<body><div>As the trial of Richard Allen, the man accused of killing two Indiana teenage girls begins, leaked crime scene photos discussed in court have fueled a conspiracy theory that the Delphi murders were done as a ritual sacrifice.Allen's long-awaited trial is set to begin this week. The 52-year-old is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the killings of the Delphi, Indiana, girls Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13. If convicted, Allen could face up to 130 years in prison.Abby and Libby disappeared in February 2017 while trekking through the Delphi Historic Trails in Indiana. Tragically, the teenagers' bodies were found discarded the following day on the Monon High Bridge. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=03GP8B_0wEnHdOs00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=03GP8B_0wEnHdOs00" width="1200" height="1134" ><figcaption>Libby German and Abby Williams were murdered in Indiana back in 2017</figcaption></figure>In October 2022, Richard Allen, was named as the Delphi murder suspect and was later charged with murder and kidnapping. But his defense lawyers have claimed the the teenagers were "ritualistically" murdered by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group called ‘Odinism’ .Allen's defense team says there is evidence a group of men with ties to the pagan Norse cult of Odinism killed Libby and Abby, The Sun reported. The defense suggested the girls may have been killed elsewhere, and the crime scene was staged, which would've been too complicated for Allen to pull off alone.In February 2023, journalist and lawyer couple, Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee, received an anonymous tip containing several photos of the crime scene where the girls were found. Cain called the photos "very disturbing" and immediately called the police because evidence was under a protective order by the court.Not many details about the grisly murders have been publicly released, but authorities revealed both their throats were cut, and their bodies were found covered in branches. Last year, Allen's defense attorneys lost their bid to present the "ritual sacrifice" theory to the jury, after Special Judge Frances Gull denied their motion to do so, IndyStar reported. In their 136-page memorandum, Allen's attorneys claim that evidence at the crime scene supports Odinist practices, including symbols in the form of runes. "These runes were (1) formed with sticks, (2) fashioned with tree branches and (3) painted using the blood of Liberty German," the memorandum said.Sticks placed over Abby and Libby's bodies at the crime scene formed Germanic letters associated with Odinism; a letter painted on a tree with Libby's blood, and faux antlers created with sticks and branches placed above Abby's head were clues the killing was connected to Odinist, 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.In September 2024, Gull ruled that Allen's defense team did not produce admissible evidence that linked Odinism or specific suspected Odinists to the killings. "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," Gull wrote in her order.</div></body>

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Leaked Delphi murders crime scene photos spark 'cult killing' theory after girls' throats slit and blood found smeared on tree

As the trial of Richard Allen, the man accused of killing two Indiana teenage girls begins, leaked crime scene photos discussed in court have fueled a conspiracy theory that the Delphi murders were done as a ritual sacrifice. Allen's long-awaited trial is set to begin this week. The 52-year-old is...