LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Attorneys for the suspect charged with murdering two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 believe the state has reopened an investigation into a theory that they were killed in a ritualistic sacrifice.
According to a report by Fox59 News in Indianapolis, Richard Allen's attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, filed a new motion Monday. In it, the defense team said it recently received several audio files of Indiana State Police interviews from August with several people who claim they are members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group known as Odinists.
The attorneys said they also received search warrants for at least one person who admitted to killing 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German.Â
Liberty and Abigail — known as Libby and Abby — were killed after a relative dropped them off at a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge on Feb. 13, 2017, just outside their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.
Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the trail.
Allen's defense laid out the Odinism theory in a memo filed last month, claiming followers of the religion sacrificed the girls during a ritual in 2017. They point to the crime scene and the way the girls' bodies were found posed, writing that "absolutely nothing" links Allen to "Odinism or any religious cult."
But last week, the prosecutor overseeing the case dismissed the court filing, calling the theory a "fanciful defense for social media to devour."
The defense is asking the judge to set a deadline for the prosecution to turn over all evidence against Allen by Nov. 1.
Allen was arrested in October 2022 and charged with two counts of murder in the teens' killings. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his trial is scheduled for January 2024.
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Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
