The two girls in Baneheia were found dead with unusual stab wounds to the neck. The experts believe that the way the injuries were inflicted can say something about what happened when they lost their lives.
Published: 06/05/2024 14:26
What kind of stab was used to kill? Was it a knife? Were there one or more knives used? Can the injuries say anything about whether there was one or more perpetrators at the scene? How soon after each other did the stab wounds occur?
21 years after the two best friends Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8) and Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) were found raped and killed in Baneheia in Kristiansand, there are still many questions. Experts have now re-examined all the documentation in the case. The aim is to answer several of the questions that are still unanswered.
The 10-year-old Paulsen died from two stab wounds to the throat. She also had a stab wound to her liver and into her lung. The 8-year-old died from a deep stab wound to the throat. But what can the injuries say about what happened on 19 May 24 years ago?
Can’t rule out more knives
In court on Monday, Professor Lars Uhlin-Hansen at the University Hospital of Northern Norway and senior physician Hege Cathrine Luytkis at Oslo University Hospital said that it was a sharp, pointed object that was used in the murders. They thought it might have been a knife, but couldn’t pin it down for sure.
They also could not say whether one or more knives were used. The can to have been the same object, but they also could not rule out that there were two or more objects.
The two girls were found at 9 pm on Sunday 21 May in the year 2000. Jan Helge Andersen and Viggo Kristiansen were arrested and charged with the murders in September of the same year. Andersen then admitted to having killed one of them, the youngest girl. For almost 24 years, he has denied killing the elder.
Now the prosecution believes they can prove that he also killed the ten-year-old. So: that he raped and killed both of them alone. Andersen refuses. He says it was his best friend Viggo Kristiansen who carried out the murder of the 10-year-old. Kristiansen was acquitted in the case two years ago, after serving over 20 years in prison.
But the two experts also did not give the parties any guidance on the number of perpetrators. They believed that the appearance of the injuries did not provide a basis for assessing whether they were inflicted by one or more perpetrators. They said nothing more about it.
– Unusual puncture wounds
However, they believe that the injuries and the manner in which they were inflicted on the girls can speak volumes what which happened when they were killed. In court, they called the stab wounds they were found with unusual. The reason is that none of the girls had stab wounds across the neck, which is the most common thing in the case of a stabbing in the throat.
– We can draw a number of conclusions from that, said Professor Lars Uhlin-Hansen to the judges.
– The girls must have been calm when the damage was done. There has been no scuffle at the scene. The perpetrator knew what he had done. He has known how to hit the pulse in an efficient way, Uhlin-Hansen told the judges.
The two girls had fairly similar stab wounds to their necks. Uhlin-Hansen believes this could indicate one perpetrator, but they still do not want to conclude on this.
– It is because one may have seen how the first one stung, or that they have learned it in the same way by having watched a film, for example, he said.
