Allen's defense: Libby and Abby killed in Odinism ritual sacrifice

DELPHI, Ind. — Libby German and Abby Williams' accused killer, Richard Allen, requested a hearing to present evidence that the search warrant for his house was based on faulty probable cause, and the girls were murdered in a ritual killing by several people, not Allen, according to a 136-page memorandum filed Monday to support the motion to suppress.

"Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German," states the memorandum filed Monday with a motion to suppress.

"(N)othing, absolutely nothing, links Richard Allen to Odinism or any religious cult," the memorandum states.

The killing of Libby and Abby

Someone forced Libby and Abby off of the trails around the Monon High Bridge east of Delphi on an unseasonably warm Feb. 13, 2017, ordering them "down the hill," as recorded on Libby's video taken on her phone. Their abductor took the girls about a quarter of a mile east of the bridge, where the girls were killed on the north banks of the Deer Creek.

Their bodies were discovered late the next morning by searchers.

Their killings went unsolved for almost six years until Oct. 26, when Richard Allen was arrested. He was charged Oct. 28, and prosecutors allege that tool markings from a unfired bullet found between the two girls was ejected from Allen's semiautomatic pistol.

Allen's trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 8.

Clues of Odinism found at the scene

"Odinism is the pagan religion referenced above, and its followers are called Odinites," the memorandum states. "Odinists are enamored of Viking/Nordic culture.

"Evidence supports that at the crime scene, these murdering Odinites left behind obvious signatures, symbols in the form of runes (Germanic letters)," according to the memorandum. "These runes were (1) formed with sticks, (2) fashioned with tree branches and (3) painted using the blood of Liberty German."

Clues to the Odinism killing included sticks placed over Abby and Libby's bodies at the crime scene to form Germanic letters associated with Odinism; a letter painted on a tree with Libby's blood; and faux antlers created with sticks branches placed above Abby's head, according to the memorandum.

Additionally, some of the branches had been precut with a power saw, suggesting they were prepared before the killings, according to the memorandum.

"This stick configuration is a spot-on resemblance for the rune (letter) called 'Hagal'," a footnote in the memorandum states . "This rune is used to depict the word ‘Hail.' Therefore, the combination of the Hagal rune found on Abby and the Ansuz rune found on the tree when combined would proclaim 'Hail Odin.' ”

"Delphi investigation seemingly, and quickly, abandoned the obvious correlation between the crime scene and Odinism, despite an obscene amount of evidence linking Odinism to the crime scene," the memorandum states.

"(T)he Odinite angle was abandoned by March 2017, only a few weeks after the girls were murdered," the memorandum stated. "The reason for this abandonment: a Purdue professor had reached a conclusion concerning Odinism and the crime scene."

No one can recall who the Purdue professor was who told them the Odinism was not involved, according to the memorandum.

Motion for Franks hearing

The evidence of a ritualistic killing was omitted and ignored in October 2022 when investigators requested a search warrant for Allen's home, according to the motion that requests the evidence from that search be suppressed.

The motion alleges that then Carroll County sheriff's Detective Tony Liggett "chose to hid crucial information from the search warrant affidavit and provided false statements in said Search Warrant Affidavit."

The 136-page memorandum supports Allen's motion for a Franks hearing. A Franks hearing places the burden on the defense to show that a "false statement knowingly or intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth" was used in an affidavit to get a warrant, according to govinfo.gov.

Allen's memorandum, it states, "(T)he evidence supporting the assertions contained throughout this memorandum was buried deep in a mountain of discovery, thousands upon thousands of pages of paperwork and hundreds of hours of videos. But not buried deep enough.

"... Or more simply put: the very detailed analysis of the facts allows the Court to conclude that 'yes, the omitted information and false information identified in the memorandum is the type of information that (Carroll Circuit) Judge (Benjamin) Diener would have wanted to know before signing the warrant.

"Richard Allen ... request that this Court set this case for a Franks hearing at which time the Defense will be asking for the search warrant to be deemed illegal and the fruits of the illegal warrant to be suppressed."

The Journal & Courier is still reviewing the 136-page memorandum and will update this report.

Journal & Courier reporter Noe Padilla contributed to this report.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.