READ THE WHOLE DOCUMENT HERE
This blog contains a summary of the 136 page court document that was released in the Delphi murder case on September 18, 2023. We are providing a summary of the main points here. This blog runs through the document in order, so it may jump back and forth in parts.
For anyone not familiar with the case, you can listen to our podcast episodes here:
Liberty was 14 and Abigail was 13 when they went missing in Delphi, Indiana on February 13, 2017.
Their bodies were found the following day, February 14.
The case seemed to go cold until October 2022. On October 26, Richard Allen was arrested and charged with the girls’ murders. Richard apparently confessed multiple times to the murders and there is some other alleged evidence that we will get into later.
The opening statement in the document is ‘Members of a pagan Norse religion called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German.
The defense are alleging that early on in the investigation, investigators consulted with a Purdue professor considering possibly Odinism signatures that were left at the scene. The professor allegedly told police that it was ‘not Odinism or any type of cult worshipping or any time of group that would have conducted the crime.’
After that was said, the investigation seemed to have moved on from looking at that angle.
In May 2023, former Rushville Assistant Police Chief Todd Click (who has retired since the Delphi murders) wrote a letter to Prosecutor Nick McCleland. Click said that he was concerned that the information in the Richard Allen affidavit was not as compelling as the info he had uncovered in his investigation pre retirement.
It is alleged that the Prosecutor had the letter for months before he passed it onto the defense team.
Click attached with his letter a statement that said ‘The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI determined that the individual(s) responsible for the homicides were involved in Nordic beliefs.’
The document says that Richard Allen has no connection to any pagan cults and that there is no forensic evidence, including DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene.
It is also alleged that Odinists are employed as corrections officers for the Indiana Department of Corrections at Westville Correctional Facility, where Richard is incarcerated.
The document goes into some detail about Odinism which we will just touch on.
Odinities are obsessed with Viking/Nordic culture. Runes were apparently left at the crime scene – they were formed with sticks and tree branches and painted with Libby’s blood. Sticks and tree branches were placed on each girl, apparently mimicking runes. Libby’s blood was used to paint a rune that looks like an F on a tree.
The document discusses a Delphi local called Brad Holder. Brad was on our radar way back in 2017.
In the days and weeks after the murders, Brad posted social media images that mimicked what was found at the crime scene. The crime scene imagery has never been made public to this day, so the question is how Brad knew what was left behind.
Brad’s son Logan had been dating Abby before the murders. Brad was originally cleared as a suspect on March 16, 2017, one month after the murders.
Brad posted other disturbing images on his social media. One showed what appears to be two dead women on the ground in a forest. Both women had tree branches and sticks on their bodies. One woman had her arm above her head, which was apparently how Libby had been found.
The document infers there is a correlation between Brad and at least four other suspects – Elvis Fields from Rushville, Patrick Westfall from Delphi, Johnny Messer from Rushville and Rod Abrams from Rushville.
Elivs apparently told his sister that he was involved in the murders. He gave her detail about the crime scene and said he was now part of a ‘gang’.
Elvis was questioned by police in 2018. After police were finished with him, he asked a state trooper if his spit had been found on the girls and said that he could explain it.
Elvis told a second sister, Joyce that he was on the trail and bridge with the two girls and that he would be going away for a long time.
As for Patrick Westfall, he was very close friends with Brad Holder and their friendship ended abruptly in February 2017, the month of the murders.
Brad allegedly told his ex-wife Amber that ‘he and Westfall were in the woods, near a river conducting a ritual. One of them said or did something that the other did not agree with and they no longer talk to each other.’
In 2019, Brad changed his story to Amber and said that Patrick was the murderer, He said that Patrick and ‘his people’ had killed Abby and Libby because one of their mothers was ‘mixing with other people outside the mother’s race.’
Brad also said to Amber ‘I can only protect you so much if you keep asking questions.’ He told Amber that Patrick had powerful friends,
Johnny Messer was apparently a recruiter for the Odinites. Johnny’s ex-girlfriend Taylor Hornaday told police that Johnny and Brad were like brothers. She told police that she let Johnny borrow her car on Valentine’s Day 2017 (around the time of the murders) and that Johnny went to hang with his friends. When he returned the car to Taylor, it had dried blood on one side of it. He wouldn’t tell Taylor how the blood got there. Taylor said she had to wash the car several times to remove the blood.
