The Baneheia murders () was a double rape and murder, and a miscarriage of justice, that occurred in Norway on 19 May 2000. The victims were two girls, 10-year-old Lena Sløgedal Paulsen and 8-year-old Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen. They were found raped and killed in the Baneheia area in Kristiansand. The murders received massive media attention in Norway in the early 2000s.
Two men were convicted (in 2001) for the murders: Jan Helge Andersen (born 1981) and Viggo Kristiansen (born 1979). Andersen was convicted of the murder and rape of Sørstrønen, but acquitted of the murder of Paulsen. The conviction of Andersen was based on a DNA match from the scene and a confession to the killing of Sørstrønen. Kristiansen was convicted of rape and murder of both girls and sentenced to 21 years of containment in 2001 and 2002.
While Andersen confessed killing one of the girls, Kristiansen always claimed he was innocent. In the decades following the initial trials, Kristiansen applied for a retrial many times. His seventh application in 2021 was successful. In February 2021 Kristiansen's case was reopened and he was released from prison.
On 21 October 2022, Attorney General Jørn Maurud announced that the prosecution would submit a request for the acquittal of Viggo Kristiansen in the reopening case, based on the new investigation carried out by the Oslo police district. On 15 December 2022, Kristiansen was acquitted in the Borgarting Court of Appeal. The verdict against Kristiansen is widely considered as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in Norway's recent history.
The events of 19 May On 19 May 2000, the day of the murders, Stine-Sofie Sørstrønen and Lena Sløgedal Paulsen were visiting with their fathers, who both lived in the same block of flats close to the Baneheia forest. Sørstrønen was visiting from Grimstad and Sløgedal Paulsen from a different neighborhood in Kristiansand. In the evening, they were going swimming together at a small lake called "Stampe 3." in the popular recreation area of Baneheia, which was not very far. They left home at approximately between 18:15 and 18:20. Two college students who also happened to be swimming at the same time as the girls, testified that the girls were still swimming in the water when they left at approximately 18:50.
Search When the two girls had not returned home by 23:00, the parents reported them missing, and a major search operation was launched. Immediately, police together with canine units began searching the area. By the next morning, over 50 volunteers from the Norwegian Red Cross were participating in the search. This number soon swelled to the hundreds, as Sea King and special police helicopters were called in along with rescue divers and civilian divers who trawled the lakes and ponds in the area. Volunteer mountaineers also climbed the steep cliffs bordering Baneheia, while the fire department surveyed the shorelines. In the night of 20 May, 16 electronic listening posts were set up around the terrain, which could detect extremely low volume noise during the night. This was done in case the girls were lying injured somewhere in the hills, in which case even the most faint crying or sulking would have been easily detected.
Two days after the disappearance, the police expanded the search to include all of the woodlands and lakes adjacent to Kristiansand, collectively known as "Bymarka". Authorities also mobilized the military in the efforts to locate the missing children, with hundreds of troops from the home guard joining in, canvassing gardens, garages, boats, sheds, hedges and kindergartens. Helicopters applied heat-seeking cameras, all tunnels in connection with road construction in Baneheia were scanned, and all buses, ferries, trains and taxis were checked by armed police, but gave no clue as to the whereabouts of the girls.
Two days after the disappearance, police announced the discovery of a human skeleton near the river Otra, near Eg Hospital, but quickly decided that it was most likely a missing German tourist, unrelated to the case. It was later found, however that the body belonged to a German psychiatric patient who had escaped from the nearby psychiatric hospital years before. Later that same afternoon at around 17:03, the police discovered bloodied clothes hidden under a layer of mosses. The find was approximately 50 meters west of the lake known as "2. Stampe". The police, together with military personnel from the Home Guard, immediately moved in to cordon off the area. Later that evening, at approximately 20:37, Police announced the confirmation that both girls had been found murdered at that site. Upon receiving the news, the reaction among the hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel on site was one of enormous grief, many breaking down and weeping inconsolably, others walking around in a state of shock.
The bodies of the two little girls were found hidden under pine branches in a small slab rock crack a few dozen meters west of the pond, which is one of several ponds that constitutes a much frequented bathing area for the populace in Kristiansand. Traces of blood were also found across the scene along with the girls' clothes and shoes. They had been sexually assaulted, tied-up, strangled and stabbed to death.
Investigation Early investigation After the discovery of the bodies, the police opened a murder investigation. Despite having received about 150 tips in the case, they were practically without leads. Kristiansand Police however stated that they were "optimistic and confident that this case, we will be able to resolve fairly quickly". Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Minister of Justice Hanne Harlem both stated that everything would be done to get the murders solved.
