New court documents allege white nationalists practicing “Odinism” were responsible for deaths of Libby German and Abby Williams, whose bodies were found in Delphi, Indiana in 2017
In newly filed court documents, defense attorneys for Richard Allen allege that he is an “innocent man” and that the murders of two Delphi, Indiana girls – Abigail Williams and Liberty German – were committed by white nationalists as part of a pagan ritual.
“Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” the attorneys wrote, according to a 136-page document posted online.
The bodies of the two girls were found in February 2017 in a wooded rural area of Delphi, Indiana.
The latest court documents describe the crime scene as “ghoulish” - noting that sticks and tree branches were placed on and around the girls’ bodies and that there were signs of runes – alphabetic symbols tied to the pagan religious cult.
In the court filing, the attorneys name at least five other people – some of whom they allege admitted involvement to family members – and who law enforcement interviewed -- but did not pursue as suspects.
“Due to either incompetence or a concerted intentionality, those in charge of the investigation refused to arrest or even properly investigate these obvious suspects,” Attorneys Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin wrote.
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The court documents also allege that law enforcement and the Carroll County prosecutor withheld this potential evidence until recently, and that they abandoned pursuing other suspects just weeks after the girls’ 2017 murders.
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to the Carroll County prosecutor’s office Tuesday for comment but we have not heard back yet.
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Richard Allen is charged with the girls' murders and is awaiting a January trial. He has pleaded not guilty.
Court documents released over the summer alleged that Allen confessed to the girls’ deaths.
Documents unsealed in late June alleged that, Allen, confessed during an April 3 phone call to his wife.
The call came from the Westville Correctional Facility, where Allen is being held as he awaits trail.
According to court records:
“On April 3, 2023, Richard M. Allen made a phone call to his wife Kathy Allen,” the record states. “In that phone call, Richard M. Allen admits several times that he killed Abby and Libby. Investigators had the phone call transcribed and the transcription confirms that Richard M. Allen admits that he committed the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German.”
The court records went on to state that Allen’s wife abruptly ended the phone call.
Allen’s defense attorneys alleged that the day after that phone call, they visited him in jail and that he appeared to be suffering from various “psychotic symptoms” which they described as “schizophrenic and delusional.” They also allege he has suffered “memory loss.”
The latest court filing this week by his defense attorneys challenges the evidence gathered against Allen and alleges that “nothing links Richard Allen to any of the Odinite suspects: the same Odinite suspects that evidence strongly supports sacrificed Abby and Libby in some sort of pagan ritual. Richard Allen had nothing to do with this crime, but rather is an innocent man; a patsy for the police…”
Adding later: “ … the Odinite angle was abandoned by March 2017, only a few weeks after the girls were murdered. The reason for this abandonment: a Purdue professor had reached a conclusion concerning Odinism and the crime scene” that it was not involved.