The document then goes into detail about the Odinist Correctional Officers. They are named as Sgt Robinson and Sgt Jones. They both apparently wore patches that say ‘In Odin We Trust’ on their uniforms. They have rune imagery on their social media.
The two officers have said to be near Richard during every conversation with his attorney and wife. The defense say that Richard was worried the officers would overhear private conversations.
Part 1 of the main document starts on page 28. It goes into detail about the crime scene. Just as a warning, some of these details are very graphic.
- Libby and Abby were missing for approximately 22 hours before their bodies were found.
- Libby was found at the base of a tree with four branches placed in a pattern on her naked body. She was flat on her back, with her left arm above her head. Her hands were covered in blood. Blood spots and drips were all over her body.
- Libby’s right arm was along her body. One tree branch was on her left shoulder. It was a large branch that extended past her body. Two smaller branches formed a V where her legs joined her body, near her genitals. The last branch went across her body from right shoulder to left shoulder.
- It has always been rumored that the girls’ died from having their throats cut and this document seems to confirm that. It says that her sliced neck was partially covered by the fourth branch.
- It appears that Libby was killed at a nearby tree and then dragged and positioned where she was found.
- Abby was found a few feet away from libby. Her body was placed at an angle to Libby.
- Abby was found fully clothed. She was wearing Libby’s sweatshirt and jeans. It is believed that Abby was naked when she was murdered and the killer/s reclothed her. She was also found wearing two bras.
- No blood was found on Abby’s body, except for her neck wound.
- Abby had tree branches on her also. The pattern of the branches on her looked like an asterisk. She had smaller sticks placed over her hair, that looked like horns or antlers.
- It is said that some of the branches had been cut by an instrument and not broken by hand, which indicates pre-planning.
The document says that the defense gave the court 12 crime scene and autopsy pics as evidence.
A symbol that looked like an ‘F’ was painted four feet from the tree base. The F was painted in Libby’s blood.
Police found Libby’s shoe and her cell phone under Abby’s body. A bullet was found in the dirt.
The defense have said they have been provided with no evidence about this alleged bullet which is a big part of the case against Richard Allen.
The document then goes into detail for dozens of pages about why it is unlikely that Richard could be the perpetrator. The defense present 92 points about what he would have had to have done to conduct the murders alone.
- Richard is only 5’4. He would have had to be solely responsible for getting control of Abby and Libby.
- He would have had to get them to cross a cold river that was 3.5 feet deep.
- Richard would have had to manage to get the two girls to undress before killing the first girl with a knife.
- Because of how the scene was found (staged), Richard would have had to have waited at the scene for Abby to die as her death has been described as ‘slow’, before dressing and positioning the girls.
From page 46 onwards, the document goes into detail about how the Odinites could be connected to the murders.
The document compares how the girls were found at the crime scene to Odinist images. There is one image where a man has been sliced in the beck and he has been posed similar to how Abby was found. Another image shows a man wearing antlers, which is also similar to Abby.
An 85 page report known as the ‘Odin Report’ was compiled by Todd Click and other LE officers. The defense alleges that they were not provided with this document until September 8, 2023. We have discussed some of the Odin Report content already – Amber Holder seems to have provided a lot of the info.
We learn some new info on page 57 where it is stated that Amber was told by Brad to stay away from Patrick Westfall or that she would ‘end up dead’. Brad also told her Patrick and his ‘crew’ were responsible for Libby and Abby’s murders, as well as a fire that killed two girls.
Amber said that Patrick and his crew had no issue taking out ‘race traders’ which is basically when white people mix with other races.
The defense also allege that Brad Holder got a tattoo of a rune on his hand and he posted photos of it on social media. This is apparently the same rune that was laid on Libby’s body after her death.
We also learn that someone sent in a tip on February 16, 2017, just days after the girls were murdered. The tip said ‘Father of Logan Holder, ex-boyfriend of Libby (error?), social media shows him a member of Vinlanders, posts of half dead women and fascination with Gothic figures and symbols out of tree branches.’
On February 17, 2017, Brad posted a Goodfellas meme on Facebook. The gist of the meme is that real friends will help you move bodies and keep their mouths shut.
‘YOUR REAL ONES DON’T JUDGE YOU OR ASK A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS. THEY HELP YOU MOVE THE BODY AND NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN.’