On a normal Friday night there tended to be around 200 people jogging and strolling around in Baneheia. On the night of the crime, approximately 100 people were either jogging or walking through the area. A fixed abode for recreational drug users that for years had been colloquially referred to as "acid peak" was only 200 meters from the place where the two little girls were found murdered. Police interviewed large numbers of individuals known to frequent the area in order to learn of any possible witnesses. The area was also formerly known as a place where exhibitionists and voyeurs have operated.
Other possible suspects that were questioned by police included former sex-offenders, local convicted rapists, convicted murderers and even two psychiatric patients who had escaped from a psychiatric institution adjacent to the area. Similar crimes, such as the murder of a 13-year-old girl in Sweden were matched along with the brutal rape of two young girls in Oslo in the case of an eventual serial-offender. Even cases of child-murders in England were re-examined. Friends of the victims told police investigators that the two girls had previously experienced a mysterious man following them during a swimming trip. Police initially theorized that the same man was the murderer.
The acting chief of the Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) Håkon Skulstad stated that worst-case scenario was a travelling perpetrator who was just passing through the area, just as Norway had experienced many years earlier in the case of Thomas Quick However professor and leading forensic psychiatrist Berthold Grünfeld stated that this was unlikely. According to him, the murderer was most likely a man, in his 30s and without prior criminal record. This was echoed by expert forensic psychiatrist Kjell Noreik who added that the perpetrator most likely was without any serious mental illness, and was "aware of his actions".
In May 2000, the local police said their main theory was that they were most likely facing two perpetrators, who had meticulously planned the murders in advance, due to the difficulties a single perpetrator would face in controlling both girls. As he attacked one, the other would have an opportunity to escape. In Baneheia, people are always close by, and there are plenty of hiding places among the pine thickets and rocks. The odds were good that a lone assailant would fail. In June that same year, Kripos composed a profile for the killer, and their theory was that it only was one perpetrator. The police were also searching for five unidentified people who behaved suspiciously near Baneheia.
Arrests During the early investigation, the local police wanted to arrest both Andersen and Kristiansen, but they were stopped by Kripos (who had come to assist the local police). The reason for stopping the arrests was that there were no evidence on either Andersen or Kristiansen at that time.Viggo Kristiansen Agder Statsadvokatembeter (in Norwegian) But when checking the DNA found on the crime scene, there was a match on Andersen. On September 13, after keeping him under surveillance for 48-hours, they arrested 19-year-old Andersen and charged him with the double murder. According to police, Andersen's DNA was a perfect match with pubic hairs found on the scene. He had no criminal record. Kristiansen was arrested at the same time as Andersen although they still didn't have any evidence on Kristiansen.
Upon his arrest, Andersen initially denied having anything to do with the murders, even when confronted with DNA evidence. Moments later, when lead interrogator Geir Hansen suggested that Andersen himself could be a victim in the case, and that Kristiansen could have been the most active participant, Andersen admitted that he murdered one of the girls. He also named 21-year-old Kristiansen as murderer of the other girl. The two suspects were close friends and had been seen by witnesses in Baneheia on the day of the murders.
Andersen explained that the two men had plotted to commit rape and murder in detail for some time, and had bicycled around in Baneheia on the day of the murder looking for random victims when they spotted the two girls swimming. After luring the girls into the woods by claiming to have kittens, Andersen said that he acted as lookout while Kristiansen raped the two girls, and that he was forced to kill Sløgedal Paulsen after fearing she would scream. Kristiansen then stabbed Sørstrønen to death when she tried to escape. He said Kristiansen was the dominant one, and that it was he who gave the orders, which he felt compelled to follow, as he was intimidated by Kristiansen. According to Andersen, Kristiansen threatened to kill him and as well as the girls if he did not comply. Kristiansen however, vehemently denied having anything to do with the murders. Both men were subject to evaluation by court appointed psychiatrists, and both men were subsequently declared to be legally sane and fit to stand trial.
On 28 September, Kristiansen was evacuated to a prison outside the city after an internet-organized vigilante mob started gathering on the street outside the courthouse. On the same day, the Kristiansand Police Commissioner Ansten Klev, publicly appealed for people to remain calm throughout the city.
Trial On 23 April 2001 the trial against Andersen and Kristiansen began. By order of Prosecutor-General Tor-Aksel Busch, both men were charged with identical crimes of rape and premeditated murder. In addition, and unrelated to the murders, Kristiansen was charged with rape and sexual abuse against a girl under the age of 10, indecent assault against a boy under the age of 10, and for looking at a woman through her window while she was getting undressed. Kristiansen confessed (in full tears) that he had sexually abused the girl five times when he was between 15 and 17 years old. Kristiansen also confessed to the charges of the woman, but not for the charges of the boy. Kristiansen pleaded not guilty to the charge of two counts of premeditated murder and rape. Andersen pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one count of 2nd-degree murder. The court heard 49 witnesses, 30 for the prosecution and 19 for the two defendants.