Police trawl dating ads in search of answers over 1993 murder mystery

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The Pirkanmaa Police Department believe they have made progress in the murder investigation that is still ongoing over the disappearance in 1993 of Raija Juutila, then 44 years of age, from her home in Kangasala.
      Now the police have resorted to unusual measures, in that they have published a couple of "Desperately seeking..." small advertisements from the pages of the Tampere newspaper Aamulehti that appeared in the summer of 1993, in the hope that someone who answered one or other of these adverts will come forward with more details.
     
The release of the announcements is an exceptional means of securing more information, but it would appear the authorities have no other channels through which to contact anyone who may have responded at the time.
      The first of the two ads was published in the Sunday edition of Aamulehti on July 4th, 1993, and was included in the Situations Vacant section.
      It indicated that the advertiser was looking for a woman to run two small businesses, and an apartment was offered as part of the deal.
      The woman at the centre of the murder investigation - Raija Juutila - went missing in the middle of July.
     
A second announcement in the newspaper on July 18th is more typical in terms of the familiar, tersely-worded and abbreviated dating advertisement style, and it contains an exhortation to respond under the heading "Emännätön talo" (literally, "house without a mistress" or "house without a wife").
      Police suspect that Juutila, who has not been seen alive for the past 18 years, was murdered by her then common-law husband, who has been remanded in custody since November.
      He is also the individual who posted the announcements in Aamulehti, and police are more than a little interested in the second small ad, since it appeared in the newspaper only a matter of days after detectives believe Raija Juutila was murdered, i.e. between July 13th and 16th.
     
Det. Chief Inspector Jari Kinnunen, leading the investigation for the Pirkanmaa Police, notes that one individual answered both adverts, and these people have been interviewed, but that the police would now like to discover whether anyone else may have responded at the time.
      He believes that they might possibly remember some relevant details and any discussions on the subject that went on.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Man held on suspicion of the 1993 murder of his common-law wife (23.11.2011)

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