're beautiful. >> oh, that's what makes you beautiful. >> all these gorgeous guys with these beautiful voices pointing at you and saying, you don't know you're beautiful. oh my gosh, that was made in the

devil's workshop. like that was inescapable. pop magic. >> you're causing the kind of screaming that we haven't seen since the beatles. >> it's the most popular band on the planet. one direction. here they come right now, after five years together and five world tours and five wildly successful albums with big hits like steal my girl, everybody wanna steal my girl. >> the group split and each released their own music, but solo success didn't come easily or quickly to all of them. >> liam's albums did not do as well as the others. >> in the months before his death, payne was still reportedly working on his second solo album, even as he made that final trip to argentina with girlfriend kate cassidy. >> a lovely day here in argentina. this is the breakfast table. >> i had a glass of champagne and then on october 14th, kate posted about her return to florida on tiktok while liam stayed behind in argentina at the hotel casa sur palermo.

>> on october 16th, guests reported the star was acting out in the hotel lobby. >> we had multiple encounters with liam, multiple times had come down to the lobby and there was an incident where he was very frustrated and was smashing his laptop in the lobby and then the final time he came back down, he actually passed out in the lobby of the hotel. >> at some point, he made it back to his room. then around 5 p.m. local time, the hotel manager called 911. >> urgent. porque bueno no se riesgo la vida del habitacion tiene balcon. >> within minutes before emergency personnel could even get there, the 31 year old star falling more than 40ft to his death. >> it's just a tragedy. it just should not have happened. a lot more life to lead initially, state police said after a partial autopsy.

>> payne had multiple substances in his system at the time of his death, including a mixture of drugs, often described as pink cocaine and crack, and improvised aluminum pipe also found in the room. but today, prosecutors saying a final toxicology report shows that from 72 hours to his time of death, payne only had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body. over the years, payne was open about his struggles with alcoholism. >> one of the reasons why individuals who catapult to fame might appear to be at greater risk for addiction is just because of the fact that there's so much stress and scrutiny they need some kind of outlet or escape. >> in july 2023, he posted a video to his youtube channel saying he was six months sober after receiving treatment. >> it's good to be in this position and then, yeah, i definitely don't need those things anymore. the party's over half an hour away. >> fans around the globe are still mourning payne, who is also a father to a seven year

old boy. >> it's literally so heartbreaking and my heart goes out to his friends and family in this time of loss. >> i feel sick, i want this to not be real so bad because everything in my life goes back to them. >> payne's body now back home in the uk, where he'll be laid to rest. when we come back, hit baby, one more time. one more time. try a billion times. the ultra exclusive club now pulling back the velvet rope. boy, you back the velvet rope. boy, you got me blinded i get it, baby hi. ♪ good to go binge-watch. ♪ good to go out even later. ♪ with cabenuva, there's no pausing for daily hiv pills. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. it's two injections from a healthcare provider,

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>> and finally, tonight they're all in da club. now me baby, one more time britney spears baby one more time. her first ever single and the song that rocketed her to superstardom. now the music video hitting the big time, too, notching more than a billion streams on youtube. yeah! streamers also sweet on 50 cent's candy shop. i take you to the candy shop. >> i let you take the lollipop. >> go head girl jason derulo and snoop dogg wiggling their way into the billion streams club as well. wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle and that's nightline. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here. same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night. america. >> abc's david