More witnesses come forward in Bodom triple murder investigation
Neurology professor thinks German did it
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Police investigating the Bodom Lake triple murder case will have to look into the statements of a number of witnesses who have come forward 45 years after the killings.
Nils Gustafsson, the sole survivor of a group of four young campers, is currently on trial for allegedly killing the other three in June 1960 during a camping trip on the shore of Bodom Lake just north of Helsinki.
"It seems that some have been keeping information to themselves to the very last. If someone has information, now would be the final moment to bring it forward", says Tero Haapala of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
"There are people who have said that they were on the spot at the time of the event. We will now have to check the information to see if there are mistakes in memory, and in time", Haapala said.
He said that if new information comes out on the basis of the statements, it will be submitted to the defence lawyers and to the prosecutors.
Gustafsson was considered a possible suspect during the initial investigation in 1960. However, investigators at the time said that many circumstances seemed to point to his innocence.
The matter was taken up again by the NBI in the autumn of 2003, with investigators concluding that Gustafsson was the only possible killer.
In the view of the defence, Gustafsson’s investigation was launched simply because no outside suspects were to be found.
"The fact that nobody else has been found during 45 years who might be guilty does not justify prosecuting the sole surviving victim", said Gustafsson’s defence in its statement at the beginning of the trial
Commenting on the Bodom case has been renowned neurologist, Professor Emeritus Jorma Palo, who has written two books on the killings, and who is an outspoken proponent of Gustafsson’s innocence.
Palo has criticised the police investigating the case for not consulting memory specialists.
Palo also denies prosecution claims that Gustafsson had not suffered any serious injuries to his head during the attack.
He notes that when Gustafsson was taken to hospital, the doctor treating him, Ilmo Hassinen, wrote clearly that he had sustained several wounds to his head.
Palo remains convinced that the real killer was a German man, Hans Assmann, who was hospitalised a day and a half after the killings, at a time when Palo was a trainee at the hospital in question.
Palo says that Assmann behaved in a suspicious manner, feigning unconsciousness, and asking to be allowed to wash his hands with petrol. He also showed a clipping of a German newspaper about unsolved murders of women.
The NBI says Assmann had an alibi during the time of the killings.
Nils Gustafsson, the sole survivor of a group of four young campers, is currently on trial for allegedly killing the other three in June 1960 during a camping trip on the shore of Bodom Lake just north of Helsinki.
"It seems that some have been keeping information to themselves to the very last. If someone has information, now would be the final moment to bring it forward", says Tero Haapala of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
"There are people who have said that they were on the spot at the time of the event. We will now have to check the information to see if there are mistakes in memory, and in time", Haapala said.
He said that if new information comes out on the basis of the statements, it will be submitted to the defence lawyers and to the prosecutors.
Gustafsson was considered a possible suspect during the initial investigation in 1960. However, investigators at the time said that many circumstances seemed to point to his innocence.
The matter was taken up again by the NBI in the autumn of 2003, with investigators concluding that Gustafsson was the only possible killer.
In the view of the defence, Gustafsson’s investigation was launched simply because no outside suspects were to be found.
"The fact that nobody else has been found during 45 years who might be guilty does not justify prosecuting the sole surviving victim", said Gustafsson’s defence in its statement at the beginning of the trial
Commenting on the Bodom case has been renowned neurologist, Professor Emeritus Jorma Palo, who has written two books on the killings, and who is an outspoken proponent of Gustafsson’s innocence.
Palo has criticised the police investigating the case for not consulting memory specialists.
Palo also denies prosecution claims that Gustafsson had not suffered any serious injuries to his head during the attack.
He notes that when Gustafsson was taken to hospital, the doctor treating him, Ilmo Hassinen, wrote clearly that he had sustained several wounds to his head.
Palo remains convinced that the real killer was a German man, Hans Assmann, who was hospitalised a day and a half after the killings, at a time when Palo was a trainee at the hospital in question.
Palo says that Assmann behaved in a suspicious manner, feigning unconsciousness, and asking to be allowed to wash his hands with petrol. He also showed a clipping of a German newspaper about unsolved murders of women.
The NBI says Assmann had an alibi during the time of the killings.
Helsingin Sanomat