INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The attorneys for Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen will not be allowed to make claims in court that the murders are tied to an Odinistic sacrifice.

Allen, 51, of Delphi, was arrested on Oct. 28, 2022, for the February 2017 murders of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams and 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.

Special Judge Frances Gull issued the ruling early Wednesday morning.

Kevin Greenlee, co-host of The Murder Sheet podcast, said, “This order from Judge Gull was a complete loss for the defense, and it comes after all the confessions are being allowed in. They’re looking to be in a really though position for this trial.”

The religion that worships Norse and Germanic gods, particularly the chief god Odin, was first brought to court in September 2023, where Allen’s attorneys presented evidence stating that Odinists killed the teen girls.

Odinism was one of several of the defense’s arguments that the state recently pushed to bar from being presented to the jury.

In a court hearing in August, the defense fought to allow evidence of Odinism into the court, along with information about Kegan Kline and other third-party suspects, and evidence of geocaching.

The court ultimately denied Allen’s defense to present the evidence. Wednesday’s court order says that it would not allow Odinism into court as the argument “must not be based on speculation, conjecture, rumors, or hearsay, rather than admissible evidence.”

Greenlee said, “In order to present a third-party defense, such at Odinism, or anything else for that matter, you have to show some sort of connection between your theory and the actual crime.”

Greenlee and his co-host Aine Cain told I-Team 8 on Wednesday that there’s good reason the legal threshold is so high for that type of defense. Cain said, “What you’re essentially doing is accusing other people of the murder and labeling them as child murderers, so we can imagine why there is a high threshold. If I’m an attorney, I can’t just go into court and say, ‘Uh, maybe bigfoot did it.’”

Wednesday’s ruling comes just over a week after the judge said she would allow the jury to hear all of Allen’s confessions to the killings that police say he has made since his arrest.

Jury selection in Allen’s trial was set to begin Oct. 14.