DELPHI After the sentencing of Richard Allen, law enforcement in Carroll County gave special thanks to one woman, who they say is the reason they were able to close the case. "The reason justice was served today was due to one person, "Sheriff Tony Liggett said in a press conference after Allen was sentenced to 130 years for the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German. "The person that only knows how to give. She has given herself literally, for free, to this investigation in different ways. Since about March of 2017 Kathy Swank, while filing, scanning, organizing, found a tip that led us to be here today." Kathy Shank, a retired CPS worker and volunteer clerk, organized and evaluated approximately 14,000 tips received by law enforcement regarding the murders in Delphi.She testified in the early days of the trial. In her testimony, Shank told the jury how in 2022 she found a box in a desk drawer that contained a lead sheet from February 16, 2017. It was labeled "Richard Allen Whiteman. The tip indicated Allen had been on the trail on February 13, 2017, the day the girls went missing. Although, the file was labeled as "Cleared," Shank's intuition told her to take it to Liggett, who was the lead investigator on the case. That action ultimately led to Allen being the lead suspect. "When I found that, I realized that I had not heard of this person and I went to the file drawer and found the actual file for Richard Allen Whiteman at that time as it as it had been written," Shank told WRTV. "And I read the report that Dan Doolan had made after he had spoken with him and I as being an investigator, I had looked at some of the statements from the girls that said they had seen a person out the bridge and basically I put the two and two together, took it to Tony, and we went from there." WATCH | WRTV'S full interview with Kathy Shank Interview with Kathy Shank, the woman who cracked the Delphi caseOn Dec. 20, 2024, Richard Allen was sentenced to 130 years in prison, for both the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German in 2017. It took eight years for the case to be solved. When asked how it felt to see a guilty verdict, Shank told WRTV, "Justice has been served." MORE | Richard Allen sentenced to 130 years in prison for 2017 murders of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi Richard Allen sentenced to 130 years in prison for 2017 murders of two teenage girls in DelphiLawyers for Richard Allen are seeking an appeal, which they must file within 30 days.