Acquitted Man Accused of Kidnaping Heidi Allen Passes Polygraph Test

Two brothers go to court separately. One walks away and one goes to prison, but police believe they acted together.

By Lydia Richins, Marketing —

In 1994 an 18-year-old Heidi Allen disappeared from her job at a convenience store without a trace. To this day she remains missing. A man, Gary Thibodeau, was found guilty of kidnapping and possibly killing her and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, the case isn’t closed. To this day, two years shy of 25 years, Gary Thibodeau and his family still argue that he is innocent.

Both Innocent and Guilty Brothers

Brothers Richard and Gary Thibodeau were the last ones to see Heidi Allen before her disappearance. Police claimed they acted together in the kidnapping but there was no physical evidence that linked them to the crime. The brothers were tried separately by two different jury’s. Oddly enough, Richard was found innocent while Gary was found guilty. The difference? Gary had two prison inmates testify against him claiming he had admitted to them about the kidnapping. This was enough to turn the jury against him. Despite the sentence, Richard still argues for Gary’s innocence.

Richard’s Polygraph Test

To support his own testimony Richard recently took a polygraph test. During this test, he told the interviewer that neither he nor his brother had participated in any way in the disappearance of Heidi Allen. The polygraph didn’t detect any signs of deception. This test is especially interesting in light of new testimonies that point to other potential suspects. With this new information, Gary Thibodeau’s case is to be argued before the Court of Appeals next month.

Validating Truth

In this case, there is little evidence but the word of each witness. Polygraph can help add credibility to each testimony. However, the polygraph isn’t the only lie detection out there. A new type of lie detection technology is called EyeDetect®. It’s a small, portable technology, with new eye detection software that scans people’s eyes as they take a 30-minute test. In that 30 minutes, this eye lie detector is able to assess credibility with the same accuracy as a polygraph (about 86 percent). Since the two test measure very different signs, some believe that coupled together the tests are 99 percent accurate.

With new technology like this, we can all get to the bottom of vague cases (like that of Heidi Allen’s kidnapping). More criminals will be caught and more innocence validated.

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Photo by / Stefan Pollio