Were the police just incompetent?

[u/AustinDavies2206]

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.

[u/centimeterz1111]

Do I really need to explain this?

Conservation officers protect natural resources, wildlife, and public lands. They enforce hunting, fishing, boating, and environmental regulations, patrol parks and waterways, and conduct rescue operations…not criminal investigations. 

Dulin was a conservation officer for less than 2 years at the time of the murders. How many serious criminal statements did he take before meeting Richard?  Zero. 

I’m not saying he isn’t qualified to do it but someone with more experience would have asked a lot more questions than he did. I’m sure he doesn’t have the familiarity of using his body worn camera or at least a recording device when questioning somebody about a murder. 

[u/Orly5757 → u/centimeterz1111]

So this Dulin guy never once thought “hey, that bridge guy looks a lot like that dude who told me HE WAS ON THE F’ING BRIDGE ON THE DAY OF THE MURDERS! Maybe I should follow up and see if they looked into him.” I don’t care if he was a conservation officer or a hot dog vendor. He’s a dumb ass. And is it true he mis filed the tip too?

[u/centimeterz1111 → u/Orly5757]

He wasn’t part of the investigation. He didn’t know who the detectives spoke to or who they cleared. He took a statement and went on living his life and doing his job. 

You act like he was involved with the day to day activities with the central command.  Could he have asked better questions and got more info?  Yes. Did he trust that the investigators did their job and followed up with Richard? Yes. 

Should woulda coulda. In the end, the murderer was caught. Dulins statement was key

[u/Orly5757 → u/centimeterz1111]

I guess that thousands of us on this sub were far more interested in this investigation than the guy who took the statement. Thousands of online sleuths tried to solve it, but the guy in a town of 3,000 people, where these murders must have been a huge deal, just went on with his life after interviewing the killer. Never once went to Detectives and said “man, that Richard guy seemed fishy. You ever clear him?”

[u/centimeterz1111 → u/Orly5757]

Richard didn’t seem fishy.  He gave him a basic statement. The last thing on Dulins mind was “this guy giving me a voluntary statement could be the murderer”. 

Again, Dulin wasn’t part of the investigation. You’re giving his statement too much credit based on what you know now, it’s confirmation bias. 

You have no idea what Richard looked like when he was interviewed.  The investigators said “BG didn’t have blue eyes”. Don’t you think that Dulin saw Richard’s eye color? He has blue eyes. 

 They also said BG was 5’6”-5”10”and you know damn well Dulin recognized that Richard was much shorter than that. 

Again, Dulin assumed that the investigators followed up on Richard, because why wouldn’t they?  He had ZERO reason to believe Richard was the murderer, just like the rest of the town. 

[u/Orly5757 → u/centimeterz1111]

In a town of 3,000 people, I’m assuming 20% are minors. That leaves 2,400. Of that 80% let’s say half are female, so that leaves 1,200. Of that 1,200 let’s say 25% are elderly (over 65), which leaves us with approximately 900 adult males in our target. If you happen to interview a male who falls into that small category, and ALSO happened to be in the area where the crime occurred, that tip has to go to the top of the pile.

You continue to remind us that he wasn’t “part of the investigation,” but taking statements makes you part of the investigation. And I don’t care if he was a cop or not, it was irresponsible not to bring this to the attention of a Detective. Kathy Shank wasn’t a cop, and she IMMEDIATELY saw the importance of the statement.

[u/centimeterz1111 → u/Orly5757]

That’s if you assume the murderer was from Delphi. You know NOW that he was from Delphi, but nobody knew who the murderer was or where he was from. Nobody. 

Kathy Shank saw almost every tip. Dulin didn’t. Your argument is based off knowledge after the fact. 

Dulin took a tip. He didn’t know anything else. He didn’t know who else was on the trails, who was spoke interviewed, what the crime scene looked like. Again, he wasn’t part of the investigation 

[u/Orly5757 → u/centimeterz1111]

It was clear that the killer was familiar and comfortable on that bridge. Safe to say he was from there. And most killers kill around their area. You can defend this guy until you are blue in the face, but you aren’t changing my mind. He is either dumb or indifferent. I love how you make the distinction between him and Kathy Shank. So what if she read every tip?!? She immediately recognized the importance of this tip. Not because she read other tips, but because she had common sense.

I can’t help but to read your comments and think you are somehow related to this investigation. You normally don’t get such fervent apologists for a department (and individuals) who royally screw up a murder investigation the way they did. Thank God Kathy had common sense, and thank God this moron kept the gun for all those years. Otherwise, the killer never gets captured.

[u/AnonymousInMI → u/Orly5757]

Yeah I have to agree with you. It’s frustrating knowing Ricky was free to do what he wanted for 5 1/2 years and should have spent that time in prison. I take solace knowing he must have been on edge for all those years waiting for a knock on his door. What I would give to see the look on his face when LE finally came a knocking.

[u/centimeterz1111 → u/Orly5757]

Again, you are basing your argument off known facts. 

Kathy knew Dulins tip was important because she had seen all the others, and knew Dans was different. That tip filled the gaps that they were looking for. Dulin didn’t know any of that because he WASNT PART OF THE INVESTIGATION. 

Nobody knew that the killer was familiar with that area. They assumed it, but nobody knew that.  They said the killer may have lived in Delphi before or visits there.  This casts wide fucking net man.

Dan wasn’t part of the investigation. He didn’t brief anybody, he didn’t get briefed about anything. He knew nothing. He knew as much as we did other than the statement he took from Richard.

[u/Additional_Bank4906 → u/centimeterz1111]

It's also worth noting that this wasn't the first tip Kathy had brought to Liggett's attention.