The Lake Bodom Murders

On June 5, 1960 three teenagers were murdered at Lake Bodom in Finland. Early in the morning of June 5, 1060 four teenagers had been camping on the lake’s shores when sometime between 4 and 6 am an unknown suspect or number of suspects attacked all four of them. The four were attacked with a knife as well as a blunt object and while three of the four perished in this multiple homicide, one of the teens survived. The single survivor of the attacks was Nils Wilhelm Gustafsson. Gustafsson continued on with his life until 2004 when he became the subject of the investigation in to the murders. Gustafsson was charged with the murders but in October of 2005 the district court found him not guilty. Two of the three victims were just 15 at the time of their death and the third was 18 as was Nils Wilhelm Gustafsson. The three murder victims were all stabbed and bludgeoned. Gustafsson suffered a concussion, jaw and facial fractures as well as many bruises.

After the Lake Bodom murders there were a number of suspects including Pauli Luoma, a runaway from a local work department. Luoma was later cleared of the murders after his alibi was confirmed. Pentti Soininen was also a suspect for the crime. Soininen already convicted of a number of violent crimes as well as property crimes, allegedly admitted to committing the murders while in prison. There was an amount of skepticism about Soininen’s guilt but the truth would never actually be known since he hanged himself at a prisoner transport station in 1969. Valdemar Gyllstrom was another prime suspect in the Lake Bodom murders. Gyllstrom was a kiosk keeper from Oittaa and was known for his aggressive behavior and had apparently confessed to the murders before his death as a result of drowning in Lake Bodom in 1969. No evidence was found to indicate Gyllstrom in the murders although his wife did admit to his alibi for the crime being a lie since her husband had threatened to kill her if she told the truth about his absence the night of the murders. None of the suspects in the multiple murder case were ever convicted and the case remains unsolved.

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