Defense attorneys in the trial of a man accused of murdering two Indiana teenagers argued that other evidence pointed to ritual murder by a white supremacist pagan cult.
Richard Allen has been charged with the murders of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German, whose remains were found on Feb. 14, 2017, a day after they were dropped off by a relative on a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge.
Police initially investigated the possibility that they were ritually sacrificed by a Norse pagan group, but they abandoned that lead when evidence allegedly tied Allen to the crime.
“Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” Allen’s attorneys argued in a 136-page filing.
Police investigated two Odinist groups, one from Delphi, where the two teens were found, and one in the Rushville area in southeastern Indiana, according to the filing.
The defense also cited possible “Odinism signatures” and ritualistic symbols at the crime scene.
“[N]othing, absolutely nothing, links Richard Allen to Odinism or any religious cult,” the attorneys agued.
Prosecutors argued that Allen has confessed numerous times to the murders in calls he made to his mother and his wife, but his attorneys argue that those confessions are unreliable because of his deteriorating mental state.
Police also said they found an unspent .40-caliber bullet less than two feet from the body of one of the victims, and prosecutors have argued that tool mark analysis ties the bullet to a gun owned by Allen. His attorneys argue that such tool mark analysis of unfired bullets is not as scientifically rigorous as the analysis of spent rounds.
Allen has pled not guilty to the charges. The trial is scheduled to begin in January.
Here’s more about the alleged ritual murders:
Delphi murders: 2 teenage Indiana girls were killed in ritual sacrifice, attorneys arguewww.youtube.com
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