Lake Bodom is a lake in Finland, located on the suburbs of Espoo. It’s approximately three kilometres in length and on kilometre in width. In the early morning hours of 5 June, 1960, it was the scene of a brutal triple murder of young campers. Maila Irmeli Bjorklund and Anja Tuulikki Maki were both 15-years-old. Accompanying the two friends on their camping trip were their boyfriends, Seppo Antero Boisman and Nils Wilhelm Gustafsson, both 18-years-old. They pitched their tent close to the lake and spent the evening fishing. Between 4AM and 6AM, Maila, Anja, and Seppo, were all stabbed and bludgeoned to death. Nils was the sole survivor of the attack, sustaining a concussion, fractures to the jaw, bruises to the face, and stab wounds. Nils would later say he had no recollection of the attack due to shock. An investigation revealed that the killer never entered the tent and instead, attacked the teenagers from the outside of the tent.
Several items belonging to the teenagers were stolen, including a wallet, some clothing, and Nils shoes. Due to the bloody footprints found outside, it was evident that the killer had been wearing Nils shoes when he fled the scene. Approximately 500 metres from the crime scene, some of these items, including the shoes, were discovered discarded and partially hidden. Nils’ girlfriend, Maila, sustained the most vicious injuries - her underwear had been removed and she had been stabbed multiple times post-mortem. Several young boys who were birdwatching would come forward to claim they saw a blonde man walking away from the collapsed tent at approximately 6AM.
Over the course of the investigation there have been several suspects. One of the prime suspects was Karl Valdemar Gyllstrom, a kiosk vendor at Lake Bodom. He was known for his aggressive behaviour towards campers and shortly before his death, he confessed to his neighbour that he had killed the teenagers. In 1969, however, Karl coincidentally drowned in Lake Bodom - it’s unknown if it was intentional or accidental. His wife provided an alibi for Karl for the night of the murder, saying he was fast asleep at home but shortly before she passed away, she claimed that this alibi was fictional and that he had threatened to kill her if she did not cover for him.
Another prime suspect throughout the investigation was Hans Assman, an alleged KGB spy. The day after the murders, he checked himself into the Helsinki Surgical Hospital. He was said to be extremely dishevelled, with black fingernails, and something red staining his clothing. The doctors who saw him that afternoon were adamant that the red staining was blood. Hans had blonde hair which he sloppily chopped off after a description of the attacker, as given by the birdwatchers witnesses, was released in the media. His clothing was said to match the description of the clothing given by the same witnesses. Nevertheless, he was never brought in for questioning but several books have been written about him and he has been linked to several others unsolved murders in Finland. In fact, a man who looked strikingly similar to Hans was photographed at the funeral of the victims.
The case went cold until 2004, when Nils Gustafsson, the sole survivor, was arrested on suspicion of murdering his friends. The reason Nils was arrested was because of DNA testing that had been carried out on his discarded shoes. Nils defence contended that the shoes must have been stolen from him and worn by the killer but the prosecution argued that Nils was the killer and had thrown away his shoes afterwards in an attempt to conceal his guilt. The prosecution claimed that Nils wanted to have sex with one of the girls and killed them all in a fit of rage.
Ultimately, the court agreed with the defence. They believed that the eyewitnesses that spotted a blonde man leaving the crime scene were credible and it was unlikely that he could have inflicted his own wounds himself. He was acquitted of all charges and the case still remains unsolved.
