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CRIME

Norway man confesses to 1993 murder

A 62-year-old man has stepped forward to say he killed Ann Karin Nilsen, a woman who disappeared without a trace in 1993 at the age of 38.

Published: 14 March 2016 11:11 CET
Norway man confesses to 1993 murder
Ann Karin Nilsen hasn't been heard from in 23 years but she was never reported missing and her body has not been found. Photo: POLITIET / NTB scanpix
According to a report in VG, the man decided to admit the murder after visiting his mother’s grave. Prior to her death, he had told her what he had done and he said that his mother’s voice came from the beyond and told him to go to police. 
 
The man went to police in November and told them that he had killed Nilsen. The two had been living together in an Oslo flat and he said that he killed her in the midst of an argument and then hid her corpse in Finnskogen forest. 
 
Police, however, have found no trace of the body and have now gone public with the case in a plea for help.
 
“The police have carried out a thorough investigation without the woman being found and we are now asking for the public’s help to solve the case,” police attorney Sturla Henriksbø told news agency NTB. 
 
Nilsen had no close family and was thus never reported missing in 1993, police said. 
 
“Both her and her roommate where part of [Olso’s] drug environment. The investigation uncovered that there has not been a single trace of Nilsen in public registries since 1993. She has never been reported missing. The murder is thought to have occurred in September 1993,” Henriksbø said. 
 
He added that police have searched Finnskogen “several times without making a find” but said that the man who stepped forward to claim the murder was unable to pinpoint where he hid the body. 
 
Police charged the man with murder after his November confession but said that certain inconsistencies in his story mean that investigators cannot be totally certain that Nilsen is dead. 
 
“The core of the accused’s explanation is believable since she hasn’t left a trace since 1993. But there are also several contradictions in his explanation, including in how he killed her,” Henriksbø told VG. 
 
The timeline is also unclear, as the 62-year-old claims to have killed Nilsen in 1992 but police found records indicating that she appeared in court in March 1993. 
 
Even with the man’s confession, police said they may not be able to convict him without definitive proof that Nilsen is in fact dead. They are therefore asking the public to come forward with anything that might help them find the body. 
 
“We hope that there might be someone who may have seen clothing, jewellery, bones or something else [in the forest]. That could help us limit which areas we need to search,” Henriksbø told VG.

SPORT

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion’s father for domestic violence

Norwegian police said Monday that Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father and former coach of 1,500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, had been charged with domestic violence against a family member.

Published: 29 April 2024 16:41 CEST
Norwegian police charge Olympic champion's father for domestic violence

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against one of his children.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

Responding to questions from AFP, Therese Braut Vage, who led the investigation, would not confirm this account.

Police said they had closed investigations into other events concerning the six other children in the home either due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations having expired.

Gjert, who coached Jakob until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where Jakob won the gold — has always denied the accusations against him.

“As far as the dismissed cases, we agree that there is no evidence to prove that Ingebrigtsen committed any wrongdoing,” his lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP on Monday.

“For the rest, Ingebrigtsen disputes the description of the facts on which the indictment is based — and he therefore does not admit his guilt,” he continued in an email.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, twice winning gold in the world championships 5000m in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Olympic 1500m gold.

The 23-year-old is also preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Henrik, 33, and Filip, 31, were European champions in the 1500m in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

After breaking with his sons, Gjert Ingebrigtsen shocked Norwegian athletics by becoming the trainer of another runner, Narve Gilje Nordas.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee has said that Gjert will not be granted accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was the case at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

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