Auli Kyllikki Saari (6 December 1935 – 1953) was a 17-year-old Finnish girl whose murder in 1953 became one of the most infamous cases of

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

in Finland's history. Her murder in

Isojoki Isojoki (; lit. "Big River") is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the South Ostrobothnia region. The city of Pori is located south of Isojoki. Neighbouring municipalities are Honkajoki, Karijoki, Kauhajoki, Kristinestad, Merikarvia and S ...

remains unsolved.

Background information

Kyllikki Saari was last seen alive on late evening 17 May 1953. She was

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

to her home öykkyfrom a prayer meeting, held in Kortteenkylä, Isojoki. It is believed she was attacked by an unidentified person. The authorities speculated that the murderer may have had a sexual motive, but no evidence has been produced to support this theory. Although the crime received notable media attention, the murderer has never been identified. Saari's remains were found on 11 October 1953. She was buried in a

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

. Her bicycle was discovered in a marshy area earlier that year.

Funeral service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

s were held at Isojoki Church on 25 October; an estimated 25,000 people attended.

Suspects

Kauko Kanervo

Initially, the

prime suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. Broadcast on ITV between 1991 and 2006, it stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater Lo ...

in the case was Kauko Kanervo, a

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

who remained under investigation for several years. Kanervo had moved to Merikarvia three weeks before her disappearance and had been reported as having been in the area on the evening of Saari's disappearance. An investigation determined Kanervo had been dean of the party and spent the late night hours in the

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

. With all but 20 minutes of his time accounted for, the authorities deduced the priest could not have had enough time to go to Isojoki (60 kilometres away from Merikarvia), as he did not have a driver's licence or an automobile.

Hans Assmann

The wife of Hans Assmann, an alleged

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

spy and suspect in the 1960

Lake Bodom murders The Lake Bodom murders is an unsolved homicide case in which three teenage campers were killed and another seriously injured in Finland. The case is one of the most notorious crimes in modern Finnish history. Sometime between 4:00 a.m. a ...

, reported that her husband and his driver were near Isojoki at the time of the murder. Assmann also owned a light-brown

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

, the same type of car several

witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

es had seen near the murder scene. Assmann's wife also reported that one of her husband's socks was missing and his shoes were wet when he returned home the evening of the murder. There were also dents in the car. A few days later, the two men allegedly left again, but this time they brought a shovel with them. Later investigators determined that Saari's murderer must have been left-handed, which Assmann was. In 1997, Assmann reportedly confessed his involvement in the crime to a former

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

, Matti Paloaro, and claimed responsibility for Saari's death. Assmann claimed the death was caused by an

automobile accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collision, collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, Utility pole ...

when his car, driven by his chauffeur, collided with Saari; to conceal the

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

of the driver's involvement, the two men staged the case as a murder. According to Paloaro, Assmann said on his deathbed, "One thing however, I can tell you right away ... because it is the oldest one, and in a way it was an accident, that had to be covered up. Otherwise, our trip would have been revealed. Even though my friend was a good driver, the accident was unavoidable. I assume you know what I mean."

Vihtori Lehmusviita

Vihtori Lehmusviita was in a

mental hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with ...

for long periods, and died in 1967, following which his case was set aside. The man police generally held as a murderer was, at the time, a 38-year-old Isojoki resident living within a 1–2 km radius of the murder scene. In the 1940s, Lehmusviita was found guilty of a

sexual offence Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

and was determined to have a

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. The police suspected that Lehmusviita was aided in covering up the crime by a 37-year-old brother-in-law, who had a criminal background. Both Lehmusviita and his brother-in-law knew the local terrain very well, as they had a common working field located fifty meters from where Saari was found. There was a shovel in the field that was used to dig the grave. Lehmusviita's mother and sister gave him an

alibi An alibi (, from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person under suspicion in a crime that they were in a different place when the offence was committed. During a police investigation, all suspects are usually a ...

for the evening of the murder, saying that he was in bed by 19:00 after drinking heavily. When Lehmusviita was interrogated, he said that Saari was no longer alive, and that her body would never be found. Subsequently, he withdrew his statement, claiming that he had been misunderstood. Lehmusviita and his brother-in-law were questioned in the autumn of 1953. Shortly after this incident, the brother-in-law moved to

Central Ostrobothnia Central Ostrobothnia (; ) is a Regions of Finland, region in Finland. Central Ostrobothnia borders the Bothnian Bay and the regions of Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and South Ostrobothnia ...

, and then to Sweden. Lehmusviita was questioned again while he was in a mental hospital for treatment, but his doctor halted the interview when his behaviour became strange and confused.

References