Delphi Murders: Indiana Girls Abigail Williams and Liberty German Killed in Ritual Sacrifice, Richard Allen’s Lawyers Say
DELPHI, Ind. — Lawyers for a northern Indiana man accused of killing two teenage girls say in court papers filed Monday that their client had nothing to do with the crimes and that the girls actually died as part of a ritual sacrifice.
Attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, who represent Richard Allen of Delphi, said in a 136-page document that Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, were killed by members of a Norse pagan religion and a white nationalist group. known as Odinists.
Pictured: Liberty German and Abigail Williams
FBI
They also requested a hearing to present evidence that the search warrant for Allen’s home was based on faulty probable cause and should be expunged.
“Members of a Norse pagan religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritually sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” the attorneys said in the filing.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, connects Richard Allen to Odinism or any religious cult,” they wrote.
Lawyers say two groups of Odinists, one from the Delphi area and another from the Rushville area in southeastern Indiana, were investigated for their involvement in crimes. They say investigators found several ritual symbols at the crime scene, including how Liberty’s body was positioned.
Officers escort Richard Allen out of the Carroll County Courthouse following a hearing, November 22, 2022, in Delphi, Indiana.
AP Photo/Darron Cummings, file
The Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to a phone message Monday seeking comment on the defense’s claims.
The two girls were found dead near the Monon High Bridge on February 14, 2017. An autopsy showed they had been stabbed.
In a search warrant application in March 2017, an FBI agent claimed the girls’ bodies appeared to have been “moved and staged” at the crime scene.
The defense filing claims that possible “Odinist signatures,” including ritual symbols, were left at the crime scene, but that investigators dropped that angle.
Allen’s lawyers also named several potential suspects who have not been charged in the case.
The girls were killed after a relative dropped them off on a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge, just outside their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the trail.
Allen has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The murders haunted Delphi, a town of about 3,000 where Allen lived and worked in a pharmacy.
ABC7
