Cult member breaks his silence on explosive theory Delphi murders were ritualistic sacrifice

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

An apparent Odinist cult member has spoken out for the first time since being publicly accused of the Delphi murders by convicted child killer Richard Allen.
Patrick Westfall furiously denied any involvement in the 2017 murders of Libby German and Abby Williams and insisted 'violence and human sacrifice' play no part in his Pagan rituals in a new interview for ABC News Studios' docuseries 'Capturing Their Killer: The Girls on the High Bridge'.
'There's nothing that's part of it that has anything to do with violence and human sacrifice and killing,' he said of his Norse Pagan religion.
'There's no initiation or ritual where you have to go out and stomp somebody out to be a practitioner.'
Best friends Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, were murdered back on February 13, 2017, after setting off on a walk along the Monon High Bridge in Delphi, Indiana.
Their bodies were found the next day - Valentine's Day - around half a mile from the trail, close to Deer Creek. Both of their throats had been cut, with the murder weapon believed to be a box cutter.
Libby was naked while Abby was fully dressed in some of Libby's clothes.
For more than five years, the case went cold.
Then in October 2022, local CVS worker Allen was arrested and charged with the murders, after a resurfaced tip and an unspent bullet tied him to the crime scene.
Allen, 52, was convicted in November on two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder, before two of the counts were vacated under double jeopardy rules. Judge Fran Gull sentenced him to the maximum penalty of 130 years in prison.
Investigators said there is no evidence anyone other than Allen, a married man with a daughter, was involved in the shocking crime.
But conspiracies, in particular around a wild claim of an Odinist cult, continue to swirl with Allen's attorneys still professing his innocence and appealing his conviction.
Westfall's name was dragged into the case when Allen's legal team made a bombshell accusation against him and three other local men that they - and not their client - could be the real killers.
In court documents filed ahead of the trial, Allen's attorneys took the extraordinary step of alleging Libby and Abby were murdered as part of a 'ritualistic sacrifice' by a white nationalist cult called Odinists.
Odinism is a pagan Norse religion which has become increasingly tied to white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs.
The attorneys publicly named four men - Westfall, his friend Brad Holder, Elvis Fields and Johnny Messer - as the killers.
The four men have never been named as suspects or persons of interest by police and have never charged in connection to the case.
As part of the shocking theory, Allen's defense pointed to sticks found on the victims' bodies, claiming they were arranged specifically into runes or Pagan symbols.
They also claimed a bloodstain on a tree was another symbol of a ritualistic sacrifice.
The defense also pointed to a video of the Pagan group carrying out a ritual in the woods.
In the series, Westfall defended the group's actions and said the footage simply shows a traditional drinking ritual.
'That was just a standard sombal where people come together,' he said.
'You have your meat and different other things you can have as an offering.
'We're nature based. We love nature. Trees have a special meaning to us.'
Westfall slammed Allen's attorneys for accusing him of being involved in the murders.
'It absolutely crushed me,' he said of his name being thrust into the case.
'That's not small-change stuff. This is a double homicide. It's a worldwide watched event and my name's slapped all over this.'
He added: 'I'm tired of hearing Odinism. I never have had anything to do with it. I get that that's an attorney's job to create reasonable doubt but, man, they really ruined a lot of things by doing it that way.'
The Odinism theory had been investigated by law enforcement in the early days of the case.
Todd Click, a former police officer for the Rushville Police Department, previously said he believed Abby and Libby were killed during an Odinite ritual.
But, Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman said the possible connection was investigated thoroughly and no link was found to the murders.
Holder and his son Logan, who was Abby's boyfriend, were interviewed in the days after the murders and Holder had an alibi for the time the girls were killed.
While a defense expert claimed the bloodstain on a tree was a rune, prosecution experts said it was Libby's handprint from when the slain teen tried to steady herself after her throat was cut by her killer.
Judge Gull ultimately blocked the defense from introducing the Odinism theory into Allen's trial - or introducing any alternative suspects - finding they did not produce admissible evidence that linked Odinism or the suspected Odinists to the killings.
The net closed in on Allen in 2022 when a tip that had been overlooked back in 2017 was discovered.
Days after the murders, Allen had come forward - at the request of his wife - to police to admit he had been on the trails that same afternoon as Abby and Libby.
Despite placing himself at the scene of the murders, the information was lost for more than five years due to a clerical error.
When it was found in October 2022, Allen was re-interviewed.
As well as placing himself at the murder scene, Allen also confirmed he was wearing the same outfit - blue jeans and a Carhartt jacket - as the man caught on video by the victims.
In the moments before they died, Libby had captured a cell phone video of the killer following them over the rickety bridge.
It captured the chilling voice of the man - who became known as 'Bridge Guy' - ordering the terrified girls: 'Guys... down the hill.'
Libby's cellphone was found hidden beneath Abby's body, leading cops to find the footage.
A search executed at the Allen home uncovered a 'Bridge Guy starter kit' including blue jeans and a Carhartt jacket matching the outfit worn by 'Bridge Guy.'
Investigators also found a Sig Sauer Model P226 pistol which Allen said only he had access to.
Ballistics experts matched the gun to an unspent bullet found between the two victims' bodies.
While behind bars awaiting trial, Allen then confessed to murdering the girls a staggering 61 times including in jailhouse phone calls to his wife and mom as well as in meetings with a prison psychologist.
In one damning confession presented at trial, Allen revealed information that only the killer could have known.
He said he had planned to take the girls into the woods to rape them but was startled by a white van driving past and so quickly killed them, jurors heard.
The man in the white van testified he drove home from work at around 2.30pm that afternoon, to his property close to Deer Creek - a timeline that matched the time Libby's cellphone last recorded movement.
The evidence about the van was not known until Allen offered up that information, prosecutors said.
At trial, Allen's defense claimed his damning confessions were the result of a mental health crisis due to the 'prisoner of war' treatment he endured inside state prison.
Jurors convicted Allen on all charges and he was sentenced to life in state prison.
Last month, he was moved out of state from the Pendleton Correctional Facility in Madison County, Indiana, to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center in Cleveland County, Oklahoma.
Richard and Kathy Allen on their wedding day. Kathy Allen has spoken out for the first time since her husband Richard Allen's conviction for the Delphi murders
In the new three-part series, Allen's wife of 34 years Kathy Allen revealed she is standing by her husband and refuses to believe he is the killer.
Speaking out for the first time since his conviction, she insisted he is a 'family man' and 'not the monster' people think he is.
'My husband's not a monster. He's not the monster that people think he is,' she said in the series.
'He is a family man. Ricky is a wonderful, caring, compassionate father. Non-judgmental, very giving. He has good morals.'
She said: 'How dare you accuse someone who is nothing but a people-pleaser and works out in the public. How dare you.'
Allen continues to appeal his conviction.
On July 29, Allen's attorneys filed a motion for a 30-day extension to appeal his conviction.