The Lake Bodom murders were yet another fall from grace for Espoo,Helsinki,Finland.With the shootings last week in Espoo and a total of 6 deaths,it would give cause to not to want to visit Espoo,Helsinki.I say not true,personally I find Espoo to be a decent area with nice Finnish scenery and nature.As I live and work as a Helsinki Finland blogger and travel around Finland quite a bit,here is a British Blog Update for those unaware of the Lake Bodom Murders
Lake Bodom Murder Case
The Lake Bodom murders were an infamous multiple homicide that took place in Finland in 1960. Lake Bodom is a small lake in Espoo, about 22 kilometers west of the country’s capital, Helsinki. On the night of June 4, 1960, four teenagers were camping on the shores of Lake Bodom when – allegedly – an insane person murdered three of them cold-bloodedly with a knife and wounded the fourth. The sole survivor Nils Gustafsson has lived a relatively normal life afterwards until 2004 when he was arrested for the murders by the police. In October 2005 a district court found Gustafsson not guilty.
The murders have proven to be a popular subject in the Finnish media and commonly have made it back to the headlines whenever new information or theories have surfaced.
Victims
*Irmeli Bjårklund, 15 years old at the time
*Anja Tuulikki Mäki, 15 years old at the time
*Seppo Boisman, 18 years old at the time
*Nils Gustafsson, 18 years old at the time, the only survivor, arrested in 2004 for the murders, acquitted in October 2005. Pleaded not guilty, now suing the government for mental pain and suffering.
Picturesque Lake Bodom
Theories
Some years later – near the lake and had the victims as customers, selling them lemonade. He was generally known to have hard feelings about campers. However, police investigation disproved his claims and found an alibi for the man (he was allegedly sleeping at his home with his wife, who verified it).
In 2003 Professor Jormbetween June 3 and 6 of 1972 (approximately the 12th anniversary of the murders) – a man announced in his suicide note that he was the Lake Bodom murderer. On the day of the murders he was working in a kiosk a Palo published a book on his theory about the Lake Bodom murder. In 1960 Palo had worked as a doctor at a nearby hospital. Shortly after the murders he had treated a highly suspicious man for his injuries at the hospital. The man was the German-born Hans Assmann who allegedly worked as an agent for East Germany. According to Palo the lack of thorough investigation into Assmann’s involvement was a diplomatic cover-up. The police denied this and claimed that Assmann had a valid alibi. In 1997, shortly before his death, Assmann allegedly confessed the murders to a Finnish journalist.
Arrest of Nils Gustafsson
In late March 2004, almost 44 years after the event, Nils Gustafsson was arrested by the police on the suspicion that he was the murderer. In early 2005, the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) declared the case was solved based on some new analysis on the blood stains. According to the official statement, Nils Gustafsson, the survivor, had had an outburst of jealousy involving feelings for one of the other teenagers, Irmeli Bjårklund, who was his newfound girlfriend. Irmeli was stabbed multiple times after the fatal blow, while the two other teenagers were killed less savagely. Gustafsson’s own injuries, while notable, were less severe.
The trial started on August 4 2005. The prosecution was calling for a life sentence against Nils Gustafsson on three counts of murder. They argued that the re-examination of the old evidence using modern techniques such as DNA profiling points to Gustafsson. The defense argued that the killings were the work of one or more outsiders and that Nils Gustafsson suffered similar injuries to those sustained by the other three, and because of the injuries, he would have been incapable of killing three people. On October 7 2005 Gustafsson was freed of all charges.
Because Nils Gustafsson was deemed innocent of murders, the State of Finland paid him 44,900 €uro for mental suffering caused by the trial.
Trivia
The triple murder is the basis for the name of the Finnish band Children of Bodom, which was formed in the early 1990s.I shall be posting more British blog updates on Children of Bodom later on
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