Prosecutors Want ‘Odinist Cult’ Theory Tossed Out of Delphi Murder Trial

Prosecutors in Indiana tried to build a theory that a “pagan Odinist cult” was responsible for the deaths of two young girls ahead of the trial of the man accused of their murders.

Richard Allen previously pleaded guilty to the 2022 murders of 13-year-old Libby German and 14-year-old Abby Williams. Their bodies were discovered on February 14, 2017, the day after they went for a walk on abandoned railroad tracks near their homes in Delphi, Indiana.

In September 2023, Allen – a Delphi resident since 2006 – made the surprising claim that the teenage friends’ best friends had been killed as part of a “ritual sacrifice” at the hands of a white nationalist cult, though prosecutors described it as “fantastic.”

Report received by Independent, claimed that the brutal murders were committed by members of the pagan Norse religion and a white nationalist group called Odinists. “Members of the pagan Norse religion known as Odinism, kidnapped by white nationalists, ritually sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” the documents read.

According to the extensive, 135-page document, the nature of the crime scene indicated sect activity from the very beginning. Defense attorneys also argued that sticks were placed on the girls’ bodies, consistent with pagan practices involving Nordic-inspired rituals.

According to defense documents from September 2023, investigators abandoned the Odinist investigation around March 2017, despite evidence found at the scene. Three investigators were looking into the pagan connections, including Rushville Deputy Police Chief Todd Click.

In a motion filed April 29, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland asked Special Judge Fran Gull to prohibit Mr. Allen’s lawyers from mentioning this theory or anything that is “not supported by admissible evidence.”

The application was obtained by Nov 59, sought to prevent the defense from mentioning the alternative theory during trial and jury selection by prohibiting the use of certain terms, including “Odinism” and “cult or ritual killing”.

McLeland – who called the 2023 claims “fantastic” – also argued that to introduce a third party, the defense “must show some connection between the third party and the crime,” the website reported.

Although various suspects were investigated over the years, the case remained largely cold until Allen’s arrest in October 2022, when ballistics from a bullet found at the scene were linked to him.

It was later revealed that he was interviewed by police several days after the girls’ murders and he admitted that he had been walking on the Monon High Bridge Trail where the teens were hiking the afternoon they disappeared.

On October 13, 2022, Mr. Allen voluntarily responded to questions from Delphi police. Officers then obtained a search warrant for his home and seized his car. Several weeks later, he and his wife were told they could pick up the vehicle from the state police station in Lafayette.

His defense lawyers previously claimed that police separated the couple and that the officer questioned Mr. Allen without reading him his rights or telling him he could leave at any time.

They also alleged that officers failed to properly record interviews with the suspect or inform him that he was being recorded, knowing he would be arrested for the murders, according to a motion filed in Carroll County Superior Court and obtained by Nov 59.

During Mr Allen’s taped interrogation, one of the soldiers reportedly told him: “You’re guilty, I know it, and I’m going to f***ing prove it.”

Allen’s attorneys have said Indiana state troopers violated his civil rights during questioning. Earlier this month, they filed a motion to have the testimony thrown out, arguing their client was mentally ill at the time he gave it.

In their motion, they wrote that prison officials asked other inmates at Wabash Correctional Facility to keep records of everything Allen said and did in his cell. They argued that this amounted to “an ongoing form of interrogation; one that lasted more than five months before it was finally broken.” WTHR reported.

His alleged statements over the phone to both prison guards and his wife, his lawyers said, were made while he was “delusional, paranoid and highly dysfunctional.” Such alleged statements were not made voluntarily but under duress and are therefore inadmissible in court, the lawyers said.

In response, prosecutors filed motions to dismiss the statements, arguing that Mr. Allen made them voluntarily and without questioning.

In March, an Indiana judge dismissed two additional kidnapping charges against Allen.

The trial, which is to take place in Carrol County, is scheduled to begin May 13.