Brad also made a social media post at 2am on February 14, 2017, 12 hours after the girls went missing. He said he was at a gym as his ‘energy and testosterone is through the roof right now’. Brad later deleted that post.
Brad gave an alibi for the time of the murders as being at work. The defense argue that his alibi was not properly vetted. I believe he worked at a landfill. He clocked in at 4.55am and clocked out at 2.45pm on February 13, 2017 (the day of the murders). Police were apparently given a time sheet showing that Brad had worked as the main support of his alibi.
Questions such as if Brad was actually the one to clock out are raised in the document.
The document goes into detail about Elvis Field’s seemingly fascination with Brad Holder. Elvis made four different social media posts, all recreating posts that Brad had made.
Elvis also apparently told one sister that Abby was a trouble maker and that’s why he used sticks to form horns on her head.
Elvis has been described by Trooper Kevin Murphy as having the mental capacity of maybe a 7 or 8 year old.
The defense raise 45 points in the document regarding the evidence that was apparently ignored by investigators.
On Page 82, the defense outline an interview between Brad and the police. Brad told police that he visited Delphi every weekend to hang out with his friend Patrick Westfall.
Brad said that Logan and Abby had only actually met one time as they went to different schools. He said that Logan would communicate with Abby via phone. ‘
He also stated that he and Patrick started a ‘Tribe’ of ‘Asatru’ followers. Asatru is apparently a warrior religion, popular with members of the military. Brad said that they would hold a meeting every Sunday at Patrick’s house and that they had five or six regular attendees.
When asked where he was on the day of the murders, he said that he was at work driving machinery at Waste Management in Buffalo, Indiana until he clocked out between 2-4pm, He then said he went to the gym.
The document goes into another tip that came in on April 14, 2017, two months after the murders. The tipster said Brad had attended the funeral for Libby and Abby and he wore glasses then, even though he didn’t wear glasses.
A post in a Facebook group was also made early on, saying that Brad was responsible for the murders. A tip was called into police about the post. The content of the post was summarized as ‘Holder is a pagan, murdered the girls as sacrifices and left an ‘F’ on the victims’ bodies. Holden’s son, Logan, is Abigail’s ex-boyfriend.’
Mary Jacob’s Elvis’ sister is also referenced in the document. She said that she actually went to Delphi a few weeks after he made the statements and talked to police about what he had said. Police have said ‘due to the mass amount of tips that were generated, her information may have been overlooked.’
Mary has a friend named Misty Moore who worked for Homeland Security. When nothing had been done with Mary’s information about Elvis by December 2018, she contacted Misty for help.
The document goes into detail about what Elvis told another sister, Joyce. He told her ‘I am in a lot of trouble. I am going away for a long time. I was on the trail and that bridge with those girls when they were murdered. There were two other people there with me when it happened. I spit on one of the girls.’
If you recall, earlier we spoke about Elvis asking the police about spit DNA on the girls.
Rod Abrams, another of Brad’s friends, was interviewed on August 29, 2018. He was asked where he was on the day of the murders, and he said that he was with Elvis and Ned Smith in Muncie, Indiana, visiting a sick friend in hospital. Great memory for 562 days later.
Rod was told that law enforcement would check phone records to see if Rod was actually at the hospital. Rod said that ‘hospitals cut cell reception on phones because they interfere with hospital equipment.’ So, ‘their phones would probably not show they were at the hospital in Muncie.’
When Elvis’ phone records were looked at, his phone stayed in Rushville on February 13, 2017 from 10.30am until 7.30pm. This was unusual as Elvis usually had his phone on him. Rod told police that Elvis did have his phone on him while they were at the Muncie hospital.
Patrick was interviewed by police once following the murders, on February 19, 2017. By March 2, 2017, he was eliminated as a suspect.
n Page 103 of the document, we learn that Elvis had been communicating with a 12 year old girl online and had been saying inappropriate things to her. This is interesting especially with the Kegan Kline Delphi connection?
Elvis also communicated via Facebook with girls aged 13, 14 and 15.
Part III of the document will be reviewed and posted here at a later date.
CLIPS USED IN THE PODCAST
Odinism and other pagan religions are still practiced today by many people. Calling something weird just because you aren’t aware of its existence is very uncouth.