The Lake Bodom Murders, a Horrific Mystery of Brutality and Murder

The Lake Bodom Murders are one of the most perplexing and unsolved crimes in the history of Finland. The incident occurred on 5th June 1960, when four teenagers went camping at Lake Bodom, about 22 kilometres from Helsinki. They set up their tent on the lakeside and enjoyed a carefree evening until the early hours of the next day when an unknown assailant attacked them with a knife, leaving three of them dead and one seriously injured.

The trip was meant to be a romantic camping trip for two girls and their boyfriends. Instead, no one can know what happened in the early hours. The case is one of Finland's most famous unsolved murders.

Camping Trip

On the 4th June 1960, Maila Irmeli Björklund and Anja Tuulikki Mäki of Espoo left for a camping trip with their boyfriends. The two men were older than the fifteen years old girls at eighteen.

Seppo Antero Boisman and Nils Wilhelm Gustafsson were friends; both were dating the girls. So they erected a tent near the river and had an afternoon of fun.

The Attack

The foursome was viciously attacked between 4 and 6 am on the 5th June. Boisman and Mäki were attacked through the sides of the tent. The attacker stabbed them several times and bludgeoned them with a blunt object. They never entered the tent, instead murdered the couple through it.

It is unclear where Bjovklund was attacked; she was found stripped from the waist down and lying on top of the crushed tent. Her attack had been the most vicious, with several wounds inflicted after she died.

Beside her lay her boyfriend Gustafsson; although he had suffered a fractured jaw, concussion and facial injuries, he was alive.

At 6 am, a group of bird watchers spotted the collapsed tent and reported a blond man walking away. They thought nothing of it. Then, at 11 am, the bodies were found by a carpenter out for a walk. He immediately called the authorities.

The police arrived midday when the three teenagers had been dead for six hours; they rushed Gustafsson to the hospital. All he could tell them about the attack was that the man wore black and red.

Investigation

From the very start, mistakes were made with the investigation. The police failed to cordon off the crime scene, which soon became contaminated. It quickly became apparent that the attack had been blind and carried out from outside the tent. The question was, who knew that the foursome was camping?

Certain items were also missing from the campsite, which appeared strange. For example, the keys to both the boys' motorbikes had been taken, but the bikes remained by the tents. In addition, Gustafsson's shoes were missing as he lay barefoot.

The shoes and some of his clothing were discovered half a mile away. Investigators proved the assailant had been wearing his shoes during the murders. However, the murder weapons were never located.

Suspects

Throughout the years, this case has remained unsolved; the police have had four main suspects, one of which they brought to trial.

Karl Valdemar Gyllstrom, known as the kiosk man, was the first to interest them. Gyllstrom had a kiosk near the lake and was notoriously hostile towards campers. He had been seen several times slashing tents and throwing rocks at them.

Gyllström also admitted to the murders, both drunk and sober, but the police ignored these confessions. If he was guilty, he was never brought to justice because nine years after the murder, he drowned in Lake Bodom, and the case was ruled a suicide.

The second suspect was not identified until 2004 and was Hans Assmann. It was rumoured that Assmann was a KGB agent. The day after the murders, he walked into the hospital with black fingernails and red stains on his clothing.

Police questioned the suspect and said he had an alibi for the night. Whether this was a legitimate alibi or his status as a KGB officer offered him some immunity had never been questioned.

The hospital asked why the blood stains on his clothing were never investigated, especially as Assmann matched the description of the man seen leaving the tents at 6 am.

Pentti Soininen was another investigated suspect; he bragged to a fellow inmate that he had killed the three teenagers. Again the police eliminated him from their inquiries as he would have been fourteen at the time of the attack. Too young to subdue two men was their theory. Strangely Soininen also committed suicide in prison on the ninth anniversary of the attack,

In March of 2004, though, the police had a fourth suspect they were convinced was the murderer. This was Nils Gustafsson. The theory was that he had killed his three friends and then walked to hide the evidence, that was the man seen walking away at 6 am. He had then returned to the scene and caused some of the injuries to himself.

The theory they worked on was that the two men had fallen out, and a fight ensued, causing Gustafsson's fractured jaw; he had then returned to the tent to seek the ultimate revenge.

Gustafsson was taken to trial on the charges. The defence argued that with a broken jaw, he would never have been fit enough to carry out the murders. The jury believed them, and Gustafsson was acquitted of all charges a year later.

Case Unsolved

Since the failed trial of Gustafsson, no other suspects have ever been brought forward concerning the murders.

The Lake Bodom Murders have left a lasting impact on Finnish society, and the case has become a cultural phenomenon. The mystery surrounding the case fascinates people, and new theories and leads are still being investigated.

Suspicion of Gustafson remains in Finland; the murders are the most horrific and longest unsolved crime in Finland's history. Whether the murderer was one of the four men identified or someone completely different may never be proven. Who do you think killed three innocent teenagers during a romantic camping trip?

Originally published at https://www.murdermayhem.uk on April 6, 2023.

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