Delphi murders: Expert reveals details about girls’ deaths

CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) – Delphi murder hearings continued into a third day Thursday, unveiling new details of the case including that the girls’ throats were slit. But it’s still unclear how they died.

Attorneys wrapped the arguments from yesterday’s motions this morning to suppress comments that Allen had made when he was in the Westville Correctional Facility.

Allen was sitting quietly at the table with his defense attorneys. Occasionally, he would put his right hand on his head and eyes. He frowned and scoffed a few times when the prosecution was making their final arguments.

The rest of the morning focused on testimony from an expert in Odinism and ritualistic killings . The defense is trying to link the killings of the girls to Odinism and third-party suspects.

Ritualistic Killing

Dawn Perlmutter, an expert on ritualist symbols and killings took the stand on Day 3 of the trial. She testified there were 7 indicators of a ritualistic killing including:

• The place of the killing was outdoors.
• February 14 is a sunup to sundown Odinistic sacrificial holiday
• The symbolism of the sticks and body positions were consistent with Odinistic Runes
• Body positioning
• Atypical blood pattern

Other indicators included that the cause of death according to Perlmutter was that the girls’ throats were slit with a sharp object. Perlmutter also said that the murder weapon, a ceremonial knife was a part of the case, but the official weapon is not known in the case.

“In my opinion, this was a textbook ritual murder. It has all the elements listed there,” Perlmutter testified. Perlmutter also testified that she was positive that the sticks were placed in a ritualistic manner and not with the intention of covering up or hiding the body.

When asked by the prosecution, “If the defendant made a statement that the branches were there and he tried to cover the bodies with them, would that change your mind,” Perlnutter said no.

Prosecutor McClure noted that Perlmutter was paid to testify and has no official blood splatter training.

Previously Richard Allen was linked to the case through the shell of one unfired round of .40 ammunition . In the probable cause affidavit used to bring murder charges against Allen, the Indiana State Police state the round was found “ between the bodies of Victim 1 and Victim 2 was forensically determined to have been cycled through Richard Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226.”

During day three, the defense showed crime scene photos to the expert and the judge. The photos were not facing out toward the audience. Attorneys talked in detail about the position of the girls’ bodies and sticks put on top of them.

The prosecutor also pointed out that Perlmutter went on CourtTV and said that the killing was a ritual killing last November. But she testified today she did not see any evidence or any crime scene photos until this April. The prosecutor pointed out she made the determination that Libby and Abby were ritualistically killed on CourtTV before seeing evidence in the case.

This is all part of the state’s motion to block the defense from mentioning anything about Pagan rituals or Odinism, or even third-party suspects in the trial that is scheduled for October.

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