Neo-Nazis Arrested In Brutal Murder, Dismemberment In Kentucky, Could Face Death Penalty

Anthony Baumgartner, 23, Stephen Harkness, 22, and Jeffrey Allen, 21, are being held without bail on charges of kidnapping, murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Baumgartner and Harkness are admitted members of the Kentucky chapter of the National Socialist Movement, which demands that “all non-Whites currently residing in America be required to leave the nation forthwith and return to their land of origin: peacefully or by force,” according to their website.

Authorities say the two, along with Allen, who may or may not be a member of the neo-Nazi party, spent the night of Jan. 9 with Daniel Delfin, 19, who allegedly sold heroin in the area. The three men beat Delfin with their fists and a metal pipe before choking him and throwing him out of the vehicle, when they stabbed him and slit his throat before rolling the body down a hill.

Delfin suffered “severe head trauma” and slipped out of consciousness, according to Salon. Police said the men returned the next day with hatchets to cut up the corpse and distribute the body parts throughout a wooded area. The victim was only identified by a cartoon tattoo on his torso.

Boone Country District Judge Charles Moore ruled earlier this week that enough evidence had been presented against the three men to have it presented in front of a grand jury. They could face the death penalty at trial.

Police testified that they first came into contact with Baumgartner, Harkness and Allen after a woman came forward to say she’d overhead them discussing the crime and provided a description of their car, a grey Hyundai.

“In those interviews all three defendants willingly gave information as to the kidnapping, murder, torturing, abuse and tampering with physical evidence," Boone County Sheriff's Detective Jeremy Rosing said in court, according to the Kentucky Post. "After those interviews with information obtained I placed all three of them under arrest and they were charged with murder, kidnapping, abuse and tampering."

He added that the first major insight into their motives came during Allen’s interview.

“He did not like the fact that Daniel Delfin was selling drugs in the Walton-Verona area and that he had planned, one week prior to this, he had planned out that he was going to kill Daniel Delfin,” Rossing said. “He proceeded to physically assault Daniel Delfin with his fist, choking and with a metal bar. He continued to assault Daniel through the drive as Daniel was fighting to get away, asking him who he was, why this was happening, kicking the windows and kicking the doors open at which time they kept him inside the car.”

Allen and the neo-Nazis are being held without bail and are scheduled to face the grand jury in the coming weeks.