Delphi murders judge bans Richard Allen’s defense from bringing up Odinist cult theory at trial
Richard Allen, 51, is accused of brutally murdering teenage best friends Abby Williams and Libby German on February 13, 2017
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Defense attorneys for Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen are banned from bringing up the Odinism cult theory or the names of nearly a dozen other suspects in court when the alleged killer stands trial for the murders of teenage best friends Abby Williams and Libby German next month.
Special Judge Frances Gull issued the ruling Wednesday morning, stating that “the burden is on the defense to show a nexus” between the other suspects, Odinism, and the murders. He found that the defense “failed to produce admissible evidence demonstrating a nexus,” however.
Allen, 51, is accused of brutally murdering Libby and Abby on February 13, 2017. That day, the teens had set off on a walk along the Monon High Bridge trail in Delphi, Indiana, with 14-year-old Libby posting a final Snapchat photo of her 13-year-old best friend on the old railroad track.
The next day, their bodies were discovered in a wooded area close to the trail, and both of their throats has been slit. An arrest wasn’t made until 2022.
In court documents released last year, Allen maintained his innocence of the 2017 killings and instead claimed that the murders were carried out by a pagan cult hijacked by white nationalists.
“Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” his attorneys wrote in the documents viewed by The Independent.
They said that “possible Odinism signatures” were left behind by the killers at the crime scene, with the victims’ bodies staged by trees with branches and sticks laid across their bodies in the shape of pagan symbols.
While Allen has no known connection to any pagan cult, his attorneys also took the extraordinary step of naming four individuals they say are involved in Odinism as potential suspects. They insist Allen had nothing to do with the killings.
The ruling on Wednesday is in response to the prosecutors’ request for the judge to suppress all evidence and expert testimony related to the defense’s Odinism sacrifice theory.
“The Court will not permit the evidence submitted by the defense in support of their arguments regarding third-party perpetrators in the trial of this cause as the probative value of such evidence is greatly outweighed by confusion of the issues and its potential to mislead the jury,” according to Gull’s order. “The Court will allow that evidence to support an offer of proof at the trial if one is made by Counsel.”
This means that during the trial – which is slated to begin in October – the defense will still have a chance to convince the judge that there is a link between Odinism and other suspects with the hope of presenting that argument to a jury.
The ruling on Wednesday comes just over a week after Judge Gull said she would allow the jury to hear all of Allen’s confessions that police say he has made since his arrest in 2022.
Indiana State Police Detective Brian Harshman testified during a three-day hearing that Allen has confessed to the murders more than 60 times since his arrest, mostly in jailhouse phone calls to his wife or mother.
Allen first began to confess in late March 2023 when he had an apparent “come to Jesus” moment, said the officer – who had reviewed around 150 hours of calls.
In the confessions, Harshman said Allen spoke “very specifically” about some of the details of the crime including his alleged motivations.
Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman also gave damning testimony about Allen’s alleged confessions, telling the court a fellow inmate had come forward to claim that Allen had not only confessed – but had revealed his chosen murder weapon.
Allen allegedly claimed he killed Libby and Abby with a boxcutter and disposed of it by throwing it in a dumpster outside CVS.
Allen’s defense has long argued that his confessions were the result of his poor mental health after being treated like a “prisoner of war” in state prison while awaiting trial.
Following the 2017 murders, investigators discovered a video on Libby’s cellphone showing a man – known as “bridge guy” – on the trail, saying: “Guys, down the hill.”
Despite the footage believed to show the killer, for five years, no arrests were made.
Until 2022, when Allen was suddenly arrested and charged with the murders, having been tied to the killings through a bullet found at the crime scene.
Since then, the case has been plagued by delays, controversies, shocking accusations and evidence leaks.
What is Odinism?
Odinism is a pagan Norse religion with origins in ancient Viking and Nordic beliefs and pre-Christian European culture.
Sometimes referred to as Wotanism, it is seen as a “racist variant” of the pagan religious sect Asatru, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
While Asatru itself is not racist, over the years Odinism has become increasingly tied to white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs in the US.
Many followers – known as Odinites – are now said to exist among the white supremacist prison population.
“The religion, which revives a pre-Christian pantheon of Norse gods, is appealing to white supremacists because it mythologises the virtues of early northern European whites – seen as wandering barbarians, deeply involved in a mystical relationship with nature, struggling heroically against the elements,” the Southern Poverty Law Center explains.
“It sings the virtues of the tribe, or folk, strongly emphasizing genetic closeness. And it credits whites with building civilization and an ethic of individual responsibility, even as they boldly slew wild boars, fought for their tribes and explored the far reaches of the known world.”