the case: – Must be investigated further

Earlier this week, an unmanned underwater vehicle (ROV), associated with the farming company Cermaq, found a freezer at a depth of 250 meters outside the Innhavet at Hamarøy in Nordland.

According to NRK Nordland, which mentioned the find first, the freezer must have been attached to a rope or chain.

The discovery site has made the police interested in the freezer. It was found in the sea in the same area as where 41-year-old Stian Hole was said to have stayed when he disappeared last summer.

– It will be in the police’s interest to have this lifted, says police attorney Torje Imøy, the prosecuting officer for the Hole investigation, to Dagbladet.

Police: Undecided

Imøy emphasizes that the police have no concrete evidence to link the freezer to the Hole case, but that they still want to clarify what it contains.

However, it has not been decided whether the freezer will be raised.

– This has not been formally decided yet, says Imøy.

He adds that the police also do not have an overview of the costs of raising the freezer.

– If it is decided to raise it, the police will be dependent on external actors to assist with this. We expect that the expertise and capacity to implement this is available, says Imøy.

Three people charged

The last sure sign of life from Stian Hole is on 7 June last year, when he was pictured by a surveillance camera at a Joker shop at Storjord in Hamarøy – together with a local man in his 50s.

After that, no one has seen him.

In November last year, the man in his 50s was arrested and remanded in custody, charged with murder or complicity in the murder of Hole. So did a man in his 30s and Hole’s girlfriend, a woman in her 20s.

All have denied criminal guilt throughout, and they were released from custody in March.

The charges against them are still pending, the police say.

– The Hole case is still being investigated. Some interrogations have been carried out and started. Extensive analytical work is also underway. There are no changes to the charges, says Imøy.

– An additional load

Now Hole’s family hopes that the police will check out the freezer find as quickly as possible.

– The family notes that an interesting discovery has been made. They are happy that the find is being checked more closely. Any discovery could potentially be what is needed to move forward in this case. For the family, there is of course an additional burden when discoveries are made. Then it is inevitable that they will have new burdensome scenarios to think about, says welfare lawyer Kristin Hammervik to TV 2.

Dagbladet has tried to get a comment from Hammervik, so far without success. She says to TV 2 that she has seen pictures taken of the freezer in the sea, but that she cannot comment on them further.

– It is subject to confidentiality. But I can say this much that I understand that this finding must be investigated further, says Hammervik.

New information

Dagbladet mentioned the Hole case in a major report at the beginning of March. Here it emerged that the one accused in the case, the man in his 50s, has explained to the police that Stian Hole stayed in a lavvo at Herøysletta, north of Hamarøy, in the time before he disappeared.

It is about 50 kilometers from Herøysletta to Innhavet, where the freezer was found.

As Dagbladet has also discussed previously, a new witness came forward in the case in mid-March.

The witness has explained that he has information about a named man, who is said to have participated when Hole was allegedly dumped in the sea outside Hamarøy from a rowing boat, according to Dagbladet’s information.

The police have followed up on the tip, but Imøy has not wanted to comment on what has emerged from the investigations.