Testimony this week in Carroll County included accusations of withholding evidence; discussions of Odinism and ritualistic killings; and whether additional suspects should be on trial for the 2017 murders of eighth graders Libby German and Abby Williams.
Here’s part one of what we learned — including many key details made public for the first time — from a three-day hearing in the Delphi murder trial of accused killer Richard Allen. In part two, we'll look at Allen's time in prison.
Were the killings ritualistic? Expert, prosecution weigh in
Dawn Perlmutter, who wrote a book on ritualistic crime scene investigation, said the deaths ofAbigail "Abby" Williams and Liberty "Libby" Germanare "textbook" examples of a ritualistic murder. The bodies were staged with branches placed on them in a way that resembled symbols.
She said she reviewed autopsy records, crime scene photos and social media posts of some of the alleged Odinists the defense contends may have been involved in the deaths. They showed images of runes and symbols. When asked if she has any doubt that the girls were sacrificed as part of a ritual, she said, "None at all."
But under questioning by Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland, Perlmutter acknowledged her findings were based on a review of a limited set of evidence. McLeland also sought to discredit Perlmutter by eliciting testimony that she reached the same conclusion a year ago, when she appeared on Court TV and before she saw any evidence in the case.
McLeland said the defense team failed to place any of the alleged Odinists ―members of a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists ― at the crime scene on Feb. 13, 2017, when the teens disappeared while hiking along the Monon High Bridge trail.
He also said Perlmutter did not look at the alibi ofBrad Holder, a Logansport man who the defense alleges should've been the primary suspect. But police allegedly cleared Holder, although they never examined his cell phone.
▶ Read the full story:Delphi killings are 'textbook' examples of ritualistic murder, defense expert testifies
How were the girls killed?
Perlmutter, the expert on ritual killings, said their bodies were found in the woods near a body of water, and their throats were slit.
Todd Click, a former police officer for the Rushville Police Department who helped with the investigation, said he believes the girls were killed after inadvertently walking in on an Odinistic ritual. He said he believes Holder and another alleged Odinist, Patrick Westfall, were on the Monon High Bridge trail the day the girls were killed, although he acknowledged there was no "smoking gun" linking them to the crimes.
What's the evidence that Odinists were involved in the Delphi murders?
Amber Holder, who was briefly married to Brad Holder in 2018, testified Westfall confessed to killing Abby. But she admitted she only heard about the supposed confession from her ex-husband, who was drinking at the time.
One of the most haunting images of the crime scene that has been leaked to the public is that of Libby's blood on a tree. Defense attorneys have alleged that the killers used Libby's blood to paint a letter F ― another clue tying the crimes to Odinism.
Maj. Patrick Cicero, a blood specialist and forensics expert from the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office who was consulted by the state, tried to discredit that claim. He said the letter ― which he said looked more like an upside down L ― was likely a "transfer stain" that resulted from contact with Libby's bloody hand.
Previously:Evidence leak, suicide, Odinists and legal chaos: Inside 'bizarre' Delphi murders case
Cicero said painting the letter using Libby's blood would've been "impossible" and would've required repeatedly dipping into the source of the blood. Cicero, when questioned by defense attorney Jennifer Jones Auger, acknowledged his testimony just provides an alternative explanation and he does not know how Libby's blood made it on the tree.
No decision on whether Odinist testimony will be part of trial
The defense claims police failed to investigate the possibility thatOdinists―members of a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists ― killed the Delphi teenagers during a sacrificial ritual.
Prosecutors argued this week that Special Judge Frances Gull should bar any testimony or mention of Odinists at the trial. The judge has not ruled on that request.
How is Brad Holder connected to Libby and Abby?
Holder’s son dated Abby Williams and Holder posted an image of runes on his Facebook page that Allen’s attorneys claim resembled the way in which one of the bodies was arranged.
Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman, one of the key investigators, testified about Holder's alibi on the day the girls were killed. Investigators believe the murders happened between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Feb. 13, 2017. Holeman said employee records show Holder, who worked at a landfill about a half-hour away from Delphi, clocked out at 2:45 p.m. He then checked in using a key fob at a gym in Logansport at 4:08 p.m.
Kevin Murphy, a retired Indiana State Police officer who worked on the Delphi case from 2017 to 2019, said while other investigators did not consider Holder a suspect, he and two others did. He said there was an "undeniable link" between Delphi and supposed Odinists from Rushville.
Delphi court documents released:4 things we learned from them
Was more than one person involved in killing Libby German and Abigail Williams?
Murphy, the former Indiana State Police detective, testified that the early consensus among investigators was that two to six people were involved in the killings. He focused his investigation mainly on another alleged Odinist whose sister told investigators that he'd confessed to the crime.
Elvis Fields' sister, the retired detective testified, provided "very specific" information only someone who was at the crime scene would've known. Murphy also recalled a recorded phone call between Fields and his sister, during which she blurted out, "Elvis, why did you kill those girls?"
Fields denied killing the girls when interviewed by detectives. But Murphy recounted an interaction that caught him off guard: After Fields consented to a DNA swab test, he asked Murphy if he would get in trouble if his spit was found on the girls.
Defense claims prosecutors hid evidence. Did they?
Allen’s defense team accused investigators of intentionally hiding evidence that could prove their client's innocence. They claim Holder, the alleged Odinist suspect, was never meaningfully questioned by law enforcement, and the contents of his phone were never extracted ― even though investigators obtained data from the phones of 101 people during their years-long investigation.
According to Andrew Baldwin, one of Allen's defense attorneys, these included “every Tom, Dick and Harry that had nothing to do with the case,” but not Holder, whose son dated Abby Williams and who had posted an image of runes on his Facebook page.
"This is what we're up against," he said, adding later: "There is intentionality on the part of law enforcement to keep evidence from us. (Allen) is never going to get a fair trial."
Jennifer Jones Auger, another member of Allen's defense team, said wading through 26 terabytes of data it received from the state was "like looking for a needle in a haystack." She said hundreds of documents were labeled by numbers, making it difficult for the defense attorneys to analyze the records and build their case.
Defense attorneys have asked Gull to compel the state to produce records, but McLeland said the request is "moot" because the state has provided the defense with all the records they've requested.
"The data we gave is the data we have," McLeland said, adding that it is not the state's job to organize the data for the defense. "We've done everything possible to make it easy for them. But here we are."
▶ Read the full story:Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen's attorneys accuse police of hiding evidence
When is Richard Allen’s trial?
The trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 14 and could run for more than a month.
