A judge in Indiana is expected to decide Tuesday whether sealed court documents that laid out the evidence behind a man's arrest in the 2017 killings of two teenage girls will be released to the public.

Richard Matthew Allen, 50, of Delphi, was charged last month with two counts of murder in the deaths of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13. The probable cause affidavit and charging information were sealed at the request of the local prosecutor, leaving the public with few details about the case against him.

Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, filed a brief Monday asking Allen County Judge Fran Gull to unseal the records. Gull was assigned after the Carroll County judge, whose jurisdiction includes Delphi, stepped aside from the case. The brief argues that "the public interest is best served by public access to a prosecutor's basis for filing criminal charges," and that openness is essential to government transparency and accountability. Gull will hold a hearing in Delphi on Tuesday.

Authorities announced Allen's Oct. 28 arrest on Oct. 31 and said he lived in the same community where the girls' bodies were found. On Feb. 13, 2017, a relative dropped the girls off at a trail near the Monon High Bridge outside Delphi, a city of about 3,000 roughly 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. They did not appear at their pick-up spot hours later, and their bodies were found the next day in a rugged area near the trail. Allen worked at a local CVS store.

The deaths of the girls, known as Libby and Abby, were ruled homicides, but police have never said how they died or what evidence they collected. Over the years investigators released grainy photos of a suspect on the abandoned railroad bridge, an audio clip of a man saying "down the hill," and sketches in July 2017 and April 2019. The images and audio came from Libby's cellphone. In December 2021, state police sought information from people who had contact with someone using a fictitious online profile, "anthony_shots," active from 2016 to 2017 on Snapchat, Instagram and other platforms.

Indiana law lets courts withhold records in "extraordinary circumstances," and such requests must be public, backed by "compelling evidence" and followed by a public hearing. Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland, who requested the seal, did not respond to AP interview requests. At the Oct. 31 news conference, he said the step was about "protecting the integrity of this case" and that the case's extra scrutiny made sealing important.

Outside experts see merit on both sides. Novella Nedeff, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, said the heavy media attention and the nearly six-year gap before an arrest make disclosure like "walking on eggshells." Sheryl McCullom, a crime scene investigator who directs the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, called sealing a "viable option" for protecting a small town, but guessed the documents could be unsealed and said that is "probably, at this point, the right thing."

Becky Patty, Libby's grandmother, shared a Facebook petition to keep the records sealed that has drawn more than 41,000 signatures. She worried the information would be "broadcast all around the world" and cited innocent people whose lives were upended by accusations over the past five and a half years. She also stressed the need for an impartial jury at the trial, scheduled for March, adding, "I understand people want to know – and they will know – in time."

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said at the Oct. 31 news conference that the investigation was "far from complete" and that anyone else involved would be held accountable. He urged the public, including true-crime followers who have offered many theories, not to "subjectively interpret" the case. Allen received public defenders earlier this month, writing in a letter to Carroll Circuit Court that he and his wife can no longer work.