Jury selection began Monday morning for accused Delphi killer Richard Allen.
As CrineOnline previously reported, on February 13, 2017, Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, took a day trip to walk along the Monon Bridge in Delphi, Indiana.
The girls vanished while hiking and taking photos. The following day, police found their bodies near the bridge.
Video from one of the victim’s phones recorded Abby or Libby mentioning a “gun” as a man approached. Police found an unspent .40-caliber round near their bodies, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Court documents also indicated that a knife was involved in the attack.
Police found one of the girls at the base of a tree with four branches of different sizes arranged in a deliberate pattern on her nude body, which bore traces of blood.
“She was likely murdered while naked and then dressed by the murderers after she expired,” the defense team wrote, claiming an neo Pagan clan killed the victims.
A few feet away, police found the other victim with her arms and legs posed at a different angle, fully clothed.
The information was previously presented by Allen’s attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, in a memorandum presenting their alternate theory about the girls’ killer.
defense claimed that nationalists “hijacked” a pagan Norse religion called Odinism, who made runes symbols from branches.
“You cannot prove or disprove faith,” a senior research analyst with the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center told the Courier Journal. “It is both the most wonderful thing and the most dangerous thing.”
Special Judge Frances Gull will allow the defense team to present their evidence to the court, but with restrictions that they cannot present the evidence to a jury.
Check back for updates.
