Police to go through hundreds of suspicious deaths involving pharmaceuticals

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The case of the 29-year-old man suspected of three murders involving drug overdoses has necessitated the police to investigate even earlier deaths related to pharmaceuticals that have occurred in Finland in recent years.
      The National Bureau of investigation (NBI) is investigating hundreds of suspicious deaths involving drug poisoning over the last few years, comparing the cases with the supected killer's background.
     
The investigations are focusing for example on reports of forensic investigations particularly in Helsinki. Several persons will be interviewed as potential witnesses. After the cases became public, these persons contacted the police and reported that they have some information related to the issue.
      The 29-year-old man, who has been remanded in custody, is suspected of three murders. All deaths involve deadly doses of powerful pain medication as well as male victims who had an intimate relationship with the suspect.
      The two first deaths occurred in Tampere in 1996 and 1997, while the third victim died in Heinola in November 2005.
     
The victim in the Heinola case was the registered partner of the suspect, and an inheritance of hundreds of thousands of euros has been frozen.
      While he has already denied the murder of the man in Heinola, the suspect will be questioned about the two previous deaths involving drug poisoning.
      Also in the second Tampere case, the suspect was the beneficiary of the victim's will. The police are investigating the size of the potential inheritance.
      Detective Inspector Olli Töyräs of the NBI, who is in charge of the investigations, does not believe in the theory of a serial killer. "We are investigating three suspected homicides, which have been labelled as murders, not serial killings", Töyräs notes.
     
Töyräs also adds that in all cases the victim and the suspect were close acquaintances. There were no random male victims.
      "The medications came into play only through the person who has been remanded. The medicines were not prescribed to the deceased, and were not linked in any way with their own treatments", Olli Töyräs concludes.
      The Heinola case will be handled in the Heinola District Court possibly already at the beginning of the summer.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police say suspect in Heinola poisoning could be serial killer (27.3.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat