Lawyers argue Delphi killings by white nationalists are part of a ritual – NBC Chicago

New court documents allege that white nationalists practicing “Odinism” are responsible for the deaths of Libby German and Abby Williams, whose bodies were found in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017.

In newly filed court documents, Richard Allen’s defense attorneys say 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 Nordic pagan religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritually sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” the lawyers 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 “macabre” – noting that sticks and tree branches were placed on and around the girls’ bodies and that there were traces of runes – alphabetical symbols linked to the pagan religious cult.

In the court filing, lawyers name at least five other people — some of whom they say admitted to involvement with family members — and whom law enforcement questioned — but were not prosecuted in as suspects.

“Due to incompetence or concerted intentionality, investigating officials refused to arrest or even thoroughly investigate these obvious suspects,” attorneys Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin wrote.

Court documents also allege that law enforcement and the Carroll County prosecutor hid this potential evidence until recently and abandoned pursuit of other suspects just weeks after the girls’ 2017 murders .

NBC 5 Investigators reached out to the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office for comment Tuesday, but we have not yet received a response.

Richard Allen is charged with the girls’ murders and awaits trial in January. He 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 in an April 3 phone call to his wife.

The call came from the Westville Correctional Center, where Allen is being held while awaiting his trace.

According to court records:

“On April 3, 2023, Richard M. Allen telephoned his wife Kathy Allen,” the filing states. “During this phone call, Richard M. Allen repeatedly admits to killing Abby and Libby. Investigators had the phone call transcribed and the transcript confirms that Richard M. Allen admits to committing the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German.

Court records then indicate that Allen’s wife abruptly ended the phone call.

Allen’s defense attorneys claimed that the day after that phone call, they visited him in jail and that he appeared to be suffering from various “psychotic symptoms” that they described as “schizophrenic and delusional.” They also allege he suffered “memory loss.”

The latest filing filed this week by his defense attorneys challenges the evidence collected against Allen and alleges that “nothing connects Richard Allen to any of the Odinite suspects: the same Odinite suspects that the evidence strongly supports Abby’s sacrifices and Libby in some sort of pagan ritual. Richard Allen had nothing to do with this crime, but rather is an innocent man; a scapegoat for the police…”

Later adding: “…the Odinite angle was abandoned in March 2017, just weeks after the girls’ murder. The reason for this abandonment: a Purdue professor had come to the conclusion regarding Odinism and the crime scene that he was not involved.