An Indiana man accused of murdering two teenage girls found dead in a forest has reportedly defended himself against the allegations by instead blaming a sacrificial ritual – a theory previously abandoned by investigators.
“Members of a Norse pagan religion called Odinism, kidnapped by white nationalists, ritually sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” defendant Richard Allen’s two lawyers claimed in a 136-page document on Monday, The Independent reported.
The defendant reportedly pleaded not guilty to the murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, who were found dead in dense woods in Delphi in February 2017 after being stabbed.
According to his lawyers, the man had nothing to do with the crimes, which were rather committed as part of a sacrificial ritual; a hypothesis that she said would have been explored by investigators and then abandoned.
New twist in Delphi double case: Defense attorneys for murder suspect Richard Allen claim members of a pagan religious group were behind the 2017 murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German. @perezreports has the latest. pic.twitter.com/1sAdx0KhLs
– Good Morning America (@GMA) September 19, 2023
In the court document, they argued that two groups of Odinists, one from Delphi and the other from Rushville in southeastern Indiana, were targeted during the investigation, while several ritual symbols were found at the site.
In particular, they added that the bodies of the young girls had been “moved and staged,” as an FBI agent stated in March 2017, British media said. At the time, the defendant worked in a pharmacy in the small town with a population of 3,000.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, links Richard Allen to Odinism or any other religious cult,” lawyers Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi said in the court document.
In doing so, lawyers requested a hearing to attempt to suppress evidence found in the defendant’s home on the pretext that the search warrant was based on false probable cause, The Independent added.