Witnesses saw the girls in Baneheia

The two friends Stine Sofie Sørstrønen and Lena Sløgedal Paulsen swam in the 3rd pool in the Baneheia hiking area in Kristiansand on 19 May 2000.

Then they were subjected to abuse and killed. They were reported missing that same evening, and found two days later.

Jan Helge Andersen attends the district court in Sør-Rogaland on Tuesday in a burgundy sweater and blue trousers.

He meets, accused of killing 10-year-old Sløgedal Paulsen.

Also read: – They were just going out to swim

Andersen has previously been convicted for the murder of Sørstrønen, but maintains his explanation that there were two of them about the crimes in Baneheia.

He has explained that the other was Viggo Kristiansen. However, he was acquitted in 2022, and has maintained his innocence since the beginning.

Tour area

A woman who went for a walk in Baneheia that evening will testify in court on Tuesday.

She says that she drove up to the parking lot of Svarttjønn and went on to the 3rd stamp in Baneheia.

Read background: The lessons of destiny in Baneheia (from 2021This case was published in 2021, and does not reflect developments that have occurred since then.)

In questioning on 21 May 2000, she estimated the time to be 18:15–18:20 when she parked.

She remembers having met some students at the swimming area, and that she continued in the direction of Grim.

There she met two girls on the path, who she assumed were on their way to bathe. In the interview in 2000, she described two blonde girls, and that one of them had a purse or bag.

Last to see them

The other of the two students who bathed in the 3rd pool that evening then gives evidence in the district court.

The first of them explained itself on Friday.

The student says that it was towards the end of their bath that two girls appeared.

– As I remember it, one was a little bigger than the other. They were happy and looking for contact, and we exchanged a few words, he explains.

Also read: This is how they investigated the Baneheia case

The student and his friend left from the 3rd stamp at around 18.50, and as the police see it, this is the last, safe observation of Sørstrønen and Sløgedal Paulsen.

PS: The court visited Baneheia on 18 April. You can read more about that here.

Ran along the stump

A man who was on a run in Baneheia says via video link that he still runs a lot in the area to this day.

He explains the route he thinks he remembers he took on 19 May 2000, which included a trip to the 3rd stamp.

Prosecutor Johan Øverberg asks him if he remembers when he started running that night.

Also read: Witness about Andersen in Baneheia: – Scouting for something

– It was at half past seven. I don’t remember if it’s a quarter past six or half past seven, he replies.

Øverberg reads from a witness interview of the man taken on 27 May 2000. He ran at the 3rd stamp at around 19.05. There was no one at the bathing jetty then.

– You see no one, or hear nothing?

– No, he replies.

In the interrogation at the time, he said that he reacted to the fact that it was very quiet in Baneheia that evening.

VG’s Krimpodden has followed the case – listen to their summary of last week here:

Met Andersen in Baneheia

Andersen has previously explained about a trip he took in Baneheia on 18 May, the day before the murders.

A woman who saw him that night has been called as a witness. She says that she knew both Andersen and Kristiansen, when they lived in the same area.

In court, she explains that she met Andersen at the toilets at the 3rd stamp. Andersen has also explained this.

She ran into him again as she returned on her rounds.

In an interview from 2000, she explained that she asked him if he was still standing there.

“I’m sort of waiting for someone,” she thinks he said.

She also talks about conversations she had with Andersen in the time after the murders. She believes he said that the police could fabricate DNA findings, just to get someone caught for the murders.

– Yes, because the case was so serious that they had to, she says in court today.

She says that she believes Andersen must also have said something about a strand of his hair being blown somewhere by a bird.

When she says this, Andersen looks puzzled. He confers a bit with his defender Celine Krogh Fornes.

– I didn’t quite understand, but I don’t remember very well either. It’s been so long. But I felt it was a bit strange, she says.

Also read: Viggo Kristiansen: – I don’t feel that I have dominated or decided over him

The woman also knew Kristiansen, and he had, among other things, looked after her apartment.

Øverberg reads from an interrogation of her in 2000. Then she said that Kristiansen had visited her the day before they were arrested.

– “They then talked about the Baneheia case. Viggo then said that the DNA will arrive tomorrow. The witness then said that there had to be a light so that they could be washed clean. He then said that he and Jan Helge would then go out in the newspaper to explain how they had been treated by the police,” reads Øverberg.

He asks the woman if she remembers if Kristiansen seemed happy.

– Yes, it really looked like it was something he was looking forward to. He was very tired, she explains.

“Running Boy”

The woman has previously said in questioning that she only knew Andersen through Kristiansen and that she called him the “running boy”

She tells about an episode she believes happened before the Baneheia case, which does not appear in her questioning.

She believes that she once told Andersen that “there comes the running boy for Viggo”.

– Then he turned around and walked straight towards me and into my face, she claims.