Two Indiana girls were killed in 2017 not by the man charged with their murders but in a ritual sacrifice by pagan cult members who painted a tree with one victims blood, his defense attorneys claimed in an explosive court filing Monday.

The bizarre 136-page memorandum was submitted on behalf of Richard Allen, who was charged last year with killing 14-year-old Libby German and 13-year-old Abby Williams near a trail in Delphi, northeast of Indianapolis. The killings rocked the small town and made national headlines, and despite video, audio and witness accounts of a man whod spoken with the girls before they were killed, authorities didnt identify a suspect until Allen was arrested in October 2022.