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TAKT: In April, the police arrested Tom Hagen and charged him with murder or complicity in the murder of his wife of almost 50 years, Anne-Elisabeth Hagen. Denies criminal guilt. Photo: TORE KRISTIANSEN
A t-shirt track. A car track. And a phone tip. In turn, the police have discovered supposedly strong evidence against Tom Hagen (70), which has been incorrect.
During the investigation that lasted more than two years, the police carried out 600 interrogations, recorded 6,000 hours of video and seized 2,300. In addition, they have mapped 122 locations in Norway and abroad in hopes of finding Anne-Elisabeth Hagen.
Behind closed doors, investigators are systematically testing their hypotheses against all the findings in the case. The findings of those who speak and interpret, believe they point to Tom Hagen. However, they have great challenges.
They still don’t have «smoking gun». They have no conclusive evidence and several key questions remain unanswered.
– At the moment, the evidence does not have the force that allows us to issue an accusation, Police Inspector Agnes Beate Hemiø told Nettavisen.
Investigators have also collected clues that were initially weighed as presumptive strong evidence, but later lost all value:
The shirt track
In January this year, the police wanted to question Tom Hagen. He was officially insulted in the case, but secretly investigated for murder.
Police had found six of his bloodstains in two places in the house at Sloraveien 4 in Fjellhamar. They also thought it was suspicious that his DNA was found under the velcro on his wife’s sandals.
The really big evidence, researchers believe they have found in a laundry hamper:
Tom Hagen’s T-shirt with tiny particles of spouse’s biological material. The same particles were also found in the prints of the much-talked about Sprox shoe at the scene.
The finding was described as a stick among researchers:
Could you potentially link Tom Hagen to his wife’s disappearance?
The answer was negative.
Technical investigations showed that the prints on the shirt did not give a clear answer.
THE CRIME: Police believe Anne-Elisabeth Hagen was murdered at the couple’s home in Fjellhamar in Lørenskog and transported. Photo: JØRGEN BRAASTAD
The car track
In March this year, forensic scientists found suspicious marks on the trunk of a car that Tom Hagen had at his disposal at one point. Preliminary investigations indicated that the marks could be blood.
Therefore, the police asked experts to investigate the lead against relevant persons in the criminal case.
Had they found the car Anne-Elisabeth drove in?
Two months later, the answer was clear and again negative. The marks on the trunk were not blood.
SAUMFART: Tom Hagen, accused of murder, had this car at his disposal for a period before he was arrested, and it was in the trunk here that the police thought he had found traces of blood. Photo: TORE KRISTIANSEN
Phones
In late April, Tom Hagen was arrested and charged with murder or complicity in the murder of his wife. He denies criminal guilt and denies all allegations that it had anything to do with her disappearance.
However, the police base for custody was not good enough, according to the Eidsivating Court of Appeal. They believed that there was no good reason to suspect the murder charge. Therefore, the garden was released after 11 days.
One factor in the police basis for the incarceration was two phone calls Tom Hagen made to his wife on the day of the disappearance. The teledata from Anne-Elisabeth’s mobile phone show that she called her at 10:06 and 10:07.
Police believe Anne-Elisabeth disappeared shortly before these calls, which were not returned.
also read
The Lørenskog case: the evidence from the central police was incorrect
Tom Hagen used an older Nokia mobile phone when his wife disappeared, but police did not find the two calls in the phone log.
Had he erased them to hide traces?
However, Tom Hagen’s defender, attorney Svein Holden, and several of the billionaire’s supporters were convinced that the telephone tip was a police error. Therefore, the defense attorney requested further investigation on the track.
Should another piece of evidence fall?
The answer was “yes”.
– As a result of a request from the defense attorney, the police have carried out further investigations into the call records. The results of the technical investigations show that the calls have not been deleted by the accused, the police confirmed this Friday to VG.
DEFENDANT: Attorney Svein Holden represents 70-year-old billionaire Tom Hagen in the criminal case. Photo: FRODE HANSEN
– The murder charge is weaker
Tom Hagen’s defender is pleased that the police acknowledged that the telephone tip was incorrect, although he believes it is regrettable that the police spent a disproportionate amount of time finding the error.
– In our opinion, there is no doubt that Tom Hagen’s police accusation is even weaker today than it was then, Holden wrote in an email to VG.
In connection with the police attempt to arrest Hagen this spring, the defender managed to refute his series of clues with one main argument:
Tom Hagen was at work when his wife disappeared.
– The police have not made it probable that a murder has occurred, on the contrary, the kidnapping seems to be at least as probable. There is no evidence of any connection between Tom Hagen and the necessary accomplices in the police murder hypothesis, Holden wrote to VG.
Police: Nothing changes
However, the police remain firm in their suspicions against Hagen and are now relying on a court decision from June this year. There, the Lower Romerike District Court ruled that there was good reason to suspect the billionaire’s murder.
The telephone line was not then part of the basis set by the police. The decision was also not appealed by the Hagen camp.
– In the opinion of the police, this information does not change anything with respect to the current basis of suspicion, says Hemiø.
