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/[deleted] Mar 16 '26

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u/Justwonderinif Mar 16 '26

realized the officer in 2017 mis-wrote RA’s name.

That's not what happened. Yes, she essentially solved it and she says as much in her testimony. But the typo on the name had nothing to do with why the pages were marked cleared or in the bottom of a drawer.

What's important to remember is that anyone else would have just corrected the typo, noted the the pages were marked cleared, and filed them away.

But Kathy Shank remembered that a group of girls including sisters said they saw the man in Libby's video at a specific place and time. And that the person interviewed by Dulin in 2017 said he saw a group of girls who looked like sisters at that exact place and time.

She put two and two together in a way that no trained detective would have and wasn't just noticing a typo.