An overwhelming amount of technical evidence

You can see a lot about Laila Bertheussen’s behavior, but one thing after the indictment is particularly surprising: The defendant did not give the police information that she believes could have cleaned up.

After seven cases of threats and attacks against the Wara Bertheussen family and the Tybring-Gjedde family, Laila Bertheussen was arrested and charged in the case. The threats stopped. Later, mysterious packages began arriving at her defense attorney John Christian Elden, with objects and allegations that pointed to other perpetrators besides Bertheussen herself.

Bertheussen’s biggest problem

During this period, Tor Mikkel Wara and Laila Bertheussen traveled abroad. While in the US, they found out through Dagbladet that the front door code was in one of the letters, while the daughter lived alone at home. They later discovered that several thousand crowns had been stolen from a cash deposit in the kitchen. Bertheussen says she never suspected the children had taken the money, but was sure there must have been some outsiders taking it.

I think most people in such a situation would be terrified of strangers entering the house, and also the eye would have a chance to clean itself. Not Laila Bertheussen. According to her on the witness stand Thursday, the family changed the lock on the door, but did not notify the police of the code or the theft. It is very special.

Bertheussen says he sees the theft as the loss of a bicycle, something the police would not prioritize. In a situation where the country’s Minister of Justice was exposed to threats for a period of three months, I am pretty sure that the PST would take that review much more seriously.

I fight like a lion

The car caught fire on the night of March 10, 2019. it was the decisive turning point in the case against Bertheussen. This is the seventh and final incident that he faces. The cops themselves say they did not suspect she was behind the threats prior to this, but they believe they can rule out that someone else was behind the fire in the car of the cohabiting couple. They don’t have photos of Bertheussen setting herself on fire, but an overwhelming amount of technical evidence refuting her first explanation to the police makes it likely that she started the fire, and largely precludes someone else doing it.

Bertheussen explained to police that night that he had drank wine and taken sleeping pills before going to bed, a little after midnight or almost one thirty. The fire started about an hour later and was discovered by a taxi driver. In the first interrogations, Bertheussen said that he had not heard or discovered anything unusual, but he slept soundly when the fire started.

Powerful friends and secret advisers

The technical evidence says something else. Bertheussen’s mobile phone health data shows that he moved 650 steps between 01.20 and 01.30, after which the phone was charged. The door lock data shows that the exit door was opened and closed four times between 00.07 and 01.30. The record of the surveillance camera, installed in connection with the security measures around the Minister of Justice, shows that the camera directed at the car of the couple who lived together was turned off seven times during the afternoon and night. This can only be done inside the house, and the camera connection is interrupted between 01.25 and 01.31, that is, exactly when the fire started. Neither the camera pointed at the car nor two other hidden cameras looking towards the property show that someone else moved into the property tonight. Bertheussen was alone at home. Police Officer Marius Dybdahl, who is responsible for forensic investigations at the scene, testified that he flashed and searched the fresh snow behind the house without finding anyone. A dog patrol searched for clues from other people, without the dog’s mark.

Also, tests on the car show traces of isopropyl alcohol. The day before, Bertheussen bought a bottle of isopropyl alcohol for cash at CC Vest. There’s a lighter bag in the car, the same type as the ones police found in a box on the mantel inside the house. Police also found strings of the same type in the car and inside the home.

Your worst day yet

Prosecutor Marit Formo was tough in questioning the defendants and asked Bertheussen if he thought this could all be a coincidence.

– Yes, I think this is all a coincidence, answered Bertheussen.

Now the defendant believes That was explained incorrectly in the first interrogations, because he had drunk alcohol and did not remember when he had gone to bed or what he had done. Bertheussen now thinks determined to remember that that night he had seen footprints in the snow behind the house. But she was not scared and did not tell the police in the first interrogations. The judges thought it was fun.

– I was completely “crazy” in my head. I probably forgot a lot of details. I talked a lot and chatted like a waterfall from “northern Norway”. She was in a state I can barely remember, Bertheussen said.

It is easy to understand that you get angry and you can forget many things when you wake up in the middle of the night because your car is on fire outside the house. But now there are so many coincidences that Bertheussen cannot explain.

The strongest card of the Armed Forces