31 people died in Norway in 2020. One police district stands out.

A total of 31 people were killed in Norway in 2020. In almost half of the cases, the accused is a family member or a victim with whom he had a relationship.

The 2020 murders have taken place across southern Norway, while the northernmost counties have not investigated any murder cases this year. In Oslo, there have only been two murders in 2020.

The eastern police district stands out in the statistics with up to nine murder cases. Three of them arrived in a busy week this summer.

A total of 31 people have died in the 28 different investigations that the police have initiated. In three cases there is talk of a double homicide, while the police at one of the crime scenes also found the perpetrator dead. A knife or other sharp weapon is used most often, in eleven of the cases.

For 15 of the victims, a person who has a close relationship with them is accused of having committed the murder. In most other cases, there is also a relationship between the person killed and the person accused of having committed the act of murder.

Four children are accused of killing their mothers last year. And a mother is accused of the murder of her two children.

Norway mirror

In the 28 cases that the police have investigated this year, charges have been brought against one or more perpetrators. A total of 34 men have been charged in the various murder cases, while only four are women.

– This reflects Norway in some way. Stable societies also have stable patterns when it comes to murder, homicide investigator and criminologist Vibeke Ottesen from the University of Oslo tells NTB.

Ottesen explains that one may get the impression that close relationships in Norway are dangerous when looking at the high proportion of murders in this category, but reassuringly adds:

– Fortunately, a high ratio is not the same as a high number, says Ottesen.

However, it emphasizes the need to observe what happens in close relationships and to observe the connection between mental illness and suicide and murder in close relationships. She points out that there is no investigation in Norway on those who kill their parents.

Double murder

– What makes parents more vulnerable when it comes to mentally ill adult children is that they often live with them, but do not participate in any treatment program, says Ottesen.

In July, a 35-year-old mother from Lørenskog was charged with strangling her two children, ages one and seven. The woman was hospitalized as she herself was seriously injured when they were found. In the time since then, she has been considered criminally sane and, according to the police, has acknowledged the facts.

Her defender, lawyer Gunhild Lærum, has stated that the woman had been deeply depressed for a long time.

Increased differences during the pandemic

In 2019, the police investigated 26 murder cases with a total of 28 victims. There were two more cases than in 2018, when 25 people died. In previous years, the number has been somewhat higher, but in the same area.

– Norway is a country with low crime. We do not have such great differences, and it is a good social mobility through the welfare society that we have created. But before and during the pandemic, the differences were seen to widen in Norway. If we don’t do something about it, we can get more crime and more murder, says Vibeke Ottesen.

While the northernmost counties have not recorded a single homicide investigation this year, the Eastern police district has struggled with up to nine cases of the most serious type. The West Police District has investigated five murder cases, as has the South West Police District. Agder and Innlandet have had three murder cases.

Among adult victims, 14 men and 15 women were murdered in 2020. Women are more frequently killed by someone they know or have had a previous relationship with, while men are murdered to a greater extent by someone outside the network. nearest.

Get random homicide victims

There were few victims in 2020. One of them was Marianne Haugen, 54. On July 14, she was sitting in a car waiting at the Sarpsborg bus terminal when an unknown man stabbed her for no reason. He later died from his injuries. Two other women were stabbed by the same man, but survived the injuries.

The 31-year-old defendant, a Norwegian citizen of Somali origin, knew the two surviving women, but they were not related to Haugen.

On October 3, Dan-E Vind Lid was found dead in his Kristiansand apartment. Lid had long been a well-known activist at Stop the Islamization of Norway (Sian), and it was speculated whether the murder had a political background. After three weeks, the police arrested three men accused in the case.

Investigators have stated that there is no reason to believe that there is a political motive behind the murder.